AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CognitiveScale™, the Cognitive Cloud™ company, today announced the appointment of Leslie (Les) Rechan to its Board of Directors. Mr. Rechan is a proven technology and business executive that brings more than 30 years of global, multi-functional experience in large, complex organizations as well as smaller to mid-size entrepreneurial environments.
Mr. Rechan’s expertise will further CognitiveScale’s development of cognitive analytics powered applications and insights that continuously learn, delivering more value to businesses with every user interaction. Additionally, Mr. Rechan will play an instrumental role as CognitiveScale continues to foster its strong partnerships with IBM Watson, IBM Bluemix, Amazon, and Deloitte.
Mr. Rechan has a breadth of experience working in successful industry leading software companies such as IBM, Cognos, Oracle, Siebel Systems, Cadence Design Systems and Onyx Software. Over the years, Mr. Rechan has developed expertise in analytics, mobile, social, cloud and business-oriented IT solutions. He also serves on the boards of Pros Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO) and Halogen Software (TSX: HGN).
“Cognitive computing is the new foundation of data, insights, and learning driven digital businesses. CognitiveScale has figured out a way to rapidly weave real-time big data insights and continuous learning into core industries and business processes. This is no easy feat and its massive disruptive potential and client and partner traction is what inspired me to join the Board,” said Mr. Rechan.
Most recently, Mr. Rechan was general manager, Business Analytics for IBM Software Group where he effectively led the vision, innovation, growth, and daily operations of the division responsible for business intelligence, predictive analytics, financial performance management, and risk analytics. He retired from IBM in April 2014.
Prior to this role, Mr. Rechan was vice president, Worldwide Sales, Solutions and Services for IBM Software Group’s Business Analytics division. In this capacity, he oversaw every aspect of the client engagement from solution development to marketing, sales and delivery to channel and client support. During his tenure, IBM’s Business Analytics division achieved double-digit growth further establishing IBM as the industry leader in the fields of big data, information and analytics.
“Les is a world-class business builder. We are extremely fortunate to have him join the Board of Directors during this significant time of growth for CognitiveScale." said Manoj Saxena, executive chairman, CognitiveScale. "The team is already benefiting from his intense focus on operational excellence, and his deep understanding of building a company culture invested in its customers, people and products.”
Mr. Rechan has effectively integrated several strategic acquisitions at IBM and Cognos. These include SPSS, Algorithmics, Varicent, Applix, Star Analytics and Clarity Systems. He was the COO of Cognos, a global leader in enterprise business intelligence software, when IBM acquired the company in 2008 for $5B, IBM's largest acquisition ever. At Cognos, Les directed the company’s go-to-market strategy and execution and helped the company break the $1B annual revenue barrier.
Mr. Rechan has exceptional management and leadership skills, balancing strategic development and tactical performance, and can effectively communicate with clients, channel partners, employees and boards to rally support for the firm's vision and offerings. He has led and navigated the challenges of business turnarounds and complex go to market model transformations in both the mid enterprise and large corporate environments. He is a respected industry and analytics executive who has built a career based on strong values and integrity and commitment to clients, partners, employees and shareowner relationships.
Mr. Rechan earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior and Management from Brown University and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School.
About CognitiveScale
CognitiveScale is a provider of
enterprise cognitive cloud software, a new class of big data
interpretation and machine learning systems, which accelerates
decision-making, enhances customer engagement, and improves employee
productivity. Our industry and enterprise optimized cognitive processes
and applications, in healthcare, commerce, employee service, and
procurement, deliver Insights as a Service powered by our Insights
Fabric™ cognitive cloud platform. Continuously learning, our Deep
Cognition technology uses advanced machine intelligence to transform
massive amounts of multi-structured data, including text, images, sensor
data, video, and “dark data,” into cognitive insights that prescribe
contextual action to end users and businesses.
