Published by https://www.independent.ie/ on January 20, 2022
FD Technologies – formerly First Derivatives – has appointed Usama Fayyad as a non-executive director.
Mr Fayyad is the inaugural executive director of the Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence at Northeastern University in Boston.
He is also the founder and chairman of Open Insights, a company focused on helping enterprises drive full value from their data assets.
FD Technologies CEO Seamus Keating said Mr Fayyad brings “extensive experience in technology innovation and leadership around data analytics, data science and data platforms gained from holding senior roles in large enterprises including those in the financial services, technology and telecoms sectors”.
Mr Fayyad started his career at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
After leadership roles at Microsoft Research and Microsoft SQL Server, he became Yahoo’s first chief data officer.
From there, he became global chief data officer at Barclays in London, where he led digital transformation projects that reduced costs and helped create new data products, FD Technologies said.
“I’m looking forward to working with my fellow board members and colleagues across the group,” Mr Fayyad said.
“A large part of my professional career has been dedicated to helping companies, in all sectors, turn their data into valuable business assets. This closely aligns with FD Technologies’ vision of helping the world’s most ambitious companies realise the value of their data, technology and business operations to drive their organisations forward.”
FD Technologies started out providing services to financial markets firms – in particular big investment banks. Its customers are drawn from a range of sectors, from Formula One to satellite operators.
The company’s KX division is a major global player in real-time streaming analytics.
Commenting on the addition to the company’s board of directors, Gerry Hennigan, analyst at Goodbody, said: “The statement follows an announcement earlier in the week of the acquisition of 5,700 ordinary shares by CEO Seamus Keating (circa £100,000), and 1,140 ordinary shares by CFO Ryan Preston (circa £20,000), signalling a vote of confidence in the outlook for the group.”