Austin adds new tech jobs daily. And as local startups rise and companies continue to move their headquarters and open offices to join Austin’s tech and innovation ecosystem, top talent continues to cycle through the city.
We’ve rounded up the the most interesting moves of January 2020 below. And you can get more of this type of information on the regular by subscribing to our daily newsletter, the Beat.
Here we go …
Local WordPress platform company WP Engine promoted Lisa Box to senior VP of corporate development. It came as she earned a CRN 2020 Channel Chief award. Prior to this position, she was VP of strategic alliances and business development with WP Engine. Before that, she was VP of business development at Endurance International Group and Oversee.net.
LiveOak Venture Partners named new members to its Venture Advisors program. Perhaps the most prominent name on the list is Lynn Atchison, an accomplished CFO who helped lead Hoovers and HomeAway through their IPOs and went on to be CFO of Spredfast. Also on the list is Peter Klante, whose LinkedIn shows him as chairman of Bloomfire and as a board director at NSS Labs, along with earlier work as a CEO at HyPerformix and as a senior director at Lotus/IBM. Dave Rubin, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Austin real estate tech startup OJO Labs, is also part of the program. Prior to OJO Labs, he founded several other startups, including ProfitFuel, which merged with Yodle in 2011, and HomeCity. Keith Zoellner, current CTO of Austin e-discovery startup DISCO, rounds out the advisory program. He also worked at Spredfast and previously helped lead teams at StoredIQ, which was sold to IBM.
Kimberly Storin has been hired as RapidDeploy Inc’s first chief marketing officer — and the 9-1-1 tech company’s 100th employee. Prior to joining RapidDeploy, Storin was vice president of worldwide marketing for IBM Cognitive Systems, the ABJ reported.
Austin sales and analytics software company Bloomfire has added Patrick Davis as its VP of sales. He joined the company in 2014, most recently serving as director of strategic accounts. Before that, he was a sales director at Spredfast and Sprinklr.
Austin database automation startup Datical appointed Dion Cornett as president. He was previously CEO of ReachForce, which was acquired by Leadspace. He’s also former VP of global sales at MariaDB Corporation and was a VP at Red Hat.
Phunware, an Austin mobile data and product company, announced it has added former T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services CEO Todd Ruppert to its advisory board.
Lesley Robinson was brought on as the new program manager at the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute at UT. She was most recently head of Americas for INCO, a Paris-based entrepreneurial support organization, as director of the Tarmac TX accelerator. She was previously director of the global engagement office at Austin’s St. Edward’s University.
DISCO, an Austin legal tech company, announced it added Sean Nathaniel as its COO, Sal Caruso as CIO and Uttam Reddy as VP of revenue operations. Nathaniel is a former executive VP of workflow automation business unit and global chief technology officer at Austin-based Upland Software. Caruso was previously with One Call Care Management as VP and CIO. Reddy was previously with DoubleHorn/Liftr Insights as COO.
LeanDNA, an Austin-based factory inventory software startup, appointed Tod Klubnik as CRO. He was previously COO at FireMon and senior VP of sales at Parametric Technology Corporation. The appointment comes a couple months after the company secured a $15M Series B led by Austin’s S3 Ventures.
Work management software company Upland Software added Jim Rudden as executive VP and CMO; Virginia Miracle as executive VP and chief customer officer; and Joseph Rodriguez as senior VP of global account sales. Rudden was previously CMO at Austin-based Spredfast. Miracle was previously CCO at Austin’s ScaleFactor. And Rodriguez joins from sales leadership consultancy HASL and was previously VP of sales at Spredfast.
Tyler Haney, the founder and CEO of fast-rising athletic apparel startup Outdoor Voices, is said to be stepping down from her role. Business of Fashion reported Haney is stepping down but will remain at the company in a different role. A source told the publication Outdoor Voices, which has raised $64M in funding, was losing $2M a month last year.
Hypergiant, an AI company with primary offices in Austin, promoted Will Griffin to chief ethics officer. In the role, he’ll work on new ways to analyze ethical development of AI products. Griffin, a winner of the NAACP Image Award, was previously VP of ethics and diversity in AI at Hypergiant.
Austin Tech Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes civic engagement in the local tech community, added six new advisory board members. They include Erin Burget, director of external and legislative affairs at AT&T; Liz Coufal, director of business development and impact at Valkyrie Intelligence; Matt Glazer, co-founder of Blue Sky Partners; Heather Lewis, a client success leader at DISCO; Tori Moreland, founder of Moreland Consulting; and Elisa Sepulveda, director of strategy for Alliance Abroad.
Locally based HR software company TalentGuard added Dana Dohse as its VP of marketing. Dohse was previously director of marketing at Austin-based Bloomfire. The new hire follows the startup’s $4M Series B in July last year.
ScaleFactor, a highly successful and heavily funded Austin fintech startup, has laid off a few dozen people as it reorganizes, the ABJ reported. It’s part of an overhaul they’re calling ScaleFactor 2.020 in which they’ll recruit financial professionals to their marketplace to help small businesses with insights. ScaleFactor 2.020 has involved about 40 layoffs, said CEO Kurt Rathmann, including accounting professionals and other employees who worked directly with ScaleFactor’s customers. Those roles will now largely be filled by independent contractors.
Expedia, the travel tech giant that owns Austin-based Vrbo (formerly HomeAway), is laying off 12% of its workforce, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported. No word on local job reductions yet, but about 500 layoffs are expected in Seattle. Expedia is also reducing its use of vendors and contractors.
Cognite AS, a Norway-based company that makes software for energy and manufacturing operations, has landed several local tech veterans to join its ranks in its North American headquarters, which is split between Austin and Houston, the ABJ reports. Among them, John King left SparkCognition, where he was VP of marketing and communications, to become VP and head of North American marketing. Cara McCarty, formerly with Code Pilot, came on as VP or HR and Michelle Holdford, from Weber Shandwick, came on as head of global PR.
Local cybersecurity company CynergisTek added three new people to its board of directors: Dana Sellers, former CEO of Encore Health Resources; Michael Loria, former VP of corporate and business development for IBM Security; and Robert McCashin, former chairman and CEO of Indentix. Meanwhile, J.D. Abouchar, chairman since May 2016, said he’ll retire at the end of his term later this year.
