It almost always takes fresh talent to grow a strong business. That's why new hires, especially in key executive positions, are so important.
We track many of those hires, promotions and departures in the Austin Inno Beat newsletter, along with insights on how those personnel moves may impact a startup's fortunes or an entire industry. Sign up for the Beat to get it daily.
Now, let's dig into the June 2017 hirings, promotions and departures.
- Civitas Learning, an Austin-based edtech company, hired Eric Grunden as senior VP of partner success. Gruden was previously VP of professional services at Greenway Health, a clinician-facing health analytics company.
- AffiniPay, an Austin-based fintech company, added Greg Haney as VP of operations and Carrie Fisher as VP of marketing. Haney was previously chief operating officer for e-retailer CardLab, Inc., and was executive VP of operations for Online Resources Corporation. Fisher was previously vice president of revenue marketing at Forcepoint. She has also held leadership roles at 3M and Bazaarvoice.
Austin-based ClearDATA, a managed cloud provider for healthcare security, hired Jennifer Rouse as VP of marketing. Rouse has previously worked at IBM, Cisco Systems, SAS Institue and Misys Healthcare Systems.
- PureWRX Inc., an Austin-based IT provider, named Jon Belcher as president. Belcher was previously VP of commercial and partner sales at Juniper Networks.
- deversus, an Austin-based background checking software company, added John Leonard as director of product development. Leonard, who is co-inventor of four software patents, was most recently CTO at Dominion-Harbor Group in Dallas. He was also the co-founder of IdealAsset, which was acquired by Dominion-Harbor Group.
- Vapor IO, an Austin data and networking startup, hired Don Duet, who recently retired from a 28-year career at Goldman Sachs, as chief operating officer. Duet, who will work from New York, ran Goldman Sachs tech devision and managed its investments into Square, Docker and Barefoot Networks. Vapor IO recently announced it is building a network of distributed edge data centers by placing thousands of Vapor Chambers at the base of cell towers and connecting them to wireless networks. The company, founded by Facebook alum Cole Crawford, emerged from stealth mode in 2015.
Square Root, an Austin-based retail and automotive enterprise software startup, hired Sarah Kampman as its VP of product. Kampman previously held product management and research and development roles at the Advisory Board Company.
- Amherst InsightLabs, an Austin-based real estate data and technology company, named Craig Hancock as its new chief operating officer. Previously, Hancock founded and led RealMassive, an Austin-based technology and data provider to the commercial real estate industry.
- Catapult, a digital consulting company in Austin, promoted Terri Burmeister, who has been with the company 10 years, to president of operations. As part of the move, Catapult CEO David Fuess will stay in his role but focus on strategy and global expansion.
- Umbel, the Austin sports and entertainment data software startup, hired Mike Malo, a former San Antonio Spurs former vice president of brand and marketing, as its new VP of business development. Malo has also worked with the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Diamondbacks. Umbel, meanwhile, is no stranger to the NBA or other pro leagues. It has already worked with the Spurs, Brooklyn Nets, Minnesota Timberwolves and others.
- Phunware, an Austin-based mobile software startup, announced John Kahan, Microsoft's general manager of customer data and analytics, will join its board and become Phunware's first independent director.
- Kony Inc., an Austin-based mobile solutions company, appointed former HP executive Bruce Dahlgren as its new EVP and chief revenue officer. That's a newly-created position. Before this, Dahlgren was senior VP of enterprise services and managing director of Asia Pacific and Japan region at HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
- Main Street Hub, an Austin social media marketing startup, announced it hired former HomeAway chief services officer Jeff Mosler as chief operating officer. Mosler was with HomeAway for seven years. Prior to that, he was an operations leader at Amazon and Microsoft.
Forcepoint, an Austin cybersecurity company formerly called Raytheon Websense, announced it hired Praveen Asthana as its CMO. Asthana was most recently a senior VP at Oracle. He has also worked as CMO at Gravitant and was VP of marketing and strategy for Dell's Enterprise Group.
- SpyCloud, an Austin cybersecurity startup, emerged from stealth in June with $2.5M in funding led by Austin's Silverton Partners. The company was co-founded and is led by Ted Ross, former head of threat intelligence at HP, and David Endler, the former TippingPoint director of security research and founder of Jumpshot.
Departures
- Civitas Learning, which uses predictive analytics to help more students graduate from college, laid off about 10 percent of its employees as part of a move to put more focus on the two product lines that are having the most impact. The company didn't say exactly how many employees that is. But, late last year, Civitas had about 220 employees, which would put layoffs in the ballpark of 20-25 positions.
- Matt Kouri is stepping down from his long-time role as CEO of Mission Capital, which used to be called Greenlights. In an email to Mission Capital readers in June, Kouri said he is leaving Aug. 4 to launch his own national social impact advisory firm. But he said he'll have a strategic partnership with Mission Capital and will become a social venture partner there, as well. Mission Capital Board Chair John Thornborrow, said the nonprofit will launch a national CEO search.
- RideAustin, the nonprofit ride-hailing startup that emerged after Uber and Lyft temporarily discontinued service in Austin, has laid off at least 13 employees since Uber and Lyft returned to the Austin market.
