Leadership Team

Songnian received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987, and subsequently took a faculty position at the University of Toronto as a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Songnian's Ph.D. thesis established the field of distributed resource management, which provides the foundation for grid computing, hailed by industry experts as the next evolution of IT.

This research was the catalyst for the creation of Platform Computing, which he co-founded with two partners in 1992. Under Songnian's leadership, Platform has grown from a company of three employees to 400-strong, with 15 offices around the globe.

Songnian has been recognized for his excellence in leadership and innovation with the Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002. In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and received the Innovation Award for Leadership in Product Development from the Information Technology Research Centre (ITRC) of Ontario for Platform LSF in 1995.

Jingwen Wang
Vice President, Products

Jingwen was a founding member of Platform Computing in 1992. As Vice President, Products, Jingwen was responsible for converting the distributed systems research he had conducted with Songnian Zhou at the University of Toronto into a leading commercial product. Since then, Jingwen has built and managed Platform's engineering organization in order to develop industry-leading technologies and products for grid computing.

Jingwen has a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. He was also a post-doctorate fellow at Purdue University's Department of Computer Science.

Graham Binks
Vice President, Global Services and Support

 Graham has more than 20 years experience in the technology industry, including leadership roles in consulting, support, product development and global IT management.
Prior to joining Platform, Graham was responsible for consulting at Autodesk, and IT and Strategic projects at Alias. Previous to Alias, he managed software development and product management teams and delivered a number of successful products in the Transit and Financial Services markets.

Graham earned a Masters and Honours BSc in Computer Science at the University of Manchester.

 Al joined Platform Computing from Alias Systems Inc. where he established corporate proficiency in mergers and acquisitions and led strategic growth initiatives. Al has over 30 years of international software industry experience in strategic planning, market research, corporate development, product management and engineering management. Previously, Al was General Manager of Sietec Open Systems, a Division of Siemens, Vice President of Unix Products Development at Nixdorf USA and held various engineering management positions at Hewlett Packard, Apollo Computer Inc., and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Al earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Computer Science at Pratt Institute.

 Peter Nichol has over 20 years of management experience in sales, marketing and general management focused on selling software solutions to multiple industries including electronics, pharmaceutical, oil & gas and chemical industries. In 2003, Peter joined Platform Computing as General Manager for Electronics. Prior to joining Platform, Peter was Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Antrim Design Systems and Vice President and General Manager of Professional Services at Cadence Design Systems in Japan. He has also held several senior management positions including Worldwide Head of Sales at Simulation Sciences Inc. Peter's business career spans across Europe, North America and Japan. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from University College Dublin.

Peter has more than 20 years of executive management experience. Prior to joining Platform Computing Corporation, Peter held various executive management positions, including Vice President of Operations and Vice President Human Resources for Digital Equipment both in Canada and USA. 

Peter holds accreditations from the University of Michigan in Organization Development and from INSEAD in the International Advanced Management program.

Tom has over 17 years of senior management experience in the technology sector. Most recently, he was Director of Product Marketing at Hyperion Solutions, where he spearheaded the company's Profitability Management applications. Prior to Hyperion, Tom was VP Marketing and Business Development at Cantoc Business Systems, a supply-chain management software vendor. Tom spent five years in the chemical industry before moving to the enterprise software industry.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science from The University of Western Ontario.