SWARM Engineering Announces Expanded Advisory Board

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Dec 02, 2020, 08:34 ET

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SWARM Engineering, INC, the next generation of cognitive software for the food supply chain, announced today an expanded strategic committee of advisors.

The Advisory Board includes a diverse array of distinguished artificial intelligence, machine learning, agriculture and tech industry leaders who will provide guidance to help support and shape continuing innovation at SWARM.

"We are honored to collaborate with this team of world-class experts to provide easy ways for business users to define and automatically solve problems," said Anthony Howcroft, SWARM's Chief Executive Officer. "These thought-leaders bring tremendous understanding of the latest academic research, plus practical industry expertise. We look forward to their contributions as SWARM continues to advance our software platform to optimize the food supply chain for everyone's benefit."

John Power, a SWARM Board director and founding member of the Advisory Board said, "The quality of advisors that SWARM attracts is a testament to the exciting work the company is doing to transform how the Food Supply Chain operates by reducing waste and saving costs, while lowering the carbon footprint".

Introducing the members of the SWARM Advisory Board (in alphabetical order):

Dave Bartlett
Dave is a C-suite executive, futurist, writer/presenter, and leader for digital transformation for major corporate organizations using disruptive technologies such as IoT, and Deep Convolutional Neural Networks. Dave served as Chief Technology Officer for Panasonic Avionics, CTO for GE Current and CTO for GE Aviation. Dave was a VP of IBM Research focused on the development of self-managing systems.

Dave Donnan
A seasoned business leader and consultant with significant global experience in the agriculture, food and retail industries, Dave led the global food and agriculture practice at international consulting firm Kearney. Currently he is an adjunct associate professor at Northwestern University lecturing on sustainable food and agriculture systems, and food and agtech. Dave is a board member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a mentor to food startups.

Lawrence Henesey, PhD
Professor of Computer Science (AI) in Blekinge, Sweden, with 27 years hands- on experience of maritime logistics and the use of multi-agent systems. His specialist research area is the application of techniques from Distributed Artificial Intelligence in Container Terminals, Logistics and Transport, which has culminated in 50+ published articles and two books. Several innovations developed by Lawrence have been implemented globally by terminal operators.

Naira Hovakimyan, PhD
A world-leading control-theorist, with 30 years' experience in optimization, engineering, and adaptive learning systems. Awarded the Humboldt prize for lifetime achievements, she has advised NASA and US DoD on automated flight control, and is Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Urbana-Champaign, and Chief Scientist at IntelinAir (image analytics for agriculture). She has co-authored two books, six patents, and more than 400 refereed publications.

Ajith Kumar Parlikad, PhD
Senior lecturer in Industrial Systems at the University of Cambridge, specializes in improving asset performance through decision-making, based on value. Ajith is also head of the Asset Management Group at the UK Institute of Manufacturing. His specialist focus is examining how asset information can be used to improve performance through effective decision-making. Ajith has published over 100 papers in reputed academic journals.

John W. Power
President of LSC International, with an MBA from Harvard Business School, John is an advisor and consultant, specializing in the global agri-food chain who has led and managed startups and major agri-businesses. He is a member of the HBS Angels of Chicago, an early investor in SWARM.

Jerry Schuman
Entrepreneur with over 35 years in enterprise software, has raised funding for nine software startups. Jerry has deep expertise in applying machine learning and data science technology. Was a co-founder of PingThings, using advanced data science to deliver predictive capabilities to power and utilities companies worldwide.

Chris Watkins, PhD
World-class authority on reinforcement learning & evolutionary theory. Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Royal Holloway, University of London. Coined the Q-Table algorithm approach that spurred the resurgence in reinforcement learning (this approach was at the heart of Google's recent successful AI projects). Prior to returning to academia, Chris was employed as a quant at a hedge fund firm in London for several years. Chris is presently working on how to make generally intelligent machines, along with abstract models of evolution, and statistical visualization.

About SWARM Engineering
SWARM provides an easy way for business users to define problems, and rapidly match these to solutions without any software coding, or knowledge of AI or machine learning. SWARM focuses on the food supply chain, solving issues such as load planning, inbound logistics, product blending, and pricing. SWARM is a Software-as-a-Service platform that uses a next generation cognitive system, structured around a multi-agent approach which can utilize a curated market of optimization and machine learning algorithms. To learn more, visit https://swarm.engineering.

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SOURCE SWARM Engineering