Blackline Safety Appoints Siemens and Amazon AI Leader Vasi Philomin to Board, Accelerating AI Strategy for Connected Safety
Blackline Safety adds Siemens EVP of Data & AI Vasi Philomin - former Amazon generative AI GM - to its board. It advances predictive safety, real-time awareness and productivity.
Blackline Safety adds Siemens and Amazon AI leader Vasi Philomin to its Board
September 11, 2025
Blackline Safety has appointed Vasi Philomin, Executive Vice President, Data and AI at Siemens, to its Board of Directors. Philomin previously served as Vice President and General Manager for Generative AI at Amazon, where he helped build and scale platforms used by enterprises worldwide.
This move signals a clear plan: deepen AI across Blackline's connected safety stack to drive predictive safety, real-time situational awareness, and higher worker productivity.
Why this matters for executives
- AI-native board strength: Philomin brings rare crossover experience in industrial AI, IoT, and hardware-enabled SaaS (HeSaaS). Expect faster conversion of safety data into actionable insights and services.
- Commercialization at scale: His track record suggests focus on monetizable AI features, not experiments-think attach rates, usage, and high-value analytics upsells.
- Operational impact: Predictive alerts, automated incident insights, and tighter response workflows can lower risk exposure and improve compliance while improving frontline productivity.
What Philomin brings
- Siemens: Leads Data and AI, accelerating industrial AI solutions across sectors.
- Amazon: Helped create Amazon Bedrock and guided AWS's generative AI product strategy.
- Philips: Pioneered connected lighting for cities and global landmarks (e.g., Empire State Building, Bay Bridge).
- IP and credentials: 100+ U.S. patents; Ph.D. in Computer Science; dual Master's in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Maryland.
Strategic context
Blackline's value is the stream of real-time data from connected devices. With Philomin, expect tighter AI pipelines-event detection, risk scoring, and recommendations-embedded directly into workflows. The likely path: launch targeted AI features, validate impact with customers, then scale across the installed base.
Executive quotes
Cody Slater, CEO and Chair, Blackline Safety: "Vasi's leadership at the intersection of AI, cloud, and industrial technology is uniquely aligned with Blackline's mission to transform safety through connectivity and data-driven intelligence… as we advance predictive safety, real-time situational awareness, and next-generation services that protect workers worldwide."
Vasi Philomin: "Blackline's leadership in IoT-enabled safety - giving organizations the data they need to make better decisions - is truly inspiring. I'm excited to contribute to Blackline's next chapter, helping unlock even more value from that powerful data to ensure every worker returns home safely."
What to watch next
- Product roadmap: AI-driven alerts, anomaly detection, automated reporting, and incident analysis built into core subscriptions.
- Data and model operations: Clear governance for real-time data, model versioning, and performance monitoring.
- Partnerships: Expanded cloud and industrial ecosystem integrations (e.g., with PLM, EAM, and EHS platforms).
- Go-to-market: Packaging of AI features into tiered plans with measurable ROI narratives for safety and operations leaders.
Metrics that signal real progress
- Reduction in time-to-detect and time-to-respond for critical events.
- Decrease in false alarms and missed incidents.
- Adoption and attach rates for AI features across the customer base.
- Software ARR growth, ARPU uplift, and Gross Margin expansion from higher-value analytics.
- Safety outcomes: incident rate reduction and insurance/premium impacts.
Actions for enterprise leaders
- Audit current safety data flows and identify high-value decisions that would benefit from AI-driven recommendations.
- Prioritize pilots that tie to hard outcomes: incident reduction, response speed, compliance, and operational uptime.
- Establish data governance and security baselines for real-time worker and site telemetry.
- Build a cross-functional team (Safety, Operations, IT, Data) to own rollout, training, and change management.
- Upskill managers on AI use cases in operations and EHS. If you need structured paths for teams, browse AI courses by job role.
