A Clear Vision And
Focus On Execution
Penguin Solutions® designs, builds, deploys, and manages AI and accelerated computing infrastructures at scale.
Our Team
Mark Adams
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mark Adams, President and CEO, has extensive experience and expertise leading innovative technology companies. Whether at the helm of a global leader of memory solutions or a major LED lighting manufacturer, Mark combines a team-first approach. His passion for sports growing up taught him the value of leadership and teamwork which has led to his focus on putting people first and emphasizing team collaboration at Penguin Solutions.
Mark joined SGH (Smart Global Holdings, Inc.) in 2020 and has led its transformation from a holding company to one unified brand, Penguin Solutions. Prior to joining SGH, he served as CEO of Lumileds, President of Micron, and held leadership roles at Creative Labs and NCR Corp. Currently, he serves on the board for Cadence Design Systems.
Mark holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Finance and International Marketing from Harvard University and a B.A. in Economics from Boston College.
Jack Pacheco
Chief Operating Officer and President of Integrated Memory
Jack Pacheco rejoined SMART Modular Technologies, which is now part of Penguin Solutions as its Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer in 2011, bringing his extensive executive experience in corporate planning, capital structure, systems functions, mergers, acquisition integration, and IPOs. In addition to his financial responsibilities, he also oversees SMART operations, information technology, and human resources.
Jack previously served as SMART’s chief financial officer from 2004-2008, during which time he built a strong finance and systems organization that helped SMART grow into an industry-leading company. Before his current tenure with SMART, Jack served as CFO for Mirion Technologies. He has also held executive positions at Ignis Optics, Force Computers, and Solectron.
Jack has an MBA from Golden Gate University (San Francisco, CA) and a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington State University (Pullman, WA).
Nate Olmstead
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Nate Olmstead serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Penguin Solutions. He joined the company in June 2024, bringing more than 20 years of experience building and leading finance teams at globally scaled technology companies. As CFO, he is responsible for leading the company’s worldwide finance organization, including accounting, internal audit, investor relations, financial planning and reporting, tax, and treasury.
Before joining Penguin Solutions, Nate served as Chief Financial Officer for Logitech, a multinational technology company. He held a number of financial leadership roles during his 16 years at Hewlett Packard Company and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, including Vice President of Finance for Global Operations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Vice President of Finance, EG Global Supply Chain and Quality; Vice President of Finance, HP Storage and HP Converged Systems; and Director of HP Investor Relations.
Nate holds a B.A. in quantitative economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard University.
Joe Clark
President of Optimized LED
Joe Clark, President of LED Solutions, has spent more than 25 years working in lighting and technology industries. He began his career at Cree LED in 1998 as an R&D Engineer in LED Epitaxy, rising to director of LED R&D in 2014. In 2017, he was tapped to lead Cree’s Board & Module business as Vice President of Integrated Lighting Solutions. A few years later, Joe became Cree’s Vice President of Global Operations, leading the company’s worldwide LED operations - including strategy and engineering. He was named President of Cree LED in 2022.
Joe holds a B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University, as well as more than 12 patents related to LED lighting.
Anne Kuykendall
Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Anne Kuykendall, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Penguin Solutions, brings more than 20 years of experience spanning the realms of corporate law, securities, M&A, global equity, litigation, privacy, and human resources. As Chief Legal Officer, she leads Penguin Solutions’ Legal, Compliance, and Risk Management functions. She appreciates Penguin’s commitment to putting people first and acting with purpose and works each day to put these values into action.
Prior to joining Penguin Solutions, Anne served as General Counsel and head of HR for MariaDB. She has also served in a variety of legal leadership capacities at DriveOn, Cloudera, and Cadence Design Systems.
Anne holds a B.A. in human biology and an M.A. in philosophy from Stanford University and received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Pete Manca
President of Advanced Computing
Pete Manca has extensive experience building businesses that deliver high-performance solutions to enterprise customers. His experience and engineering background help him bridge the gap between technology innovation and business outcomes.
Before joining Penguin, he served as a Senior Vice President and General Manager at Dell Technologies, where he managed several large businesses including Converged Solutions, OEM Solutions, and APEX, Dell’s end-to-end portfolio of cloud offerings that range from storage to HPC (high performance computing) to AI services and solutions. Before Dell, Pete worked at Egenera, Inc., a leading provider of cloud computing solutions, where he served as General Manager, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President of Engineering, and ultimately President and CEO.
