Penguin Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: PENG) announced the appointment of David Heard, President of Network Infrastructure at Nokia, to its board of directors, effective immediately.

Heard brings more than three decades of experience leading technology and infrastructure organizations. He has served as President of Network Infrastructure at Nokia (NYSE: NOK) since June 2025, joining the company in February 2025 following Nokia's acquisition of Infinera Corporation, where he served as Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to joining Infinera in June 2017, Heard held leadership positions at JDS Uniphase Corporation, BigBand Networks Inc., Somera Communications Inc., Lucent Technologies, and AT&T. He previously served on Infinera Corporation's board from November 2020 to February 2025.

"David brings experience scaling complex infrastructure platforms, optical networking technologies, and global operations," said Kash Shaikh, President and CEO of Penguin Solutions. The company stated that Heard's expertise will support its AI Factory Platform strategy as demand for memory and AI infrastructure grows.

Heard holds a Master of Science in Management as a Sloan Fellow from Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton, and a Bachelor of Arts in Production and Operations Management from The Ohio State University. He currently serves on the Max M. Fisher College of Business Alumni Board.

Penguin Solutions describes itself as a provider of memory and AI infrastructure for enterprises, sovereign AI initiatives, and neocloud providers. The company is headquartered in Fremont, California, and operates globally through research and development, manufacturing, and sales locations.