Tidal's Global Director of Sales and Marketing steps down

Aquaculture AI technology firm Tidal loses its Global Director of Sales and Marketing. Kira Smiley, who had been within the company since its inception when it was still a subsidiary of Google's parent group Alphabet, announced this week in a post on her LinkedIn profile that she is stepping down from her position to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School.

"Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to help build Tidal from an early-stage research effort at X, The Moonshot Factory, into a spinout from Alphabet Inc.—developing ocean sensing technologies, collaborating with global partners and customers, and navigating the challenges of scaling technology for a complex and evolving ecosystem. I'm so proud of everything we've accomplished, and grateful for the part I've been able to play in that journey," she wrote.

"This fall, I'll be heading to Harvard Business School to deepen my capabilities at the intersection of technology, business, and systems change—sharpening my toolkit for the work I'll continue to do around climate and sustainability," she continued, unveiling where she will be heading next.

In her already updated profile on the employment-oriented social platform, the now former Global Sales and Marketing Director of Tidal remains connected to the aquaculture technology company in an advisor position.

Moreover, she is already linked to Harvard Business School, describing it as "pursuing an MBA through a lens of how financial mechanisms and business tools can be applied to supporting sustainability and resilient oceans and food systems."

At the time this news was published, Kira Smiley's post on LinkedIn announcing her departure from Tidal already had more than 360 reactions and dozens of comments. Among them, Tidal's recently appointed Customer Experience and Data Strategy Lead, Kristian Blom, who commented that he has joined "a little late" to work together and wished her the best.

As mentioned above, Tidal is a spinout from X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google[x]), the innovation hub owned by Google parent company Alphabet. Combining AI, machine learning, and machine perception, Tidal's system is able to track and model fish behaviours, environmental conditions, and the health of salmon over time. This AI-based underwater technology, developed in collaboration with Mowi, was included in the 2023 TIME list of the world's 200 best inventions.

Recently, Tidal launched 'Orca', an AI-powered underwater camera system including autonomous feeding control in addition to biomass, sea lice, and welfare monitoring.