Bill Vass
Encyclopedia
William Vass is the President and CEO of Liquid Robotics, a well-funded startup company that has developed an entirely new type of unmanned autonomous robotic marine vehicle with wide-ranging applications . Drawing all of its energy from the environment, the Wave Glider platform attempts to revolutionize ocean monitoring, data collection and communications. He is married to Shari Steele, the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
.
Prior to his current role at Liquid Robotics, he was the President and COO of Sun Microsystems Federal (a Sun Microsystems
subsidiary focusing on business with government organizations). He held numerous positions during his more than 10 years at Sun, including VP of corporate software services, Chief Security Officer for Sun IT, and Chief Information Officer
(CIO). His background has a significant military and government presence, including a stint as an oversight CIO working underneath the Department of Defense
's overall CIO. Before that, he was the Chief technical officer
and Technical Lead for the U.S. Army's personnel systems.
Vass is a proponent of corporate executives writing a blog
, stating in August of 2005 that blogging "allows them to communicate in an unfiltered way." He is also supportive of the open source
and Linux
communities, having utilized both throughout his career.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
.
Prior to his current role at Liquid Robotics, he was the President and COO of Sun Microsystems Federal (a Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
subsidiary focusing on business with government organizations). He held numerous positions during his more than 10 years at Sun, including VP of corporate software services, Chief Security Officer for Sun IT, and Chief Information Officer
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
(CIO). His background has a significant military and government presence, including a stint as an oversight CIO working underneath the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
's overall CIO. Before that, he was the Chief technical officer
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
and Technical Lead for the U.S. Army's personnel systems.
Vass is a proponent of corporate executives writing a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, stating in August of 2005 that blogging "allows them to communicate in an unfiltered way." He is also supportive of the open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
communities, having utilized both throughout his career.