PeopleofSuperintelligence

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David Shepler

David Shepler coordinated IBM's Jeopardy Challenge program, which put Watson's natural-language question answering before a television audience. His career moved from Air Force intelligence and policy analysis at RAND to program management at IBM Research. AAAI named him among the IBM Watson team that received the 2013 Feigenbaum Prize, and he directed IBM's Smarter Energy Research Institute from 2013 to 2015. By 2020, he was chief operating officer of Elemental Cognition and had founded Zero Place, a net-zero, mixed-use project in New Paltz. As of October 2026, he serves on CURE100's board.

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Timeline

  1. 1992–2004

    Air Force and RAND

    He earns a political science degree at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1992 and a master's in public management at the University of Maryland in 1994. He serves as an Air Force intelligence officer and works as a research assistant at RAND before completing a policy-analysis master's with distinction in quantitative methods in 2004.

  2. 2004–2009

    Managing the Jeopardy Challenge

    He joins IBM in 2004 as a public-sector strategy consultant and moves to the Business Transformation/Chief Information Officer group in 2007. He joins IBM Research in 2008 and becomes program manager of IBM's Jeopardy Challenge in June 2009, coordinating system tests, development schedules, hardware plans, and discussions with show producers.

  3. January 2011

    Watson's wider purpose

    In January 2011, he is IBM Research Program Manager and frames the Jeopardy Challenge as a technology effort. Watson analyzes natural-language questions and can draw on multiple data sources in real time, with possible applications in health care and city planning.

  4. 2013

    The Feigenbaum Prize

    AAAI names him among the IBM Watson team receiving the 2013 Feigenbaum Prize for combining symbolic knowledge representation, natural-language understanding, and statistical machine learning in real-time factual question answering.

  5. 2013–2015

    Directing energy research

    He directs IBM's Smarter Energy Research Institute from 2013 to 2015, working across software and analytics.

  6. By 2020

    Leading AI operations

    By 2020, he serves as chief operating officer of Elemental Cognition, an AI research-and-development company, and founds Zero Place, a net-zero, mixed-use building project in New Paltz.

  7. August 2023

    From Bridgewater to Elemental

    In August 2023, he is Elemental Cognition's operating chief after executive work at Bridgewater Associates and IBM.

  8. As of October 2026

    A CURE100 board role

    As of October 2026, he serves as a CURE100 board director and focuses his climate work on the built environment.

Career

  1. NowCURE100Board director
  2. From 2009IBM ResearchProgram manager
  3. Until 2004RAND CorporationResearch assistant
  4. 2004–2015IBMPublic-sector strategy consultant, Director
  5. United States Department of the Air ForceIntelligence officer
  6. Bridgewater AssociatesExecutive
  7. Elemental CognitionChief Operating Officer

Education

  1. 1994University of MarylandMaster's in public management
  2. 1992United States Department of the Air ForcePolitical science degree

From the biography.

  1. Google alumni founded or led 87 other organizations, the most among the labs we compareIncludes IBM. We trace 212 organizations founded or led by AI lab alumni, and 223 career moves between the labs.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes IBM. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes RAND Corporation. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes IBM. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of David Shepler yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. IEEE Fall Confernece - Southeastern Michigan Section ewh.ieee.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. IBM’s Watson: Your next VP of marketing? infoworld.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. AAAI Feigenbaum Prize aaai.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. About - CURE100 cure100.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Zero Place and The Future of Geothermal contractormag.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Scientist behind IBM Watson raised $60 million for Elemental Cognition newscrater.com. Checked 19 October 2026.