SUSE, a German-based multinational, open-source Software Company that develops and sells Linux products to business customers announced its appointment of Brent Schroeder as global chief technology officer to lead SUSE’s Office of the CTO. Brent replaces former CTO Thomas Di Giacomo, who is now president of Engineering, Product and Innovation for SUSE. Most recently CTO Americas for SUSE, Brent will continue to report to Thomas. In addition, Gerald Pfeifer (former Vice President, Products and Technology Programs, SUSE) is joining SUSE’s Office of the CTO as EMEA-based CTO.

“As SUSE pursues its vision of powering digital transformation with agile open source solutions that enable enterprises to continually innovate, compete and grow, we are broadening and deepening our engagement with the industry and with partners, customers and open source communities,” says Thomas Di Giacomo, President of Engineering, Product and Innovation, SUSE. “Our Office of the CTO leads this strategic effort. Brent is uniquely positioned to identify, evaluate and lead in relevant technology trends to meet increasing global demand for open source software-defined infrastructure and application delivery solutions,” he adds.

As CTO, Brent is also responsible for shaping SUSE's technology and portfolio strategy in support of emerging use cases in areas such as hybrid cloud, IoT and edge, hyper convergence, and AI/ML.

Brent brings in over 25 years of technology innovation and development experience in the IT industry. Prior to SUSE, Brent was the executive director and senior distinguished engineer of the Office of the CTO at Quest Software (formerly Dell Software Group). He also led the Dell Office of the CTO for the Enterprise Software organization. Brent previously served as director of Enterprise Solutions at Dell, along with holding engineering management positions at NCR, HP and Compaq. He received bachelor’s degrees in computer science and business management from Iowa State University.

The Office of the CTO has been a key part of SUSE’s success in behalf of our customers and industry initiatives. As we navigate and select from the many difference-making technologies affecting the enterprise

“The Office of the CTO has been a key part of SUSE’s success in behalf of our customers and industry initiatives. As we navigate and select from the many difference-making technologies affecting the enterprise, I anticipate an even greater focus on driving digital transformation with computing solutions that span the edge to the core data center to the cloud,” says Brent Schroeder, Global CTO, SUSE.

Based in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Gerald is charged with leading strategic dialogue with customers, partners and open source communities there and globally. He was previously responsible for the creation and progression of SUSE’s broad portfolio of open source enterprise software solutions. Gerald has been contributing to free and open source software for more than 20 years.