BEAVERTON, Ore. — February 17, 2026 — Gurobi Optimization, LLC, the leader in decision intelligence technology, is pleased to announce that Dr. Pascal Van Hentenryck has joined the company as head of the Gurobi AI Innovation Lab (GAIL).
As part of Gurobi’s long-term product and technology strategy, the Gurobi AI Innovation Lab is a focused Research & Development initiative dedicated to advancing the combination of multiple AI technologies with optimization to solve complex, large-scale, and time-critical decision problems.
“Pascal brings exceptional leadership across mathematical optimization and complementary AI technologies,” said Dr. Oliver Bastert, CTO, Gurobi Optimization. “While mathematical optimization remains the best approach for most decision problems—as demonstrated by thousands of successful customer implementations—we believe that combining multiple AI approaches is key to making further performance leaps in decision-making systems. Pascal’s work over the past decade has shown how powerful this approach can be in practice.”
Dr. Van Hentenryck is widely recognized for his work combining machine learning and optimization, particularly in power and energy systems, where achieving high-quality solutions under tight time constraints is critical.
“I’m excited to join Gurobi at a time when optimization and other AI technologies are converging in new and meaningful ways,” said Dr. Van Hentenryck. “The Gurobi AI Innovation Lab will provide an ideal vehicle to translate pioneering AI research into scalable optimization platforms, and bring significant value to customers who face challenging decision-making problems.”
In addition to leading the AI Innovation Lab, Dr. Van Hentenryck will play a key role in strengthening collaboration between Gurobi, industry partners, and academic institutions—helping to advance innovation at the intersection of research and real-world applications.
Dr. Van Hentenryck joins Gurobi from Georgia Tech, where he is the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Director of the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), and Director of Tech AI. He is a Fellow of AAAI and INFORMS and has spent decades advancing optimization and AI research with real-world impact.
To learn more about the Gurobi AI Innovation Lab and explore collaboration opportunities, visit www.gurobi.com/gail/ .
About Gurobi Optimization
With Gurobi’s decision intelligence technology, customers can make optimal business decisions in seconds. From workforce scheduling and portfolio optimization to supply chain design and everything in between, Gurobi identifies the optimal solution, out of trillions of possibilities.
As the leader in decision intelligence, Gurobi delivers easy-to-integrate, full-featured software and best-in-class support, with an industry-leading 95% customer satisfaction rating.
Founded in 2008, Gurobi has operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It serves customers in nearly all industries, including organizations like SAP, Air France, and the National Football League. For more information, please visit https://www.gurobi.com/ or call +1 713 871 9341.
Contact
Melissa Cifarelli
Matter Communications
(585) 6669511
gurobi@matternow.com
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