Brad Topol in

Brad Topol

Evaluator · DISC type DCS
IBM Distinguished Engineer, Director of AI and Cloud Open Technologies at IBM
📍 Apex, North Carolina, United States

Dr. Brad Topol is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Director of AI and Cloud Open Technologies. He leads IBMs global team responsible for open-source strategy and development in projects like PyTorch, Kubernetes, and KubeFlow. He received his Ph. D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Brad has dedicated one of his co-authored books to his wife, Janet, and his children, Morgan and Ryan. In a recent social media post, he shared his excitement about the food he enjoyed during a work trip to Amsterdam for the Open Source EU Summit.

He is the co-author of two books published by OReilly Media: "Kubernetes in the Enterprise" and "Hybrid Cloud Apps with OpenShift and Kubernetes. "

Read the full overview →
Experience
27 Years
Current Role
IBM Distinguished Engineer, Director of AI and Cloud Open Technologies
Job Level
Mid-senior
Location
Apex, North Carolina, United States
Personality Overview

How Brad shows up

Thorough Evaluator
Hard To Convince
Fast But Analytical

They have a unique set of diverse traits where they are decisive and methodical but can sometimes be extra cautious and skeptical They focus on the results, but can still be quite procedural and analytical about how to get there They are not very likely to become strong advocates of your product or service

Priorities

Topics Brad cares about

Open Source AI
Heads IBM's open technology initiatives, focusing on AI projects like vLLM and InstructLab, and contributes key IBM projects to the Linux Foundation to foster community growth.
Cloud-Native Tech
His career at IBM has focused on leading teams contributing to foundational cloud-native projects, including OpenStack, Kubernetes, Istio, and Tekton.
+5 more topics Login to view topics
Career

Work history

2-2023
IBM Distinguished Engineer, Director of AI and Cloud Open Technologies
IBM
12-2018 - 2-2023
IBM Distinguished Engineer, Open Technology and Developer Advocate CTO for Kubernetes Technologies
IBM
3-2017 - 2-2023
IBM Distinguished Engineer, Open Technology and Developer Advocacy
IBM
11-2012 - 3-2017
IBM Distinguished Engineer, OpenStack
IBM
5-2011 - 10-2012
IBM Distinguished Engineer, SWG Product Serviceability and Fix Distribution
IBM
In the press

Media appearances

Talking Open Source & Cloud Native, with Brad Topol (IBM). Featured in YouTube
See now
IBM contributes key open‑source projects to Linux Foundation to advance AI community participation. Featured in IBM Newsroom
+4 more appearances Login to view media
Education
1993 - 1998
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Georgia Institute of Technology
1989 - 1993
MS
Emory University
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

D

Dominance (D)

Dominance (D) reflects how goal and task oriented a person is, and their ability to accomplish results irrespective of how demanding the circumstances might be. Those scoring high tend to be motivated by winning, competition, and success.

Other IBM Employees

Explore more public profiles from related professionals.

More profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Unlock the full playbookSee exactly how to sell to Brad. Free, 10 seconds.