Austin is a tech talent powerhouse. The city’s blend 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 flow of promising startups.
We track these movements of human capital in our daily newsletter, the Beat.
Below, we’ve listed the top Austin technology and startup hires reported in March.
Hypergiant Industries, a rapidly-growing organization of AI-driven projects and startups, announced Brian Beard and Gary Gattis are joining the team. Beard, who was most recently managing partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Austin, will join as global chief strategy and legal officer. Gattis, who co-founded and was CEO of local game studio Spacetime Studios, was named general-manager-in-residence.
Firebrand Ventures, a Kansas City-based firm with several Austin startups in its portfolio, opened an Austin office and added Ryan Merket as a partner. It’s Firebrand’s first satellite office. Merket went to high school just south of Austin in New Braunfels before he started building Facebook apps and caught the attention of major publications. Soon after, his career took off like a rocket ship with key roles at Facebook, Reddit, CBS Interactive and Amazon, has been an active angel investor for a few years, and he has invested alongside Firebrand in Austin cybersecurity startup Threatcare.
Vertebrae, a Santa Monica-based company that makes 3D and AR shopping experiences, says it’s opening an Austin office with two retail tech leaders. Garrett Eastham is joining as chief data officer. He was cofounder and CEO of Compare Metrics, which was acquired by GroupBy. He was also part of the data and analytics team at Bazaarvoice. Vertebrae also added Rob Weaver as chief revenue officer. He was most recently regional VP of sales at Dosh. Before that he was regional VP at Civitas Learning.
Infinitum Electric, which makes high-efficiency electric motors, has added former GE executive Mark Preston as its COO. He was most recently VP of engineering at Array Technologies, and previously was on the executive teams at Northern Power Systems, Glacier Bay, MegaWatt Solar and several others. The hire comes a bit more than a month after it announced a $1.8 million in a Series A round led by Cottonwood Technology Fund.
Kelsi Kamin, a former venture associate at Capital Factory, has joined Austin VC firm Silverton Partners as an investor. You can learn much more about her early career path in this Q&A from last year.
Barbary Brunner, CMO of Austin-based Phunware, announced March 6 that she is resigning from the company, according to a new SEC filing. “Ms. Brunner will assist in the transitions of her responsibilities until her departure, which has not yet been determined,” the filing said. The announcement comes less than a year after Brunner left her position as CEO of the Austin Technology Council for the position ahead of Phunware’s planned IPO.
ESO, an Austin company that makes software for emergency responders, announced Courtney Johnson is its new CFO. She was previously CFO at All Web Leads, which is also based in Austin. Before that, she was an auditor at Ernst & Young.
GetUpside, a Washington, D.C.-based deals app, hired Jen Millard as its chief revenue officer and lead of its new Austin office. Millard’s background includes leadership roles at MasterCard and Truaxis. Millard is just the start of it. GetUpside plans to fill at least 20 new positions in Austin this year.
Pingboard, which makes collaborative workplace software, announced James Bain is its new COO. He was previously COO at parking reservations company Parking Panda, which sold to SpotHero.
Cybersecurity startup JASK continues expanding its team with the appointment of Kyle Derr as chief architect. It’s a new position. Derr has been with JASK for a year or so, and he has also worked at Cisco Systems, Civitas Learning and Rapid7.
Alegion, an Austin data platform for AI, has appointed Ryan Suneson as its new VP of finance. He was previously senior director of financial planning and analysis at Austin social media company Spredfast.
Strattam Capital, an Austin private equity firm focused on IT companies, announced it has added Neil Willis as a principal. Before Strattam, Willis was VP of the TMT group at GTCR in Chicago. Prior to that, he was an associate at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in New York.
Adlucent, a digital advertising and analytics agency, named Ashwani Dhar as its CEO. Dhar was previously chief client officer at Adlucent, and he replaces founder Michael Griffin, who is taking a role at Adlucent’s parent company, Advantage Solutions.
LogicMonitor, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based performance monitoring platform for enterprise IT that has a large Austin office , appointed three new executives. The firm, owned by Vista Equity Partners added Brandon Holden as COO. He came from ForcePoint and, prior to that, Dell. It also announced former Microsoft and VMware leader Tejaswi Redkar will be its chief product officer. And it named Ziad Fanous, as CFO. He was most recently CFO of Austin edtech company PeopleAdmin.
