We track key hiring announcements and departures in the Austin 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.
Now, here are the most important hires, promotions, departures and layoffs from Austin technology startups from January 2018. If I missed someone, let me know by emailing bwistrom@americaninno.com.
ESO Solutions, Inc., a data and software startup for emergency responders, hired Brent Myers as its chief medical officer. Myers was most recently chief medical officer and executive VP for medical operations at Evolution Health. He is also president of the National Association of EMS Physicians. ESO Solutions also announced it hired Matt Walker as its chief operating officer. Walker was most recently president of the west region for Sharecare Health Data Services.
uShip, a shipping logistics startup, hired Kris Lamb as its new CTO. Lam was previously VP and general manager of cloud security at Forcepoint here in Austin. Lamb's responsibilities include expanding Drive4Schenker, a uShip and DB Schenker software used by transportation companies in Europe. Prior to Forcepoint, Lamb held positions at Bastille Networks, Arbo Networks, and IBM.
eRelevance, an automated marketing service for small- to mid-sized businesses, appointed Rafael Landesty as VP of business development and Travis Skidmore as VP of client success and retention. Landestoy has worked in sales at PatientPop and Counsyl. Skidmore was previously VP of client success at SpiceCSM.
Medici Technologies, an app that provides secure communications between patients and healthcare providers, hired Nerissa Sardi as VP of marketing. She was previously VP of marketing at MedSpring Urgent Care.
Xplore Technologies, an Austin-based leader in rugged computing, announced the appointment of Tom Wilkinson as its CEO. Wilkinson, who joined the company as its CFO in 2015, has been serving as CEO since the business’ previous chief executive, Mark Holleran, resigned in October.
Netspend, a provider of prepaid debit cards for personal and commercial use, announced it appointed Kelley Knutson as its new president. Knutson was previously executive VP of TSYS and president of International Issuer Solutions. Netspend is a wholly owned subsidiary of TSYS.
LivingTree, an edtech startup that provides a private, secure collaboration network for districts, schools and teachers, announced it acquired Washington D.C.-based Edbacker, a district fundraising tool. As part of the acquisition, Edbacker founder Gary Hensley will join LivingTree as its new CEO.
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.
Epicor Software Corporation, an enterprise software maker, appointed David Mehok as chief financial officer and Clarke Pich to a new role as head of global professional services for the company. Mehok was most recently CFO of CLEAResult. He also worked at Dell for 18 years in a variety of finance roles. Pich was most recently head of North American cloud consulting sales at Oracle.
FlashParking, maker of smart stations for parking garages, lots and valets, hired Matt Cahill as its new chief strategy officer. Cahill was previously executive VP of Towne Park.
Priceline, a travel booking company, hired David Goulden as its new chief financial officer. Goulden was previously president of Dell Technologies' Infrastructure Solutions Group, CFO Magazine reported.
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.
uStudio, an enterprise media platform, added Bryan Jones as chief operating officer, Matt Dussling as VP of sales and Michael Neis as VP of engineering. Jones is a former co-founder of Collider Media and b.well Connected Health. Dussling is former VP of sales at Capriza, and he has worked in software sales at Spredfast, Lombardi Software and Trilogy. Neis was VP of engineering atFavor -- prior to that he was VP of software development at SolarWinds.
Bazaarvoice CFO James R. Offerdahl will step down from his role as soon as the company's planned acquisition by Marlin Private Equity Partners closes, according to a new SEC filing. Offerdahl was appointed as CFO in 2013. Before that, he as CFO of Convio Inc., which went through three acquisitions and an IPO. Bazaarvoice shareholders approved the acquisition at the end of January.
Atlanta-based health tech software startup Rimidi hired Josh Claman, a former chief business officer of 3D printing startup Stratasys, as its new CEO. Claman has also worked at Dell and Reach Local. He's based in Austin, and Rimidi plans to open an office here later this year.
Austin's piLYTIX Sports, which makes AI tech for sales and marketing, announced a batch of advisors in January. Among them are Teri Pierce, senior associate athletics director at the University of Texas and Scott Shafer, director of CRM for the Milwaukee Bucks. Others come from big name universities, the Atlanta Hawks and the Colorado Avalanche.
RVshare, an Akron, Ohio-based peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace founded in 2013, hired Jon Gray as its CEO. Gray (pictured right) 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.
Bridgepoint Consulting, a finance, IT and management consulting service, hired Vijay George as director of its technology consulting practice. Before that, he was in independent strategic consulting services. Previous to that, he was CIO director of innovation & technology for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Polycom, a San Jose, Calif.-based communications technology business, hired Donald A. Williams as its executive VP of worldwide engineering. He'll work out of Polycom's R&D office in Austin. Prior to this, Williams was VP and head of engineering at Prysm in San Jose. He has also worked at Skype, Cisco and Autonometry.
