Austin is a tech talent marketplace. The city's mix of software and business minds is one of the reasons companies including Apple, Google and Facebook have made Austin one of their primary hubs. It's also why Austin is able to produce such a steady stream of exciting startups.
We track these movements of human capital in our daily newsletter, the Beat. And, over the course of 2018, we saw some incredible new hires -- as well as some heartbreaking departures.
Below, we've rounded up the top three hires we spotted each month of 2018 -- including December, which isn't quite over as of this writing.
Let's check out the new roles Austin's top tech gurus have taken on.
January
RVshare, an Akron, Ohio-based peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace founded in 2013, hired Jon Gray as its CEO. Gray was HomeAway’s third employee and he climbed to the role of chief revenue officer, a position he held until 2017. Gray will split his time between RVshare’s Akron and Austin offices. Gray had considered CEO roles at several consumer internet companies, according to a news release. RVshare co-founder Joel Clark, who was RVshare’s previous CEO, will become president.
Jeff Browning, a former recruiting partner for Austin Ventures, joined Next Coast Ventures as a venture partner, the firm announced. Browning was most recently a principal at GTCR Private Equity, where he helped recruit CEO candidates. Browning will work with Next Coast’s portfolio companies on organizational design, recruiting and executive development.
Spiceworks, an IT networking and services company, hired J. Scott Di Valerio as its chief operating and financial officer. Di Valerio was most recently CFO of RetailMeNot. Before that, he was CEO of Outerwall. He has also worked at Lenovo Group Limited, Microsoft and other tech companies.
February
ClearDATA, a cloud provider for healthcare companies, appointed Dennis Hynson as CFO and Sue Darrow as senior VP of human resources. Hynson previously worked as CFO and COO at IntelliCyt. Darrow came from BuildASign.com, where she was chief people officer
Driving strategy execution enterprise software provider Khorus Software LLC announced that its board of directors picked Carolyn Jenkins as the company’s new chief executive officer. Jenkins comes from Iconixx Software Corporation where she was VP of Customer Success; she’ll replace Khorus founder Joel Trammell, who as of November has been Black Box Network Services’ CEO.
FloSports co-founder and CEO Martin Floreani stepped down, and the company’s board started a search for a new CEO, a company representative confirmed today. In the meantime, Floreani will continue on the company’s board and recently appointed CFO Pat Noonan and longtime counsel Paul Hurdlow, were to lead the company during the CEO search. FloSports, founded in 2006, broadcasts a variety of sporting events online and creates content around the events and athletes. It has raised $32.2 million since its founding.
March
Phunware, a mobile app development platform that recently announced it would go public, announced Randall Crowder is its new COO. Crowder is an angel investor and venture capitalist who co-founded TEXO Ventures and Nove Ventures. Before that, he led the Central Texas Angel Network.
data.world, a data sharing an collaboration platform, announced DJ Patil, who was former President Barack Obama’s chief data scientist, joined its board of advisors.
Civitas Learning, a startup advancing predictive analytics for higher education applications, hired Bruce Jones as its new chief revenue officer. He’s the former VP of sales at Micro Focus. He took over for Tony Capasso, whose LinkedIn profile indicated he became CRO at Dosh.
April
Karl Fisher was named as the new executive director of UT’s Applied Research Laboratories. He’ll oversee the largest contract in the university’s history — a $1.1 billion contract with the Department of Defense. Fisher has been with ARL:UT, which was founded in 1945 and now employs about 400 scientists and engineers, since 1996.
Zilliant, a B2B enterprise sales analytics company, hired Phil Fraher as its CFO. He was most recently with Bask Technologies as president and CFO. He has also led Fuel-Quest and Visual Numerics as CEO.
WayBlazer, an Austin startup using AI to help travel companies provide recommendations to their customers, hired Adam Prishtina as its first chief product officer. Prishtina has an extensive Austin tech background, having worked as VP of product at YouEarnedIt, as senior director of product management at WP Engine and as director of product management at BigCommerce.
May
Barbary Brunner, who has led the Austin Technology Council since 2016, took a new job at Phunware. The move comes ahead of Phunware’s exit to the public markets after its deal with Stellar Acquisition III closes in coming months. ATC appointed Amber Gunst as its interim CEO.
