Kogi-born Omolade Saliu Appointed to IBM’s Distinguished Engineer Status
•To serve as the firm’s Chief Data Scientist, guide its AI technical competence
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
IBM has announced the appointment of Omolade Saliu, an Ayetoro-Gbede Kogi-born scientist to the position of its ‘Distinguished Engineer’, one of the highest technical achievements in the global technology company.
IBM is known for its hardware and software products, including computers, servers, storage systems and networking equipment. It also provides consulting, technology and business services, such as cloud computing, data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Managing Partner and Canadian leader at IBM in Canada, Craig Eaket, who broke the news of Omolade and Cynthia Unwin’s appointments, expressed his excitement over the development.
“I’m thrilled to announce the appointment of Omolade Saliu and Cynthia Unwin to the position of IBM Distinguished Engineer. The DE designation is one of the highest technical achievements in IBM.
“I have had the privilege of working with Omolade and Cynthia for many years and have seen them in action in front of clients where they differentiate IBM Consulting with their technical leadership.
“The process to become a DE is rigorous, but one that demonstrates a clear path for our technical leaders in IBM Consulting,” he stated.
Saliu will serve as IBM Consulting Canada’s Chief Data Scientist, guiding the company’s AI technical competence through generative AI and foundation-models-based solutions, the company added.
“Leveraging watsonx and strategic partner platforms, Omolade will help deliver enhanced value for our clients by infusing generative Al across all our service lines and industry domains.
“He will lead the governance of AI assets and accelerators for market differentiation and expedited delivery in Canada,” the firm stressed.
According to IBM, the new appointees have distinguished themselves and have as well as well demonstrated what it described as exemplary leadership.
It added: “Please join us in congratulating and welcoming our new Distinguished Designers & Distinguished Engineers. The IBM Distinguished Designer and Distinguished Engineer are executive appointments and are amongst our company’s highest technical honours.
“They are thought leaders and hands-on technologists & designers, selected through a rigorous corporate wide nomination and review process in recognition of outstanding, sustained technical achievement of significant global impact as well as demonstrating exemplary leadership.
“We are excited and we congratulate our newly appointed class of 2024 IBM Distinguished Designers and Distinguished Engineers in IBM Consulting,” IBM explained.
On the other hand, Unwin, it said, will serve as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Canadian Platform Engineering Services team reporting to Leila Kariman, Partner, Platform Services Practice Leader.
As a Distinguished Engineer, IBM said her focus will be on developing high quality, repeatable delivery quality across its Canadian accounts.
“Cynthia is an experienced technical architect, specialising in Site Reliability and Delivery Quality. Over the past few years, she’s been successfully involved in multiple project recovery challenges. She also served as CTO for the Bell Canada Account,” the firm pointed out.
