Who is Phineas Vernon Welles?

You can access his terminal after returning from the Hope, where he talks about his life before becoming what he is today. Added below is a screenshot of the log entry. For which you either need 100 hacking to reach, or you need to side with the board, in which case the door is busted open for you.

He was a board scientist. He became disillusioned with the board after they decided to sweep the Hope under the rug and went rogue from there.