Austin tech companies and startups made a lot of key personnel moves in May. Below we wrap up the news from Austin Inno's recent Beat newsletters. To sign up for daily Beat updates, go here.
RV rental marketplace RVshare said May 26 it has named Melissa Fortenberry chief product officer. She started at RVshare in 2018 and was vice president of product at the company before the promotion. Before RVshare, she was VP of global partner and product marketing at HomeAway, which is now Vrbo and owned by Expedia. RVshare, led by CEO Jon Gray, a former chief revenue officer at HomeAway, said it has seen a 40% year-over-year increase in revenue from bookings. The company has raised $150 million since its founding in 2018.
Austin-based digital health startup MDisrupt said May 25 it has appointed Greg Nagy as its chief operating officer, a new role at the company. He was previously chief marketing officer at Drawbridge Health and VP of global marketing at Topcon Eyecare. MDisrupt, led by CEO Ruby Gadelrab, helps digital health companies expand products with clinically crowdsourced data. The company was founded in 2019 in San Jose, California. It moved to Austin last fall and raised a $6 million seed round in march.
Purchasing-tech company BidPrime said May 10 it promoted Anna Barnett to VP of client services. She was previously director of client services. Prior to that, she worked at Blue Light Integrated Services, according to her LinkedIn. BidPrime was founded in 2009, according to Crunchbase.
Austin software firm Growth Acceleration Partners said May 10 it has added Jocelyn Sexton as VP of marketing. She was previously leading global corporate marketing at Dover Fueling Solutions. Prior to that, she worked in marketing at NI, SailPoint and Emerson Automation Solutions. Growth Acceleration Partners was co-founded by CEO CEO Joyce Durst in 2007.
Tom vonReichbauer on June 1 became chief financial officer of Austin-based 3D home printing startup Icon. He was most recently CFO at Sunrun, a San Francisco-based solar panel company. Before that, he was CFO at Nest, which was acquired by Google. He's also held capital raising and growth roles at Tesla and Ford Motor Company. Last year, Icon raised a $207 million series B round, and earlier this year debuted its latest home design at South by Southwest.
“Tom has been a strategic leader in some of the most ambitious and important private and public companies in the world,” stated Jason Ballard, Icon co-founder and CEO.
Vacasa, a Portland-based vacation rental company that last year acquired Austin's TurnKey Vacation Rentals, said May 5 it promoted John Banczak to chief strategy officer, a new role at the company. Banczak was co-founder and CEO at TurnKey leading up to its acquisition. Before co-founding TurnKey in 2012, he was president of BedandBreakfast.com through its acquisition by HomeAway.
About a month after landing a $25 million series A-1 funding round, Austin- and California-based space simulation and communications startup Slingshot Aerospace announced Erin Defossé as its new chief operating officer and Belinda Marchand as chief scientist. Defossé was most recently a senior executive at Austin education-tech startup Aceable. He was also previously a spacecraft mission design engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is founder of the Magellan International School in Austin. Marchand, meanwhile, started with Slingshot last summer as director of astrodynamics and R&D. Before that, she was an engineer at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, as well as an assistant professor at Purdue University and UT. Both Marchand and Defossé will be based in the Austin office.
ATX Venture Partners said May 4 it has made a key hire that will help it grow through its next chapter of investing in startups in Austin and beyond, especially in later-stage and follow-on investments. The Austin-based venture capital firm appointed Jeff Thompson, who has invested in ATX's funds as a limited partner since its early days, as partner and president. Thompson was most recently the northeast divisional managing director at Wells Fargo, and he has overseen major transactions with Legg Mason and Merrill Lynch. Thompson has lived in Austin, but is now based in Connecticut.
"He's a friend, an ally and an LP. He's watched the money being made," ATX Venture Partners Partner and co-founder Chris Shonk told me in a recent interview. "He's already invested in the firm. And to have someone of that caliber say, 'you know what, I see where the hockey puck is going.' This is exciting."
Austin home services startup Spruce said May 4 it has hired Rachel Sterling as its director of analytics. She was previously a business innovation engineer at Bulgari. Prior to that she worked on customer insights at Accenture. Spruce, which according to Crunchbase has raised $14.6 million, last year acquired Chicago-based cleaning services startup The Minte for an undisclosed amount. And on May 6, the company said that it hired Kristi Johnson-Noble as its director of people. She was most recently at Florida-based professional services firm WGI, and, before that, worked at Big Red Dog, a division of WGI, and as HR manager at Circuit of The Americas.
