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Now, here are the top hires, promotions, departures and layoffs from Austin technology startups from September 2018.
Kasasa, an Austin fintech company, announced it has hired Amy Gililland as its chief financial officer. She has previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nortel Networks and Kony.
R/GA, an New York-based design and ad agency, announced Jason Ambrose is its executive creative director in Austin. Ambrose was previously creative director at Austin’s Preacher and worked on campaigns for The Container Store, Vimeo and others.
OutboundEngine, an Austin marketing software startup, has a relatively new CEO and CFO. The ABJ reports [subscriber content] that Marc Pickren quickly took over as CEO in May. Since then, he has hired John Eckman to be its new CFO. OutboundEngine founder Branndon Stewart has taken on an advisory role. Eckman was previously senior VP of marketing at Mr. Cooper in the Dallas area. Eckman was previously CFO of Packet Design, according to his LinkedIn page.
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 [subscriber content] Dosh is expanding from about 100 employees to about 200 by the end of 2019.
Vyopta, an Austin video monitoring software company, appointed Brett Panter as its CFO. He was most recently CFO at Innography. Before that, he was CFO at NetQoS. Vyopta also announced Subo Guha is its new VP of product and stratgy. He previously worked at a few startups, as well as CA Technologies and Dell-EMC.
Kony, a digital banking software company, appointed Jeffery Kendall to a newly created position of senior VP and general manager of Kony DBX, a financial services arm of the company. Kendall has been at Kony for seven years. Kony also announced it appointed Miljan Stamenkovic as its regional VP of Europe for banking and financial services. Before Kony, Stamenkovic worked at Backbase.
RVshare, an RV rental marketplace based in Austin and Akron, Ohio, has added former HomeAway executive Melissa Fortenberry as its VP of product and former Postmates executive Martijn Scheijbeler as VP of marketing. Fortenberry was previously HomeAway’s VP of global partner and product marketing.
SparkCognition, a fast-growing AI startup in Austin, announced it has 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.
Newchip, an investments marketplace with an emphasis on cryptocurrencies, hired former Honest Dollar COO Lance Huntley as a senior executive. Prior to Honest Dollar, Huntley worked at FINRA, as well as RiverStone Wealth Management, National Financial Partners and others, according to his LinkedIn page.
Bazaarvoice, an Austin reviews and marketing software company, announced Ann Kennedy has joined the executive team as a general manager of global data solutions. Prior to Bazaarvoice, Kennedy was chief product officer at ShareThis. She has also been VP of product at Acxion.
Cody Wilson, who is facing charges for sexual assault against a minor, resigned from his role as CEO of controversial 3D-printed gun startup Defense Distributed, TechCrunch reported.
Identity management software maker SailPoint has appointed William Bock as its new chairman of the board of directors. Brock, who was a current SailPoint board member, was previously president at Austin-based Silicon Labs, where he is still a board member. Before that, Brock was a partner at CenterPoint Ventures. The move is part of a broader shift in which private equity firm Thoma Bravo is giving up two of its three board seats following SailPoint’s IPO. As part of that, Marcel Bernard has stepped down and Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro will also step down after the company’s Nov. 6 annual meeting.
