Clyde Rodriguez is a technologist and founder of Ascend Logic, a consultancy firm advising C-level executives on technology strategy, governance, product development, and leadership. His career spans security, AI research, operating systems, cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, and robotics. Clyde was previously the Head of Security (a CISO-equivalent role) and Vice President of Engineering for Meta Platforms Inc. and was a General Manager for Microsoft’s Azure organization where he led the company’s cloud networking engineering efforts. He was a member of the leadership team for Microsoft's first 64-bit commercial operating systems and served as Chief of Staff and Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices. Clyde also held CTO roles at Two Sigma Investments and Bank of America’s cloud infrastructure efforts. He began his career at NeXT Computer Inc. and at Stanford Research Institute where he conducted AI-based robotics research.
Throughout his career, Clyde has supported the use of technology to address complex societal
challenges. He has served on the UN Strategy Council for the Global Alliance for IT in
Development (UNGAID) and on the boards of the Open-Source Security Foundation, NYC FIRST Robotics, MIT’s One Laptop per Child, the Open Networking Foundation, and First Place School, an institution dedicated to serving homeless children in the Seattle area. He served as coach and mentor to three Brooklyn High School robotics students who faced daunting personal hardships, helping the small team reach the finals of the 2016 NYC FIRST Regional Championship while competing against elite international and local New York City high schools.
Clyde has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s General Management Program. He is a member of the UC Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees and the Berkeley Engineering Advisory Board. In 2020 he was one of three recipients of the university’s 2020 Distinguished EECS Alumni Award and delivered the 2023 Computer Science Department Commencement Keynote. He became an Aspen Institute Technology Policy Fellow in March 2024 after being selected to participate in the Aspen Tech Policy Hub and the Tech Talent Project’s Technology Executive Leadership Initiative, a program that prepares experienced technology leaders to engage effectively with public sector challenges.
He is an advocate of servant leadership values that were heavily influenced by his youth as the
son of former migrant farmworkers in California’s Central Valley and early years living in a makeshift home without running water, a tin roof, and a dirt floor. Clyde lives in San Francisco
with his wife, a Juilliard-trained classical pianist, and their two-year-old daughter.