The College of Computing is pleased to announce that William Starke ’90 and David Hale are this year’s inductees to the College of Computing Honor Academy. The Honor Academy recognizes Michigan Tech graduates who have distinguished themselves in their professions and others who have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of the College of Computing and its programs.
William Starke is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and serves as chief architect for IBM Power microprocessors. Throughout his tenure at IBM, Starke’s contributions have been vital to the mission-critical transaction processing and analytics platforms underpinning many of the world’s largest enterprises.
David Hale is a seasoned information security professional with nearly 30 years of experience in the field. For 27 years, he worked in Michigan Tech’s Department of Information Technology, leading the university’s information security efforts for 22 years. At the time of his retirement, Hale held the positions of chief information security officer and information systems security manager.
William Starke ’90 BS in Computer Science, is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and serves as chief architect for IBM Power microprocessors. Starke’s first position with IBM was in the company’s mainframe computing division, developing tools and consulting in processor and system performance. In 1994, he transitioned to IBM’s Power Systems group, focusing first on hardware performance, followed by logic design and processor microarchitecture development. His efforts there focused on multiprocessor cache and memory hierarchies, coherence protocols and transport, large system scaling and reliability, clustering architectures, and accelerator-attach frameworks.
In 2004, Starke became chief cache/nest architect for IBM Power, defining architectural approaches and leading a worldwide team of engineers through the conceptual formation, implementation, and deployment phases for multiple processor generations. Since 2016, he has served as chief architect for the entire IBM Power processor team, leading the efforts of several hundred engineers. He also drives strategic architecture decisions for the platform, engages with clients and business partners, and advises his peers in the development of IBM’s mainframe (System Z) processors and systems.
Throughout his tenure at IBM, Starke’s contributions have been vital to the mission-critical transaction processing and analytics platforms underpinning many of the world’s largest enterprises in banking, insurance, retail, logistics, and healthcare, as well as systems employed by government agencies, defense related activities, and supercomputing applications. He holds over 300 U.S. patents, has authored several articles, and speaks at industry conferences, client conferences, product launch events, and industry analyst briefings.
David Hale is a seasoned information security professional with nearly 30 years of experience in the field. For 27 years, he worked in Michigan Tech’s Department of Information Technology, leading the university’s information security efforts for 22 years. At the time of his retirement, Hale held the positions of chief information security officer and information systems security manager, where he was instrumental in safeguarding the university’s digital assets and enhancing its cybersecurity posture.
Hale has been an active contributor to the broader cybersecurity community, serving on the Department of Applied Computing’s Information Technology/Cybersecurity/Health Informatics Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), and the SANS Educational Advisory Board, a group of IT directors, training managers, and higher-education CISO’s that help bring SANS training to higher-education staff and faculty. Hale also volunteers for the Michigan Civilian Cyber Corps and the Michigan Cyber Partners programs, where he assists businesses and local government agencies with cybersecurity and incident response.
Hale holds multiple certifications from the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) organization. In recognition of his contributions to the field, In 2021, was honored with the Top 100 Information Security Professional Award at the annual OnCon Icon Awards.
Today, Hale continues to make significant contributions to the information security field as a consultant, providing expert guidance and support to organizations across multiple sectors. His extensive experience, coupled with his passion for cybersecurity, makes him a highly respected and sought-after professional in the industry.