Smartbird Appoints New CEO to Advance AI Infrastructure Strategy | Smartbird, Inc.

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Smartbird Appoints New CEO to Advance AI Infrastructure Strategy

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Nadia Carlsten, AI and advanced computing industry leader, appointed president,<br>CEO and board member<br>Independent Director Lily Yan Hughes appointed as board chair<br>Allbirds, Inc. name changed to Smartbird, Inc.<br>SAN FRANCISCO, June 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smartbird, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIRD), an AI infrastructure provider, today announced the appointment of Nadia Carlsten as president and chief executive officer. Carlsten has also joined Smartbird’s board of directors.<br>The company has completed its previously announced definitive agreement to sell the Allbirds brand and footwear assets. With the transition to Smartbird now completed, the company also strengthened its balance sheet by increasing the size of its convertible financing facility from $50 million to $100 million. The expanded capital base provides Smartbird with additional resources to execute its AI infrastructure strategy.<br>A visionary and builder, Carlsten brings decades of deep technical expertise in AI compute infrastructure combined with commercial execution across platform scaling, go-to-market, partnerships and capital strategy. She has served as a trusted partner to boards and investors, with a strong track record of building high-performing teams, stewarding capital and generating strong returns on investment.<br>While serving as CEO of DCAI, an AI company delivering large-scale GPU compute infrastructure and enterprise AI, Carlsten launched a sovereign AI supercomputer in partnership with NVIDIA. As vice president of product at Google spin-off SandboxAQ, Carlsten led the product portfolio across AI, security and hardware platforms. She has also done extensive work on advanced computing platforms, including launching Amazon’s quantum computing service during her tenure at Amazon Web Services.<br>Carlsten actively contributes to global technology discourse, advising on strategy, investment decisions and scaling of AI and digital platforms. As a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Next Generation Computing, Carlsten advises on the strategic implications of advanced computing and AI infrastructure.<br>Carlsten holds bachelor degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Virginia, and a doctorate in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.<br>Carlsten replaces Joe Vernachio, who is resigning from the company and the board of directors. Annie Mitchell will continue to serve as chief financial officer, a position she has held for the past three years. Lily Yan Hughes, who has served as an independent director of the company since October 2025, has been appointed board chair. Hughes has extensive technology experience and a 30-year track record of operational excellence across corporate governance, capital markets and corporate finance.<br>“We are thrilled to usher in this new era of the company with Nadia at the helm. Her groundbreaking work and visionary mindset will be instrumental in establishing a foothold in the market and building a scalable long-term solution for enterprise customers,” said Hughes. “The board selected Nadia because of the breadth of her experience and demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale. The pairing of her vision and expertise with Annie's continued financial leadership make us confident in the trajectory of the business and our ability to build long-term shareholder value.”<br>The rise of AI development and adoption has created unprecedented structural demand for specialized, high-performance compute. The AI infrastructure market is entering a new phase as enterprises move from experimentation to production-scale deployment, creating demand for dedicated infrastructure that is more flexible and cost-efficient than traditional hyperscale cloud offerings. Smartbird delivers dedicated AI infrastructure as a managed service, providing the performance, control, and scalability of ownership without the capital investment and operational complexity. The company is in active discussions with prospective customers across its target verticals and is currently designing its first cluster deployments.<br>"Smartbird is entering the market at a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI infrastructure," said Dr. Carlsten, CEO of Smartbird. "AI is rapidly becoming mission-critical for organizations across every industry, yet many organizations lack a practical path to deploy and operate the dedicated infrastructure these workloads require.<br>There is a clear opportunity to meet the growing need for enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that delivers control and performance without the capital and operational burden of hardware ownership. With a differentiated strategy, significant capital, and the opportunity to build an exceptional team, we are uniquely positioned to...