Greenplum Software Names Steven Hillion as Vice President of Analytics; Launches Greenplum Analytics Lab Services

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenplum Software, the world's leading data infrastructure company, today announced that it has hired Steven Hillion as the company's vice president of analytics. Hillion will be based in San Mateo and will report directly to Co-Founder and President Scott Yara. His responsibilities will include working with existing customers and prospects by delivering the new Greenplum Analytics Lab to demonstrate the analytical capabilities of Greenplum's technology, using statistical methods and models to provide business insight, and building a community of data scientists—within Greenplum and beyond—who research, practice and advance these technologies.

The new Greenplum Analytics Lab, a package of services, technology and training, will be a key area of focus for Hillion's team. Customers and prospects interested in learning about best practices for analytics on the Greenplum platform will be able to apply for participation in the Greenplum Analytics Lab, in which their analysts and database administrators work in partnership with Hillion's team of statisticians and modelers to solve real business problems. They consult with business users to identify problems or questions that are critical to the organization, and then work to provide actionable insights into these problems, first by identifying appropriate analytical methods, then implementing those methods on massive datasets using the full range of capabilities of the Greenplum platform.

Hillion is also charged with creating new tools and features that support sophisticated analytics within the database. In that regard, he will build a new analytics group focused on developing best practices and technologies in analytics so that Greenplum's customers can get the most business value out of their data. The new group will combine the massive scalability of the Greenplum database with sophisticated techniques from statistical analytics and modeling to create a new layer of applications, tools and methodologies for generating insights into the contents of the data warehouse.

In addition, Hillion will drive Greenplum's "MAD Skills" initiative—sophisticated data analysis using Magnetic, Agile and Deep design philosophies that define Greenplum's approach to data warehousing and analytics. These characteristics are at the heart of the recently announced Greenplum Chorus, the industry's first commercially available Enterprise Data Cloud™ platform.  Greenplum Chorus enables businesses to bring the power of self-service to data warehousing and analytics through a highly scalable platform and massively parallel processing, while empowering individuals to more easily collaborate and derive actionable insight from their data.

"We're very excited to welcome Steven Hillion as a key member of our team," said Bill Cook, Greenplum's CEO. "Steven's extensive background in directing software engineering projects and developing analytical applications makes him an excellent fit for a position that involves a significant creative element—both in regards to generating new tools and features, and developing new practices and methodologies for working with the Greenplum data warehouse technology."

Before joining Greenplum Software, Hillion served as vice president of engineering at San Mateo-based M-Factor Inc. Earlier in his career, he served as director of engineering at the Silicon Valley firms QRS Corp., KANA Software and Siebel/Scopus. He earned a doctorate in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a King Charles I scholar at Oxford University.

About Greenplum Software

Greenplum Software is the world's leading data infrastructure company. Greenplum is driving the future of data warehousing and analytics with its breakthrough products, including Greenplum Database, Greenplum Database Single Node Edition, and Greenplum Chorus—the industry's first Enterprise Data Cloud platform. The company's products and services embody the power of open systems, cloud computing, virtualization, and social collaboration—enabling global organizations to derive greater insight and value from their data than ever before possible. Greenplum customers include NASDAQ OMX, NYSE Euronext, T-Mobile, Havas Media, Skype, Zions Bancorporation, and Fox Interactive Media/MySpace. Every day, Greenplum's innovations in data computing reach hundreds of millions of people around the world, helping to power the global economy. For more information, visit www.greenplum.com.

SOURCE Greenplum Software