James Marsh leaving VHA after five years
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) chief financial officer James Marsh is leaving the company after working for five years at the Australian telco.
Marsh – who joined the VHA team as CFO in 2013 - will leave the business in late July to take up a role in the media industry, Vodafone said in a statement.
Vodafone chief executive officer Iñaki Berroeta has thanked James for his significant contribution to the business.
“James has been a key member of my leadership team, and has helped us achieve the right balance between financial growth and delivering true value to Australian consumers,” Berroeta said.
“He has contributed to major strategic moves, including our market-challenging products such as A$5 Roaming, our worry-free plans and the launch of Vodafone NBN. James leaves a strong finance team at VHA as his legacy. I wish him all the best for the future.”
Nokia Technologies president Gregory Lee quits
Gregory Lee, president of Nokia Technologies, is stepping down from his role, following the closure of the Digital Health business sale, Nokia announced.
Lee, who left Samsung last year to become president of Nokia Technologies, also steps down from the company’s group leadership team effective immediately, and will leave Nokia after a transition period, according to a company statement.
The role of president of Nokia Technologies will now be taken by Maria Varsellona, who will retain her current position as chief legal officer along her new responsibilities.
"Gregory came to Nokia, made a clear-eyed assessment of our consumer business and incubation activities, and took the bold decision to refocus Nokia Technologies on licensing," said Rajeev Suri, president and chief executive officer of Nokia.
"As part of that effort, he assessed strategic options for Digital Health, which led to the sale of that business. Given that, we have agreed that his work at Nokia is done. He leaves the company with my great appreciation and thanks."
Commenting on the departure, Lee said: "I am proud of the fact that I leave Nokia Technologies as a stronger and more focused organization, strategically aligned to make a meaningful impact on Nokia's business performance. I am thankful for my time at Nokia and wish the team continued success."
Samsung hires prominent AI experts to boost AI R&D
Samsung Electronics announced it has hired two prominent artificial intelligence experts, Sebastian Seung and Daniel Lee, in its latest move to beef up the company’s global AI research and development capabilities.
Seung and Lee will join Samsung Research and play a central role in building up fundamental research on AI that will advance human knowledge with the potential for revolutionary business impact, the company said.
A computational neuroscientist, Seung is a professor at the Neuroscience Institute and Department of Computer Science at Princeton University. He studied theoretical physics at Harvard University. He worked as a researcher at Bell Labs and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Princeton University in 2014.
An authority in AI and robotics, Lee is the UPS Foundation Chair Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from MIT. After working as a researcher at Bell Labs, he joined the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.
Lee has developed a number of leading machine learning algorithms in addition to cutting-edge robotic systems throughout his career.
Samsung Research was reorganized as an advanced R&D hub of Samsung Electronics’ SET Business last year and recently established global AI Centers in Korea, US, UK, Canada and Russia.