SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 12, 2026--
SambaNova, a leader in next-generation AI infrastructure, today announced the appointment of Matt Padfield as Chief Financial Officer and Rich Heaton as Executive Vice President of Software. The appointments come as SambaNova enters a new phase of scale, driven by surging demand for premium inference and agentic AI.
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Matt Padfield, Chief Financial Officer
Matt joins SambaNova to build and lead the financial infrastructure that will support the company's next stage of growth, from operational rigor to strategic decision-making and capital allocation. Padfield brings deep finance leadership from high-growth semiconductor and technology companies, most recently as Group Vice President of Corporate FP&A at Coherent, and previously VP of FP&A and Corporate Development at Synaptics, where he served in an acting CFO capacity and led $1B+ in M&A activity.
"SambaNova is at a profound inflection point, driven by proven technology and explosive market demand," said Matt Padfield. "I’m excited to build a financial architecture that acts as a strategic engine for expansion, ensuring we optimize capital allocation, accelerate operational velocity, and translate our technological advantages into long-term value."
Rich Heaton, Executive Vice President of Software
Rich Heaton will lead the company's software organization with the mandate to accelerate the software platform as SambaNova's enterprise deployments surge in volume and complexity.
Rich brings 20+ years of experience leading large-scale engineering organizations, most recently as Director of Software at AWS, where he founded and grew the Neuron SDK organization, delivering the ML acceleration stack powering AWS Trainium and Inferentia. He has held C-level roles at venture-backed startups with successful exits and led a global engineering organization at Cisco.
"SambaNova has some of the world's most demanding AI deployments running on its platform. We’re in the position the rest of the industry is trying to get to. My job is to make sure our software keeps us there," said Rich Heaton.
About SambaNova
SambaNova is a leader in next-generation AI infrastructure, providing a full-stack platform that powers efficient AI inference for enterprises, NeoClouds, AI labs and service providers, and sovereign AI initiatives worldwide. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Jose, California, SambaNova delivers chips, systems, and cloud services that enable customers to deploy state-of-the-art models with superior performance, lower total cost of ownership, and rapid time to value. Visit sambanova.ai or follow SambaNova on X and LinkedIn.
"In a market that moves this fast, you need leaders who are wired for scale, speed, and ambition. Matt and Rich bring exactly that. We're building something rare at SambaNova — the leading premium inference chip, accelerating customer demand, and momentum that's only growing. Welcome to the team," said Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova.
The United States and Iran exchanged fire across the Middle East on Wednesday, overshadowing diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage an interim ceasefire deal that has collapsed.
President Donald Trump plans to attend the dignified transfer of four more service members who were killed in action. Republicans are pushing a $95 billion package to fund the military, pay farmers and restrict voting after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced fiery questions and protests over his management of the U.S. war with Iran, which he estimated which has cost $37.5 billion so far. Democrats and Republicans alike questioned whether Hegseth has an exit strategy.
The Latest:
The deal approved by Trump could potentially provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear program, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly ahead of a formal announcement expected to be made as early as Wednesday.
The deal, expected to last 30 years and involve U.S. firms, would be reviewed by Congress, where it could face headwinds among lawmakers who fear that helping the Saudis fulfill their long-standing desire to enrich their own uranium would open new rounds of nuclear proliferation and competition.
Saudi Arabia is a member state of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which promotes peaceful nuclear work and inspects nations to ensure they don’t have clandestine atomic weapons programs. But the agreement is not expected to include the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, which would allow for more monitoring, inspections and verification, according to one of the people.
— By Aamer Madhani, Michelle L. Price, Jon Gambrell
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The president’s warning about targeting civilian infrastructure came after the U.S. carried out another wave of strikes on Iran, including its capital, Tehran. Iran launched a missile attack on a Jordanian city on Israel’s doorstep, and alerts were issued in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,” Trump wrote on social media.
The 11th night of American airstrikes on Iran came as diplomatic efforts have shown little public sign of progress. Officials on both sides have dug in on their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed because of Iranian attacks.
Trump says Trump Accounts could hoist children out of poverty and give more Americans the chance to benefit from investments in the stock market. But some parents say they’re still waiting for the money to arrive.
Trump on Wednesday plans to speak at a Georgia high school to promote the investment accounts, which offer $1,000 in seed money to every child born during his second term. The accounts went live July 4, two days before Trump rang the opening bells for both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ from the Oval Office.
The tax-advantaged accounts, created last year through Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill, can be opened for any child under the age of 18. The Treasury Department boasts 6.5 million sign-ups for Trump Accounts, with 1.5 million of those eligible for the $1,000 seed funding for babies born from 2025 through 2028.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Asian leaders Wednesday that Iran’s demand to control and collect tolls in the Strait of Hormuz would threaten the world’s economy and set a precedent that could be repeated elsewhere in the world.
Rubio spoke at the start of an annual meeting in the Philippine capital, Manila, with counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who have expressed alarm over the resurgent war in the Middle East that has battered their region. Despite Washington’s preoccupation with the war, Rubio said “we’re with ASEAN 100%.”
Washington’s top diplomat also renewed allegations that Iran has reneged on commitments under a failed peace deal. Rubio said Iran “has been reaching out to the United States, both directly and indirectly, to engage in talks about settling the differences,” but gave no indication that the U.S. was considering returning to peace talks with Iran.
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The United States and Iran exchanged fire across the Middle East on Wednesday, as officials in both nations called into question diplomatic efforts to stop the war as it threatens to again spin out of control.
The U.S. launched an 11th night of airstrikes on the Islamic Republic, hitting targets across the nation as air defense systems opened fire over the capital, Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear what specific targets the Americans went after in these nighttime strikes.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Jordan’s port city of Aqaba, once again attacking just on the doorstep of Israel. The U.S. has been using Israel’s main Ben-Gurion International Airport to host its refueler aircraft and has put fighter jets at bases in the country, but Iran has been hesitant to strike for fear of bringing the Israeli military back into the conflict.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced fiery questions and protests Tuesday over the U.S. war with Iran, which he estimated has cost $37.5 billion so far, as Republicans prepare a $95 billion package to fund the military, along with other White House priorities.
Hegseth provided the new estimate, up from earlier assessments, during a combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, which came days after the Pentagon announced that three more American service members have died in the conflict, bringing the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 have been injured since early July. Several times protesters interrupted his opening remarks.
Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money, and called Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget a generational investment in the military.
“Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegseth testified.
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Trump on Wednesday plans to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members killed in the Middle East.
Trump will be at Dover Air Force Base when the remains of the troops killed in action are returned to their families, the White House said. The ritual is one of the most somber duties of a commander-in-chief. It will be the third that Trump has attended since he launched the war in Iran in February.
Two U.S. Army soldiers killed in Iranian missile and drone attacks in Jordan will be returned during the dignified transfer, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The remains of a third service member who is believed to be the soldier missing after the Jordan attacks will also be returned, the official said, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in Iraq during a detonation of an Iranian drone.
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Fatima Mokdad stands outside her home, which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike during the Israel-Hezbollah war, where she and her family continue to live, using the only room that remained intact, in Froun village, southern Lebanon, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP leaders meet with reporters as he tries to advance a spending package for the Iran war, farm aid and President Donald Trump's push for strict new voter ID requirements, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, shows Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton. (U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks at notes as he testifies at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Gold-colored Presidential seals are seen on a fireplace in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump meets with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
