INDUSTRY

With an eye toward driving its global organization into a phase of renewed growth, Silicon Graphics Chairman and CEO Bob Bishop has named Brian Samuels senior vice president, global sales, service and marketing. The appointment of Samuels, a successful and respected technology industry veteran, is part of a global initiative to align SGI's resources and expenses with its most promising target markets, product sectors and service opportunities. Reporting directly to Bishop, Samuels will be responsible for SGI's streamlined field operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, other than SGI's U.S. Federal division. "Brian is the ideal person to drive the global SGI technical business into an exciting new phase of growth and profitability," said Bishop. "In the past few months, SGI has made significant changes to its structure, aligning resources around core markets to achieve efficient revenue and margin results. Brian has the acumen and vision to realize these objectives." SGI Federal, which serves government and defense customers that require longer sales cycles, will continue to operate as a separate entity from the company's industrial business. SGI Federal President Anthony Robbins will continue to lead that business unit, and report directly to Bishop. Samuels has more than 30 years' experience as a results-driven executive. Previously, he was president and CEO of Affinity Engines, where he established vital customer relationships, raised angel financing, and repositioned the company at a crucial time in the firm's development. Samuels joined Affinity Engines from another Silicon Valley company, Financial Engines. Prior to Financial Engines, Samuels' career has also included executive posts at SGI (from 1986-1997), Microbot, Tandem Computers and Digital Equipment Corp. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.