Austin's tech scene is booming, even during a pandemic. And as local startups expand and businesses continue to relocate their headquarters here, top talent continues to move through the city.
Below, we've put together a list of the the most interesting hires of June 2021.
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Here we go …
New hires
Austin mortgage platform UpEquity said June 29 it added Andy Pruitt as its CTO. He was most recently CTO at OppLoans, and he co-founded productivity startup Backstop Solutions. The move comes amidst significant growth, including a $25M series A in February that has helped the company expand from 15 people last year to 65 currently. The startup helps buyers with all-cash offers and automates underwriting.
Austin customer insights tech company Bazaarvoice said June 29 it has appointed Tom Addis as president. He was most recently CEO at Kinetica, a cloud data warehouse company. Before that, he was CRO at Box. Bazaarvoice is led by CEO Keith Nealon.
Atmosphere, a streaming TV startup that spun out of Austin-based Chive Media Group, announced June 14 that it added Micah Grimes as VP of news. Grimes was most recently head of social media for NBC News and MSNBC. Grimes will be in charge of Atmosphere's newly formed news division, which will include a newsroom of reporters. Prior to NBC, Grimes worked with social media for ABC News.
Digital marketing software company Conversion Logix, which has offices in Seattle and Austin, said it has hired Sarah Gaeta as CEO. Gaeta has experience at a variety of big-name companies, including TiVo Corp. and Adobe Systems. She has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the software industry, the company said. Conversion Logix, founded in 2010, has about 90 employees across its offices. Gaeta is based in Menlo Park, Calif.
Austin-based CLEAResult, which helps tailor energy efficiency plans, said it has appointed Rich McBee as its new CEO. He was most recently CEO of Riverbed Technologies. He replaces Scott Boose, who stepped down as CEO in April.
Austin AI aviation company SkyGrid added Rumi Morales to its advisory board. She is a partner and board member at Outlier Ventures and former head of CME Ventures. SkyGrid, formed by Austin AI company SparkCognition and aviation giant Boeing, uses blockchain and AI to help manage airspace for drones and AI-powered cyber defense actions.
Austin web app security startup Invicti Security said June 10 it has added Sonali Shah as its chief product officer. She has previously worked with HUMAN, Veracode, BitSight and Verisign. Invicti, led by CEO Ferruh Mavituna, the founder of Netsparker, is backed by Turn/River Capital, but funding amounts weren't available. Last year, the company said it had more than $40M in annual recurring revenue.
Austin fintech company Q2 Holdings, Inc. has appointed Mike Volanoski as its CRO. He was previously GM of Microsoft's retail and consumer goods commercial operating team and CRO at Market Logic Software.
Sonim, an Austin company that makes smartphones and other devices designed to handle heavy use, appointed Robert Tirva as its president and COO. Tirva was previously CFO at the publicly-traded company. Before that, Tirva was CFO at Intermedia, as well as corporate controller at Dropbox. The move comes as CEO Tom Wilkinson is departing the company. Wilkinson had been CEO since October 2019 and was CEO at Xplore Technologies prior to that. Sonim, founded in 1999, went public in 2019.
