CARY – Bryan Harris, a veteran executive at global software firm SAS, is the privately held firm’s new chief technology officer.
SAS cofounder and CEO Jim Goodnight announced the decision Thursday. Harris already was a Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering at the company.
“Analysts have long recognized the value SAS brings to our customers,” Goodnight said in a statement. “As CTO, Bryan will push SAS to continue leading the market and drive innovation as he leads the organization to do what we do best: develop analytical solutions to address customers’ business problems, with an emphasis on continuous integration/continuous delivery and cloud-first technologies.”
Bryan Harris (SAS photo)
SAS noted that the plan to name Harris had been in place and is not related to the recent resignation of longtime SAS veteran Oliver Schabenberger who held multiple roles: CTO, chief operating officer and executive vice president.
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“Bryan is not replacing Oliver as CTO. Bryan’s appointment to Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer was several months in the making prior to (and unrelated to) Oliver’s departure, with plans for Bryan’s new role to be effective January 2021,” said SAS spokesperson Shannon Heath. “We are glad these plans continued to fruition. ”
Harris, who has worked at SAS for nearly 10 years, has been actively involved in several technology initiatives at SAS. He also has worked in technology development for more than 20 years.
In the announcement, SAS noted:
“Harris was instrumental in releasing the latest advancement of SAS software, SAS Viya. Built on cloud-native technologies, the platform is the foundation for SAS solutions and enables customers to drive analytic innovation.”
Harris earned a degree in electrical engineering at Drexel University.
