Meet The Board
Diane Hymas — President
Diane retired from Mobil/ExxonMobil after a 40+ year career developing and deploying scientific production applications distributed worldwide. The vast majority of these utilised APL as the core language, including APL dialects from DEC-10, STSC, and Dyalog. APL was specifically chosen for its unique capabilities in data analytics, modelling, database connectivity, and adaptive, data-driven, interpretive execution.
Diane is one of the founding directors of The APL Trust US, a non-profit scientific charity that sponsors projects promoting global awareness and the use of the APL programming language in the fields of science, engineering, and mathematics.
Robert Smith — Vice President
In 1969, he fell in love with APL. Then, after joining STSC in 1971, he managed the mid-Atlantic region sales and support staff, wrote many applications in APL and conference papers about APL, led the Systems Department, implemented one of the first Nested Arrays systems, and after retirement, continues to enhance an Open Source implementation of APL.
Jay N. Whipple III — Treasurer
Jay N. Whipple III is a lifelong APL technologist and entrepreneur whose companies—and now community service—have been built on the expressive power of APL.
In 1978, Jay founded Security APL, a Chicago-based pioneer in portfolio accounting and performance measurement software for the investment management industry. Built entirely on APL, Security APL became one of the most respected back-office and analytics platforms in the separately managed account space. In 1994, he launched PAWWS (Portfolio Accounting Workstation & Web Services), an early Internet initiative that delivered real-time stock quotes and online trading—years before such capabilities were common.
Today, Jay applies the same APL craftsmanship that powered his financial technology ventures to the world of contract bridge. He is the technologist behind TheCommonGame.com, where APL-driven data systems deliver analytics, results processing, and engagement tools for bridge players and clubs worldwide. He also provides pro-bono APL consulting to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), helping modernize data pipelines, reporting systems, and member engagement infrastructure for the parent organization of bridge in the United States.
Across five decades, one constant defines Jay’s work: using APL to turn complex data into elegant, working systems that serve real communities.
Brian Becker — Secretary
Over the five decades that Brian has been working with APL, he has applied his expertise to develop APL applications across a wide spectrum of industries. Since joining Dyalog Ltd in 2011, Brian has overseen the development of some core utilities and frameworks (such as Jarvis and HttpCommand), crafting tools that extend APL’s capabilities into modern software ecosystems.
Mark Wolfson — Director
Mark has been CTO at BIG, a service company in the jewellery industry, since 2006. He serves as designer, architect, and data specialist, overseeing a tech team of 13 developers and support staff that create and maintain a suite of products for jewellery retailers, manufacturers, and other service providers in the industry.
Over the last few years, Mark has successfully migrated BIG’s legacy IBM APL2 system to an entirely new production environment using Dyalog.
