VP for Global AI Initiatives

Calista is the VP of Global AI Initiatives at NVIDIA, working with Regions, Ecosystem Partners and Product Groups to develop and drive Sovereign AI and other global programs that compel adoption of the NVIDIA platform for national and regional AI initiatives. Prior to NVIDIA, Calista was CEO of RISC-V International to grow value and adoption of the open RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture across the industry and around the world. Before RISC-V, she held several roles at IBM including VP of IBM Z Ecosystem, leading strategic relationships across software vendors, system integrators, business partners, developer communities, and broader engagement across the industry. Calista’s experience also includes building and leading strategic business models within IBM Systems through open source initiatives including Open Mainframe Project, OpenPOWER, and OpenDaylight, numerous acquisition and divestiture missions, and several strategic alliances. Prior to joining IBM, she was an entrepreneur in four successful start-ups in the IT industry. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University and is based in Washington DC.