Pete holds a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Phil Pokorny
Chief Technology Officer
Phil Pokorny, our Chief Technology Officer, brings a wealth of engineering experience and customer insight to the design, development, support, and vision of our technology solutions. He joined our team in 2001 as an engineer and steadily ascended through the organization, taking on more responsibility and influencing the direction of key technology and design decisions.
Before joining Penguin Solutions, Phil spent 14 years in various engineering and system administration roles at Cummins, Inc. and Cummins Electronics. While at Cummins, he contributed to the development of internal network standards, deployed and managed a multisite network of multiprotocol routers, and supported a diverse mix of office and engineering workers using a variety of server and desktop operating systems. He has also contributed code to Open Source projects, including the Linux kernel, lm_sensors and LCDproc.
Phil graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with two B.S. degrees, one in mathematics and the other in computer science and electrical engineering.
Mark Seamans
Vice President, Global Marketing
Mark Seamans, Vice President of Global Marketing, has deep technical knowledge and extensive leadership experience in the design and implementation of complex enterprise infrastructure for cloud computing, AI, big data storage, HPC (high-performance computing), and business process management. He puts this technical background to good use developing and driving Penguin Solutions’ global marketing strategies.
Previously, Mark led product and portfolio management teams at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), with a focus on HPC/AI storage and data management. He also served as a senior technology leader and architect for data storage solutions at Silicon Graphics International (SGI) and has held senior leadership roles at several startups and publicly traded technology companies.
Mark received his bachelor’s degree in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego, where he specialized in artificial intelligence and user experience (UX) technologies. He holds an M.S. in engineering management from National Technological University and has completed executive programs on strategic growth at the Columbia University School of Business.
Michael Wellman
Chief Human Resources Officer
Michael Wellman, our Chief Human Resources Officer, has more than two decades of experience and a passion for driving organizational success by engaging the hearts and minds of employees. He leads our worldwide Human Resources organization with a focus on developing forward-thinking employee programs and creating a workplace culture where everyone feels valued.
Prior to joining Penguin Solutions, Michael held various leadership roles in human resources, including Chief People Officer at TTEC, Vice President Human Resources at WellCare Health Plans, and Chief Human Resources Officer at Sitel Corporation.
Michael holds a B.A. in business administration from Mercyhurst University.
Board of Directors
Penelope Herscher
Chair of the Board
Penelope Herscher joined our board of directors in September 2021. She has extensive technology sector experience as a publicly traded company board member, executive, and entrepreneur. Ms. Herscher currently serves as chair of the board of directors at Lumentum Holdings, Inc. and is a board member of FORVIA SA and several private companies. She has previously served as a board member for Embark Trucks, Inc. (2022-2023), Verint Systems, Inc. (2017-2021), PROS Holdings, Inc. (2018-2021), and Rambus, Inc. (2006-2018).
Previously Ms. Herscher served as president and chief executive officer of FirstRain, Inc., an enterprise software company (2004-2015) and as executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (2002-2003). She was president and chief executive officer of Simplex Solutions, Inc. from 1996 to 2002, taking the company public in 2001 and leading it until its acquisition by Cadence Design Systems in 2002. She holds a B.A. Hons and an M.A. in mathematics from Cambridge University in England.
Mark Adams
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mark Adams, President and CEO, has extensive experience and expertise leading innovative technology companies. Whether at the helm of a global leader of memory solutions or a major LED lighting manufacturer, Mark combines a team-first approach. His passion for sports growing up taught him the value of leadership and teamwork which has led to his focus on putting people first and emphasizing team collaboration at Penguin Solutions.
Mark joined SGH (Smart Global Holdings, Inc.) in 2020 and has led its transformation from a holding company to one unified brand, Penguin Solutions. Prior to joining SGH, he served as CEO of Lumileds, President of Micron, and held leadership roles at Creative Labs and NCR Corp. Currently, he serves on the board for Cadence Design Systems.
Mark holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Finance and International Marketing from Harvard University and a B.A. in Economics from Boston College.
Min Yong Ha
Director
Min Yong Ha joined our board of directors in December 2024. He has been the Chief Development Officer of SK Telecom, a leading South Korea telecommunications company with a focus on artificial intelligence, since April 2022. Previously, Mr. Ha also served as the Chief Executive Officer of AI semiconductor companies and SK Telecom affiliates, SAPEON Inc. and SAPEON Korea Inc. Prior to his positions at SK Telecom and its affiliates, Mr. Ha held various positions at SK Telecom, including as Vice President, Global Alliance, Vice President, Corporate Planning and Vice President, Innovation Suite. Mr. Ha also serves on the boards of several companies, including SK Telecom affiliates, Pacific Telecom, ID Quantique and Rebellions Inc.
