Cubic Corporation (NYSE:CUB) today announced the appointment of Jim Colson as vice president and chief technology officer. Colson will join Cubic’s executive team to define and drive transformative platforms, including cloud and mobile across all Cubic business divisions. Colson’s extensive experience in transformation; Internet of Things (IoT); Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud; Mobile; Artificial Intelligence (AI); and Machine Learning (ML) will help shape the company’s transformation platforms and emerging business models. He will report to Kevin Eagan, senior vice president and chief digital officer.

“Jim joins Cubic during a pivotal time as we embrace digital architectures and platforms,” said Eagan. “Jim’s experience, capabilities and industry-leading technical innovation makes him a strong leader for our team as we transform the Cubic portfolio within and beyond our Goal 2020 strategic plan.”

Colson retired from IBM as an IBM Fellow, vice president and worldwide CTO for the AI and ML infused Watson Customer Engagement portfolio. Colson began his IBM career as a senior technical staff member where he worked in robotics and automotive telematics, leading to the creation of a new embedded IoT software business for the company. Throughout his tenure, he held roles of increasing leadership responsibilities across mobile, smarter cities and collaboration systems, while driving market changing ecosystem contributions in intellectual property, open source and open standards. With his recognition for transformation success, Colson was selected as the worldwide CTO of SaaS and Industry Solutions, where he helped formulate and grow IBM’s multibillion-dollar SaaS focused business unit from its inception.

Colson was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer in 2003, appointed as an IBM Fellow in 2010, subsequently chaired the worldwide software architecture board and served as one of the 10 technical strategy team advisors to the CEO. After his IBM career and prior to joining Cubic, Colson was a strategy and portfolio transformation consultant for several Fortune 100 SaaS, Cloud, IoT and Infrastructure companies. He continues to serve as an advisor to multiple startups.

Colson holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and master’s degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering from the University of Texas, Austin.