JD Weinstein, a former Capital Factory venture associate and former principal at WPP Ventures, joined Oracle as its head of startup ecosystem in Austin. Weinstein tweeted about the news.
Bazaarvoice CEO Gene Austin, who led the company since 2013, left his position, the ABJ reported. His last day was April 30, and the company said he was leaving to “pursue other interests.” In December, Austin was appointed as president and CEO of Houston-based Quorum Software, which makes oil and gas accounting software. Bazaarvoice, a marketing and reviews tech company, appointed Joe Davis, an operating executive with Marlin Equity Partners, which owns Bazaarvoice, as acting CEO.
June
Hypergiant, an AI startup that has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston, announced C.K. Sample III, former chief product officer and CTO at YouEarnedIt, joined its team as its chief technology officer in the Hypergiant Space Age Solutions Division. He’ll lead AI development across a broad array of projects for big name clients. Prior to YouEarnedIt, Sample was executive vice president of technology and development at Chaotic Moon Studios where Hypergiant’s co-founders, Ben Lamm, Will Womble and John Fremont all worked until shortly after Accenture acquired it.
3 Day Startup, an Austin nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs, announced Alexis Taylor is its new CEO. She replaced Cam Houser, who is becoming founder and chief innovation officer following 8 years as CEO. Taylor joined 3 Day Startup in 2013 and launched its first program at Creighton University and leading expansion into Australia, Southern Africa and the Middle East.
Austin mobile education and certification startup Aceable made four new hires. It added Eric Sifert as chief revenue officer and Ben Opps as VP of marketing. They both previously worked at A Place for Mom, a senior care company that was acquired last year. Aceable added Derrick Mar as VP of engineering and Emily Lawrence as VP of content. Mar was previously CIO at Travelport. Lawrence is the former SVP of content and production at Craftsy.
July
E-commerce platform BigCommerce has hired former Umbel CEO Lisa Pearson as its chief marketing officer. Pearson, a former CMO at Bazaarvoice at the time it IPOed, joined Umbel as its CEO in Spring 2017. In February this year, Umbel merged with MVPindex and that company’s CEO, Stan Woodward, became CEO of the combined company. Shortly after that happened, BigCommerce closed a $64 million Series F investment led by Goldman Sachs, signaling another spurt of growth at an already fast-growing company.
Local Shark Tank alum Everly Well, a platform and kit for easy, affordable lab testing, announced that it named Nick Parker as its new CTO. Prior to joining EverlyWell, Parker was the CTO with Austin-based online shipping marketplace uShip. In November, the fast-growing startup nabbed $1 million from shark Lori Greiner on the popular ABC show.
Walter Robb, co-founder and former co-CEO of Whole Foods, took a new role as executive-in-residence at Chicago VC firm S2G Ventures, the ABJ reports. He’ll be lending his strengths to identifying startups in the food industry. Robb will continue to lead Stonewall Robb Advisors, a firm he created last year to advise and invest in people and companies committed to social justice and animal welfare. Among his investments are Heat Genie, Food Maven and New Barn Inc.
August
Austin-based digital discounts company RetailMeNot hired Microsoft‘s former director of global diversity and inclusion, Sharon Brogdon, to lead and expand its own diversity and inclusion efforts. Prior to Microsoft, Brogdon worked in strategic marketing roles and diversity roles at Intel.
Austin-based private equity firm Tritium Partners added former First Advantage CEO Mark Parise to its team. He’ll lead a new investing platform there focused on information services. Tritium was formed in 2012, it has 10 investments in its portfolio. Among them are: RVshare, Vacation Innovations and Fexy Media.
Retail giant H-E-B has appointed Mike Georgoff as its chief product officer. Georgoff previously held that title at Main Street Hub, which was acquired earlier this year by GoDaddy. Before Main Street Hub, Georgoff worked at Redbox and RetailMeNot. The new hire comes as H-E-B has been stepping up its tech game in recent years, adding curbside pickup and delivery through its acquisition of Austin’s Favor.
