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.
Below, we’ve rounded up the top hires we spotted in January.
Marissa Tarleton, who has been RetailMeNot‘s CMO since 2015, was appointed as the company’s CEO. She started the new role Jan. 7, and she reports to Erik Prusch, the new CEO of Harland Clarke Holdings, which acquired RetailMeNot in 2017. She replaces founder and CEO Cotter Cunningham, who is becoming chairman of the company. He will also take on a new role with MacAndrews & Forbes, owner of Harland Clarke Holdings and RetailMeNot, working on new emerging technology ventures and initiatives.
RF Code, an Austin company making real-time asset management software for data centers, announced David Williams as its VP of strategy and business development. He was previously senior VP of portfolio strategy at CA Technologies.
ESO, an Austin data and software company for emergency services, hired Remle Crowe as its research scientist and quality improvement manager. She was most recently a research fellow at the National Registry of EMTs.
Capital Factory, an Austin accelerator and co-working space, announced four big promotions in a blog post by founder Joshua Baer. Gordon Daugherty, who is a CF co-founder and was previously managing director, became president. Chris Gillan was promoted to senior VP of corporate innovation. Bryan Chambers became VP of accelerator and partner in the CF fund. Abba Binns was promoted to VP of programming and events. CF also announced several new job openings and announced Georgia Thomsen is leaving her position as chief operating officer after four years.
Praxent, an Austin digital product development firm, announced several key hires made in recent months. Deanna Dial, a former VP of product at Austin-based Modernize, joined the team in 2017 and is now principle of product strategy. Ryan Spanswick, a former senior manager of product design at Blackboard, became the director of product design. Jamie Gelo, formerly of Mutual Mobile and uShip, came on as director of product management. And David Moore, formerly of Trendkite, became marketing director.
Forcepoint, an Austin cybersecurity company, announced Matt Preschern as its new CMO. He was most recently senior VP of marketing at CA Technologies. He was also previously CMO of HCL Technologies and Windstream Communications.
DISCO, an Austin-based startup that provides ediscovery solutions for law firms and other businesses, named former Bazaarvoice VP of HR Aaron P. Trull as its VP of HR. Prior to Bazaarvoice, Trull worked at Dell, AMD, Hewlett-Packard and Ernst & Young. The hire is one of many for DISCO, which plans to add up to 150 Austin-based jobs in the next two to three years.
AgileAssets, an Austin transportation management software company, announced its CEO Stuart Hudson will retain his title, but shift focus to expansion efforts as new members join the executive team. The company said its new senior executive team includes Chief Operating Officer Michael Lester (former VP of Product), Chief Growth Officer Joe Garvey (former VP of the Client Group), and Chief People Officer Marnie Boyd (former VP of Human Resources), along with incumbent CFO Dirk Luthro.
SailPoint, an Austin-based ID management company, appointed Andrew Kahl as chief customer officer. Kahl was most recently senior VP and general manager of global customer success services at Juniper Networks. He’s also held roles at NetApp and co-founded CREDANT Technologies, which was acquired by Dell.
Austin-based Slide UX, which does UX R&D, added Tia Krupa as a principal consultant. She was most recently working on customer experiences for TurboTax, Mint and Turbo brands.
Cedar Park IoT startup Viviota announced Eric Newman as its new CEO. Co-founder and former CEO Barry Hutt will become CRO. The ABJ has more [subscriber content].
CognitiveScale, a fast-growing Austin AI startup, announced it added ML Maco as its chief revenue officer. Maco was recently SVP at HPE and she has also been an SVP at Oracle.
Bloomfire, an Austin customer insights software company, made several key moves. It promoted Samantha Schneider to VP of client success. It also promoted Jennifer Hakala to senior engineer, Marcus Torres to senior client success manager, and Rachel Alexander as senior marketing manager.
The Austin Technology Council named Amber Gunst as its new CEO, a position she has held as interim CEO since May last year. Gunst was previously head of sales and membership with ATC, and she previously worked at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Rocket Dollar, an Austin fintech startup that helps people invest in self-directed IRAs, hired Brooke Boden for its newly-created VP of finance and strategy position. He was most recently with Baker Tilly Capital‘s Austin office performing corporate finance projects for clients. Prior to relocating back to Austin two years ago, he worked in private equity in the Middle East, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom for a decade.
ScaleFactor, an automated accounting software startup, announced Robert Gilbreath as its new senior VP of marketing. He used to work at Austin-based ShipStation as CMO and VP of partnerships. Before that, he was VP of e-commerce marketing at Calendars.com.
Bazaarvoice, an Austin customer reviews software company, announced Joe Rohrlich is its new CRO. He was previously GM and executive VP of Bazaarvoice’s European and Asia-Pacific businesses. He’s been with the company for a decade.
Ladder, an Austin health and wellness marketplace, announced a bunch of key hires. Former Sorin Capital Management partner Tom Digan joins as president. Former Mautic senior director of product management Justin Forte was named director of product. Former PayPal Creative Director Chad Geraci joins as director of design. Free Gifts founder Zach Allia was named director of magic. Former Beachbody senior director of online acquisition Greg Drewganis joins as director of digital growth. And Jamie Brooks, a former recruiter at Uber and Wayfair, joins as head of recruiting.
EverlyWell named its first-ever CMO today. Jenifer Dasho, who led the consumer and creator marketing team at Pinterest, will move from Cali to Austin for the new gig. Dasho also previously worked as head of brand at Trulia. EveryWell, which provides at-home health test kits, now has 51 employees.
Snow Software, a Stockholm- and Austin-based intelligence and automations software company, named Vishal Rao as its new CEO, succeeding founder Axel Kling, who will remain on the board of directors. Rao was previously president and COO at Snow. Snow also named Rachel Mooney as chief people and culture officer and James Denena as CFO. Mooney was previously with Vodafone as a leader of strategic and operation HR. Denena was most recently VP of global finance and corporate development for PROS.