Mr. Ha holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Seoul and an M.B.A from Indiana University.
Bryan Ingram
Director
Bryan Ingram joined our board of directors in October 2018. He has held a number of leadership roles over the years, most recently as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Semiconductor Division (WSD), where he oversaw the development, production, and marketing of RF components used in handsets and other communications devices.
Mr. Ingram previously spent eleven years at Avago Technologies, first as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s WSD (2005-2013) and later as Chief Operating Officer (2013-2015), leading the legacy Avago business units and operations. He was Vice President and General Manager of the Agilent Semiconductor Products Group WSD (1999-2005) and held various management positions at Hewlett Packard and Westinghouse between 1986 and 1999.
Mr. Ingram holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master’s in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.
Sandeep Nayyar
Director
Sandeep Nayyar has served on our board of directors since September 2014. He has been Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Power Integrations, Inc., a supplier of high-performance electronic components, since 2010. Previously Mr. Nayyar served as Vice President of Finance for Applied Biosystems, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of life sciences products (2001-2009); held various senior finance roles including Vice President, Finance at Quantum Corporation, a computer storage company (1990-2001); and also worked at Ernst & Young LLP, a public accounting firm (1986 to 1990).
Mr. Nayyar is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California and a Chartered Accountant in India and has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi, India.
Mark Papermaster
Director
Mark Papermaster joined our board of directors in August 2022. He brings more than 35 years of engineering and technology industry experience and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, Technology and Engineering, at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), where he is responsible for technical direction and product development, including microprocessor design, I/O and memory, system-on-chip (SOC) methodology, and advanced research.
Before joining AMD in 2011, Mr. Papermaster led the Silicon Engineering Group at Cisco Systems, Inc.; was Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering for iPod and iPhone at Apple, Inc.; and held multiple roles in technology and server development at IBM Corp. He is a long-time member of the University of Texas Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the CTO Forum Advisory Board, the IEEE Industry Advisory Board, and the Global Semiconductor Alliance Board of Directors.
Mr. Papermaster holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont.
Mary G. Puma
Director
Mary G. Puma has been a board director at Penguin Solutions since July 2023. She has over 25 years of experience working in the semiconductor industry. From 2002 to 2023, Ms. Puma served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Axcelis Technologies, Inc., a publicly held company that supplies capital equipment for the semiconductor chip manufacturing industry. Before becoming Axcelis CEO, she served as its President and COO (2000-2002). In 1998, she was named General Manager and Vice President of Axcelis’s predecessor, the Implant Systems Division of Eaton Corporation, a global diversified industrial manufacture. She joined Eaton in 1996 as General Manager of the Commercial Controls Division. Prior to her time at Eaton, Ms. Puma spent 15 years in various marketing and general management positions at General Electric.
Ms. Puma has been executive chair of the Axcelis board since May 2023, previously serving as Axcelis board chair from 2005 to 2015. She is also board chair for SEMI, a global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries (2023-present) and sits on the board of Ciena Corporation, an American telecommunications networking equipment and software services supplier (2023-present) and Allegro MicroSystems, Inc., a leader in power and sensing semiconductor solutions for motion control and energy-efficient systems (2023-present). She served as a member of the Nordson Corporation board of directors from 2001 to 2023.
Ms. Puma holds a B.A. in economics from Tufts University and an M.S. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Maximiliane Straub
Director
Maximiliane Straub has been a member of the Penguin Solutions board since April 2019. She was with the Robert Bosch companies for over 26 years, most recently as President Global Business Services Bosch (2020-2024) but also as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Finance, Controlling, and Administration of Bosch North LLC (2010-2020). She is a guest lecturer for the University of Michigan Ross School of Business program.
Prior to joining the Robert Bosch companies, Ms. Straub held several financial positions within the semiconductor division of Siemens and Siemens/Matsushita. In 2010, 2015, and 2020, Ms. Straub was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Women in the Auto Industry” by Automotive News. She has served on the boards of directors of MTS Systems Corporation, Horizon Global Corporation, and AQuantia and sits on the board of Inforum, a professional organization focused on creating strategic connections to help professional women advance.
Her educational degrees include Industriekauffrau IHK and an advanced business administration degree with thesis, Diplom-Betriebswirt from the University of Munich.