Here are 10 recent hires and promotions we noticed in the technology and startup space.
• Austin venture capital firm Next Coast announced Feb. 22 it has promoted Anthony Walker to partner at its search division, Next Coast ETA. He will co-lead the ETA division, which is an entrepreneurship-through-acquisition effort, with Dustin Sellers. Walker joined Next Coast as a principal in 2020. Before that, he was vice president of global investment research at Goldman Sachs. He is also co-founder of web-based design platform Ellisen Inc.
• Everise, an outsourcing firm that has its U.S. headquarters in Austin, said Feb. 22 it has added Kevin Bottoms as chief revenue officer. He was previously global vice president of business development at TELUS International. Everise, founded by CEO Sudhir Agarwal, has multiple offices around the globe with its U.S. HQ in Austin. The company has made three acquisitions since its founding in 2016, according to Crunchbase.
• Austin-based shipping software and logistics company Auctane said Feb. 16 it has hired Chris Nester as its chief financial officer. He was previously CFO at Transplace, a logistics tech company that was acquired by Uber in 2021 for about $2.25B. Auctane, previously known as Stamps.com, is the operator of several brands with local HQs and/or teams, including ShipStation, ShippingEasy, ShipWorks, ShipEngine and others.
• Austin emergency monitoring and communications startup AlertMedia, said Feb. 16 it has appointed Cheryl Steele to its board of directors. She is vice president of global security and resiliency at Starbucks Coffee Company. AlertMedia said the selection was sourced via Vista Equity Partner's independent board program, which follows Vista's investment in the company nearly a year ago.
• Capsll Inc., an Austin startup developing a platform to save memories across social media channels and other digital sources to help tell life stories, said Feb. 14 it has added Sam Syed as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. He has most recently been a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual, according to his LinkedIn page, and has also worked in wealth management with deVere Group and Guardian Wealth Management. Capsll, led by CEO Clint Davis, recently raised $80,000 in a crowdfunding campaign on Fundify.
• Lord John Browne, former CEO of oil giant BP, is now board chairman of Austin-based artificial intelligence company SparkCognition. Browne has been on the board since 2020. SparkCognition and BP have a cozy relationship, with the former’s software deployed on the latter's oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. The AI software can do things like predict when equipment will fail, helping maintenance crews intervene and avoid disasters. The Feb. 10 announcement noted that Browne replaced as chairman Steve Nordlund, who remains on the board. SparkCognition, founded in 2013 by CEO Amir Husain, has raised about $300 million, including a $123 million series D round in January that valued the company at $1.4 billion.
• J. Scott Di Valerio has joined Literati, the Austin-based book subscription company, as its first chief financial and operating officer. He previously held the same position at FabFitFun, a California-based company selling subscriptions boxes of lifestyle products such as makeup and houseware. Di Valerio has also worked in the C-suites at Austin-based companies Spiceworks and RetailMeNot. Literati, founded in 2016, said it is delivering “millions of books to children each year.” It has partnered with authors and celebrities such as Stephen Curry, Richard Branson and Jesmyn Ward to curate book boxes. The company now employs 162 and has raised $54M total since its founding. In addition to typical COO/CFO duties, Di Valerio will also oversee Literati’s new book fairs division, according to a Feb. 9 announcement. In January, the company bought Follett Book Fairs.
• Devon Choo has been named chief operating officer of Austin-based Billd, a construction-financing startup that gets building material suppliers paid faster and is arguably growing faster than any other company in the Texas capital. He was previously chief operating officer at With Clarity, a New York-based direct-to-consumer online jeweler where he helped grow revenue $18.5 million in three years, according to the Billd announcement. Before that he was a general manager at eBay. Choo's hire "further support Billd's mission to reach more contractors and sub-contractors, reducing payment risk and operational burden," the company said. Christopher Doyle and Jesse Weissburg founded Billd in 2018 (Doyle remains president and CEO) and last year it ranked No. 1 among large companies on ABJ's Fastest Growing Companies Awards, with three-year revenue growth of 349%. Billd raised a $30 million series B round in 2021. Choo's hire follows another recent leadership additions at Billd: it added Anath DiPillo as director of marketing.
• Austin home finance startup Homeward said Feb. 2 it has added four new executives. Its new chief revenue officer, Jamie Sampson, was most recently Realtor.com's senior vice president of sales and customer service. Its new chief people officer, Chelsea Woodhead, was most recently chief people officer at Austin-based Arrive Logistics. Megan Tedford, the company's new senior VP of financial products, was most recently at GM of international markets at NerdWallet. And Homeward's new senior vice president of marketing, Chike Farrell, was most recently with SkyKick. The new hires follow $371 million in funding for the company, which is led by CEO Tim Heyl.
• Austin wealth management software company Kestra Financial has added Jennifer Hollers as head of financial planning. She was previously a managing director at Silicon Valley Bank. Hollers will be charged with building out a new financial platform to help Kestra clients. The firm, based in Austin, works with around 1,800 independent financial professionals on comprehensive securities and investment advisory services. Kestra Financial sold a majority stake to Warburg Pincus in 2019.
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