September
Dosh announced the addition of five new executives. The fast-growing consumer discounts app maker named Brad Brodigan as president and chief operating officer at Dosh. He was previously at PayPal as global VP and general manager for middle market and retail. FormerAlphabet VP and treasurer Shubhi Rao joined as Dosh’s chief financial officer. Dosh named former Nike.comVP and product manager Scott Boecker as its chief product officer. Former Conde Nast chief business officer Jim Norton was added as chief revenue officer. And Derek Sidebottom joined Dosh as chief human resources officer. He was previously chief people officer at San Francisco-based LendingHome Corp. The ABJ noted Dosh is expanding from about 100 employees to about 200 by the end of 2019.
SparkCognition, a fast-growing AI startup in Austin, announced it added Vijay Doradla to its leadership team as chief business officer. Doradla was previously director at Verizon Ventures, which led SparkCognition’s $32.5 million Series B round last year. Prior to Verizon, Doradla was the founder and CEO of SilverSting Capital, a crossover fund focused on innovative tech.
Kasasa, an Austin fintech company, announced it hired Amy Gililland as its chief financial officer. She has previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nortel Networks and Kony.
October
Medici, an Austin telehealth and video chat startup, announced it added Anne Jude Hunt as its VP and head of product. She was previously director of product management and data intelligence platform at Castlight Health in San Francisco. Before that, she was VP of products at Finch Computing. She is also a co-founder of Otto, Inc. and First Retail.
Austin mortgage tech startup FirstClose announced it added Pat Downing as its CTO. Downing came from Mozido, a global fintech company that’s based in Austin. Prior to that, he worked at AllClearID as VP of information technology, and at Hoover’s as an IT leader, according to his LinkedIn page.
The Guild, an Austin startup that turns upscale apartments into tech-enabled hotel suites, hired Justin Krost, a former corporate finance and accounting manager at HomeAway and former director of accounting at Phunware, as its head of finance. The Guild has properties in Austin, Dallas, Miami, Cincinnati and Denver.
November
Lifesize, an Austin video conferencing company used by Netflix, Twitter and other big names, added Matt Hibbard as its new CFO. Hibbard was previously CFO at Distil Networks. Prior to that, he was CFO at Xoom, which IPOed in 2013, according to the ABJ.
David Edmonson, executive director of the Austin Tech Alliance, stepped down from his role, the organization announced. ATA’s board is now launching a search for a new director. Edmonson will stay on until Nov. 23. Then Sarah Ortiz Shields, an ATA program manager, will take over as interim executive director. Edmondson has taken a new role as head of the Texas and Southeast region for TechNet, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C.
TrustRadius, an Austin software reviews company, made several key hires, the ABJ reported. Scott Brittain was named VP of engineering. Andrew Lamb became VP of sales. Meanwhile, Russ Somers is the new VP of marketing and Tom Sloss is the new VP of finance. Brittain was previously CTO at Snap Kitchen. Lamb was a senior director of sales at ObjectRocket. Somers is a former marketing leader at TrendKite. And Sloss is the former COO of Swivel.
December
Tenfold, an Austin sales software and data startup with about $30 million in funding, named Jeff Cotten as its new CEO. Cotten was previously interim CEO at Rackspace Hosting and was also its chief customer and revenue officer. Tenfold landed a $14 million Series B earlier this year. Its investors include Next Coast Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce Ventures and Geekdom Fund. Cotten will start Jan. 19. He replaces Patrick Hogan.
Dropoff, an Austin startup providing same-day deliveries and logistics, named Neil Seth as its CTO and Rey Madolora as its first-ever CFO. Seth was previously CTO at video game subscription service GameFly, which Dropoff CEO Sean Spector co-founded. Madolora was previously part of the founding team at Hangar Technology, and, before that, he was CFO and COO of DJI North America, a drone hardware company. Dropoff is now in 21 metro markets across the country.
ClearDATA, an Austin healthcare cloud data company, named Michael Donohue as its chief marketing officer and Dean Fredenburgh as its chief revenue officer. Donohue is the former CEO of Axial Exchange. Fredenburgh was previously head of the healthcare and life sciences sales group at Amazon Web Services.
