I find it cathartic and inspirational to look back each year and review its peaks and valleys while considering the journey ahead. Coming off the heels of an unprecedented and unpredictable 2020, I was optimistic about what our team of creative thinkers would accomplish in 2021 following a year of adversity and resilience. And, as I expected, Altairians around the globe came together and made great things happen. They proved that the greatest innovations emerge during trying times.

In all areas of the organization, innovation continued to be our focus. But this should not come as a surprise since we invested 27 percent of our revenues into R&D. The Altair Units business model continued to evolve and gain traction, our data analytics platform has become increasingly powerful, and we constantly experimented to push the boundaries of the convergence of simulation, HPC, and AI. Check out our groundbreaking work with Rolls-Royce.

I am appreciative and proud of the recognition our world-class culture, diversity, and sustainability efforts have garnered. Most notably, we were named to:  

• Inc. magazine’s 2021 Best-Led Companies list whose winners were selected based on performance and value creation, market penetration and customer engagement, talent, and leadership;
• Newsweek’s 2021 Most Loved Workplaces list, ranking 35^th among the top 100 companies measured by employee happiness and satisfaction at work;
• And Investor’s Business Daily’s Best 100 ESG Companies list, which recognizes companies who display excellent environmental, social, and governance values, and represent organizations leading the way in sustainable, ethical business operations.

As we lead the convergence of technologies, we intend to build a healthier, more sustainable future. This year, we published our first sustainability report, which showcases our impact on the world and how we help our customers bring safer and more sustainable products to market faster, all while reducing costs, weight, and carbon footprint. Our ability to have a positive influence on global issues like sustainability, diversity, and increased opportunity for underrepresented groups will continue to grow as we do.

2021 expanded our global workforce and brought new, best-in-class technologies into our portfolio through our acquisitions of World Programming in the area of enterprise analytics, S-FRAME in architectural and civil engineering, and spun out Flow Simulator for systems level computational fluid dynamics from General Electric. I would like to welcome our newest employees into the Altair family and commend our global workforce – from our engineers, data scientists, and developers to our sales, marketing, finance, and HR teams – for implementing creative solutions while largely working remotely. Even in the face of uncertainty, Altairians displayed incredible resilience and proven we can tackle anything. I’m surrounded by 3,000+ of the world’s best and brightest minds, and I couldn’t be more thankful. 

We are at the most exciting time in our history for our technology, our software products, and our people as our collective efforts continue to provide value for our shareholders. As we enter 2022, join us as we change tomorrow, together. I cannot wait to see what the coming year has in store for us.

Happy holidays and happy new year from our family to yours.