Hiring announcements, departures and layoffs in the tech ecosystem are mentioned daily in the Atlanta Inno Beat newsletter, along with insights on how personnel moves may impact a startup’s future. Sign up for the Beat to get it each day in your inbox.
Check out the most important hires, promotions, departures and layoffs from Atlanta technology companies from August 2020. Know of a name that’s missing from this list? Email mhogan@americaninno.com.
Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based advertising platform, appointed OpenTable Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Jensen to the board, with a role on the compensation committee. Jensen was recently promoted to CMO from her position as SVP marketing at OpenTable. She has served as the CMO of subscription meal delivery service Sunbasket, an executive with Facebook and global head of product marketing for iAd, a division of Apple. Jensen becomes the eighth non-employee and the second woman to join Cardlytics’ board.
NXT Communications Corporation, a Ball Ground-based connectivity provider for the defense and space industry, appointed Stephen Newell as its chief commercial officer. He has more than 20 years of experience in the aviation and satcom industry, having formerly served in executive positions at several leading communications firms. Most recently, Newell was VP of the defense and aftermarket business for Gastops, an Ottawa-based advanced aircraft gas turbine sensor manufacturer.
Seattle-based real estate tech company Zillow has named Atlanta as its southeastern hub. It plans to add 200 jobs in the new office at Dunwoody Perimeter Market, mostly to support its Zillow Offers home buying program, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced. Other jobs will support the company’s Zillow Closing Services, Zillow Home Loans, Zillow Rentals, Zillow’s Premier Agent team and its B2B software business Bridge Interactive, which was acquired by Zillow in 2016 and has been HQed in Atlanta for 14 years.
Community nonprofit Startup Atlanta has added five new executive board members. The organization that connects, curates and promotes the Atlanta startup ecosystem has added Allyson Eamon, CEO of Venture Atlanta; Christy Brown, president of Launchpad2X; Evan Jarecki, co-founder of Gimme Vending; Jennifer Singh, co-founder and city director of Atlanta’s House of Genius chapter; and Joey Womack, founder of Goodie Nation, co-founder of Atlanta Black Tech, founder of Amplify 4 Good and labs manager at WeWork’s entrepreneurship program in Atlanta.
Florence Healthcare, an Atlanta-based startup that provides software for managing document and data flow for clinical trials, hired Cooper Anderson as the company's new CFO. In his new role, Anderson will focus on building and improving the finance function to foster business performance and growth. Prior to this role, Anderson served as CFO at Acuity.
USA Technologies, Inc., a Malvern, Penn.-based cashless payments and software services company, hired Atlanta local R. Wayne Jackson as its new chief financial officer. Jackson will be based in USAT’s Atlanta office. Jackson most recently served as CFO at Secureworks Corp., a cybersecurity services company.
Terminus, an Atlanta-based marketing platform, hired former Salesforce marketing cloud executive Ed Frederici as its CTO. Frederici has more than 18 years of experience leading IT teams. He has served as the CTO for companies such as Cheetah Digital and Pacers Sports & Entertainment. In his new role at Terminus, he will oversee the company's engineering and technology teams.
Simeio Solutions LLC, an Atlanta-based identity and access management tech company, hired Chris Schueler as its new CEO and added him as a board member. He succeeds founder and former CEO Hemen Vimadalal, who will stay on as the chairman of the BOD. Schueler most recently served as senior VP of security services for Trustwave, a Chicago-based cybersecurity and managed security services company. He has also worked in executive roles at IBM and director of global security operations for the U.S. Army.
Hypur Inc., a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based fintech startup for the cannabis industry, hired Atlanta local Martha Milla Johnson as its new CMO. According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Johnson has more than 25 years of experience in leadership, entrepreneurship and investing. Johnson will work out of Atlanta and build Hypur's East Coast presence.
Fleetcor Technologies, an Atlanta-based payments tech company, will promote Charles Freund from executive VP of strategy to CFO on Sept. 1. He joined the company in 2000 as a director of business development. He will succeed Eric Dey, who is retiring after spending 18 years with the company. Dey will remain as as senior advisor for Fleetcor through the end of the year; he was recently recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as 2019 CFO of the year.
VDart Inc., an Alpharetta-based global talent management, digital transformation services and product provider, hired Mohamed Irfan Peeran as managing director of mergers and acquisitions. He joins the company with more than 25 years of experience in strategic engagements and alliances. Prior to joining VDart, Peeran served as the principal consultant at Peer Solutions Group.
Lemongrass, a SAP and Amazon Web Services consultant based in the United Kingdom and Atlanta, appointed Vince Lubsey as its new CTO. He joins the team with more than 30 years of experience in IT and enterprise software.Prior to joining Lemongrass, he co-founded Virtustream and served as the company's executive vice president of product management and solution architecture. He has also worked with Adjoined Consulting and The Coca-Cola Company.
Tech Alpharetta, a nonprofit organization that aids the City of Alpharetta in innovation, selected Felipe Smolka as its new chairman of the board. He joined the board in May 2019 and was elected to vice chair earlier this year. He will succeed Ryan Hollenbeck. When he's not serving as the chair of Tech Alpharetta's board of directors, Smolka serves as an executive VP at LeasePlan USA.
BioIQ, an Atlanta-based biotech testing company, hired Sean Slovenski as its new CEO. Slovenski is the former head of Walmart Health, where he led expansions of the company's health care initiatives. In his new role, Slovenski will lead BioIQ's growth to scale its testing solutions during the pandemic. “Sean has unmatched expertise in developing real-world, scalable solutions to fix some of the most complex problems in healthcare,” Justin Bellante, co-founder, president and COO, said in a statement. “Overwhelmed by the chaos of COVID-19, the established players have proven that their approach to testing cannot meet this challenge.”
