IBIA appoints Washington veteran as managing director

The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) has appointed Washington insider Robert Tappan its new managing director, in which role he will apply his over-30 years of experience in D.C. to sustain the organization’s position as a leading advocate for the biometrics industry.

Tappan has served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs at the U. S. Department of State, Director of Strategic Communications for Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) during the Iraq War, President of public relations’ firm Burson-Marsteller (now BCW Global), and as a spokesperson and Director of External Relations for Koch Industries.

“On behalf of the IBIA Board and our Member companies, I am excited to welcome Rob to the IBIA,” says John Mears, vice president and tech fellow at Leidos, and chairman of the Board of IBIA. “Rob’s experience and communications skills are critical to enlightening people about biometrics and identity management as our industry rapidly evolves.”

Tappan will serve as a visible spokesperson for the IBIA, and contribute his vision for thought leadership, advocacy, and other IBIA priorities, according to the announcement. His duties will also include recruiting new members to the IBIA and further building its annual conference and trade show, Connect:ID, which is rebranding as IdentityWeek for 2022.

“I am very humbled and delighted to join IBIA at this important time in this industry’s evolution,” comments Tappan. “We are seeing the growth of more and more biometric and security technologies, and the development of important new applications. I am proud to be a part of leading this organization into the year 2022 and the future.”

OIX appoints Chair

Open Identity Exchange (OIX) has appointed Sopra Steria UK Director of Citizen and Devolved Government Services Mags Moore as the chair of its Board of Directors.

Moore will contribute to the organization’s strategy and positions on key areas of digital ID, such as inclusion, interoperability, and trust frameworks, as head of the OIX Executive Committee and Board. Her appointment was announced at OIX’ recent Identity Trust Conference – Making Digital ID a Reality.

“I’m pleased and honoured to be appointed Chair of OIX, especially as the adoption of digital ID will have a profound and positive impact on individuals, businesses and society,” Moore says. “While there is a lot of talk around digital ID, we really need to move from theory to action. OIX is playing a powerful role in helping move things to a place where everyone will be able to prove their identity and eligibility, and I’m excited to be part of that movement.”

Moore brings over 30 years of experience in commercial and technical innovation at multiple levels of government and in the healthcare sector, according to the announcement.

Ambiq names new VP of AI

Carlos Morales has been named vice president of Artificial Intelligence at Ambiq, and tasked with bringing low-latency AI applications to the expanding range of internet of things (IoT) devices with the company’s Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT) platform.

“The moment I understood Ambiq’s unique value, I knew I had to be part of their journey,” states Morales. “The opportunities unlocked by bringing AI to the vast far-edge ecosystem are mind-boggling and terrifically exciting. Ambiq is in a singular position to truly bend the arc of compute, and I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Morales brings more than 30 years of experience in research and development to Ambiq, gained in stops at companies including Intel and Cisco, where he was a major contributor to the development of key edge computing technologies, according to the announcement.

Article Topics

Ambiq  |  appointments  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  IBIA  |  identity management  |  Open Identity Exchange (OIX)