A Silicon Valley technology sector veteran, who now heads Canada’s largest software company, has joined the board of Hamilton Insurance Group.

Mark Barrenechea is chief executive officer of OpenText, and is the author of eBusiness or out of Business, Software Rules, and On Digital, and the coauthor of Digital: Disrupt or Die.

Brian Duperreault, CEO of Hamilton Insurance Group, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Mark to our board. When we undertake a recruitment process for a new board member, we have a set of criteria that includes a commitment to data science and analytics as well as an appreciation for the culture of innovation we’re establishing at Hamilton.

“Mark’s experience in Silicon Valley and his success in building OpenText into a $1.9 billion company give him a perspective that’s an excellent complement to the impressively diverse talents of our other board members.”

Mr Barrenechea joined OpenText in 2012 from Silicon Graphics International Corporation where he was CEO as well as a member of the board.

His three decades in the technology industry include eight years as vice-president, technology and business development at Tesseract Corporation, a provider of mainframe-based human resources, payroll and benefits software.

He also worked at Oracle for six years, where he was senior vice-president of applications development and reported directly to Larry Ellison. He has also held executive-level positions at CA Technologies, Inc.

Last year Mr Barrenechea was named top new CEO of the year by Canadian Business magazine.