Aclara Technologies announced that Aaron Merkin has joined the company as its first chief technology officer.
Merkin brings more than 19 years of experience managing strategic software and software architecture initiatives to Aclara. He will be responsible for directing software development and implementation across Aclara’s organization, overseeing Aclara’s strategic software platform initiative and utility technology roadmap with a focus on end-user support.
Before joining Aclara, Merkin was chief technology officer for ABB Enterprise Software (formerly Ventyx) and chief software architect for Grid Automation. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing technology strategy spanning multiple industries, including electricity transmission and distribution. Previously, he was chief software architect, enterprise management and solutions, for Dell. Prior to that role, he was an advisory software engineer for IBM, where his responsibilities included engineering strategy and product roadmaps for management of several key IBM systems.
Merkin holds a Master of Science degree in computer science from North Carolina State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at Florida Atlantic University. Author of more than two-dozen patents granted or pending, he also is the recipient of several honors awarded by Dell and IBM.
“We are delighted that Aaron has joined Aclara to lead our technology development program. Bringing him on board as the company’s first chief technology officer signifies our commitment to provide electric, gas and water utilities around the world a deep portfolio of best-of-breed solutions, both those developed internally and those acquired through strategic business moves. It also signifies our focus on advanced software development and implementation, which is key to our focus on providing smart intelligent solutions for utilities around the world as we continue to expand both the breadth of our offering and our geographic reach,” said Allan Connolly, Aclara CEO and president.
“Development of advanced software strategies and solutions will be a key focus for Aclara going forward. With its solid foundation in advanced metering infrastructure and an already strong software portfolio, Aclara is well positioned to help utilities navigate new paradigms such as the impact of renewables, distributed generation, and battery storage systems on utility distribution networks that will require advanced data collection and software analytics solutions,” said Merkin.
Source: Aclara Technologies
