August was a hot month for hiring in Austin's tech and startup scenes. We noted at least 23 key appointments at local companies during the month, including a few new CEOs. You can stay up to speed with daily hiring news by subscribing to the Austin Inno Beat, our free daily newsletter.
Now, let's take a look at the new talent emerging across the ecosystem.
Price optimizations software company Zilliant said Aug. 1 that it appointed Pascal Yammine as CEO. He was most recently senior vice president and general manager of Salesforce Revenue Cloud. Yammine replaces former CEO Greg Peters, who is taking on an advisory role as an investor and board member. The move comes about eight months after Chicago-based PE firm Madison Dearborn Partners acquired Zilliant for an undisclosed price. Prior to that, the company had raised about $92 million since its founding in 1999 by Peter Zandan, according to Crunchbase. In addition to its Austin headquarters, it has offices in the UK, Germany, France and Italy.
Austin AI health care platform Iodine Software said Aug. 2 it hired Priti Shah as chief product and technology officer. She was previously chief product officer at Finvi, a workflow automation software company. Before that, she was VP of product at Wolters Kluwer Health. Iodine, led by CEO William Chan, late last year landed a private equity deal that gave it a valuation of more than $1 billion. The company — which uses artificial intelligence to interpret raw clinical data, provide insights and improve revenue at health care institutions — also made a couple key acquisitions in 2021.
Austin startup FloorFound, which manages returns and resale of oversized items, said Aug. 1 it hired Corey Blahuta as senior VP of finance and Mandy Shellnut as senior VP of operations. Blahuta was most recently CFO of Austin-based BP3 Global, and prior to that worked at UnboundID. Shellnut was most recently VP of global supply chain at Alchemee, and prior to that was VP of operations at Olaplex Inc. FloorFound, led by CEO Chris Richter, raised a $10.5 million series A back in May.
Austin warehouse management and supply chain analytics software startup AutoScheduler.AI said Aug. 4 that it appointed Keith Moore as CEO. He was previously chief product officer at the company. Prior to that, he founded ProvisionAI and led product management at SparkCognition. AutoScheduler's founder, Tom Moore, moved to the board of directors.
Product review and customer engagement company Bazaarvoice Inc. said Aug. 4 it added Colin Bodell as chief technology officer. He was most recently VP of engineering at Shopify. Prior to that, he was CTO at Groupon, American Eagle Outfitters and Time Inc. He is also on the board of the National Center for Women in Technology. The new hire comes a little over a year after the company announced a majority investment from Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Austin supply chain and purchase order software startup SourceDay said Aug. 4 it hired Adeel Najmi as chief product officer. He was previously CPO at Dallas-based LevaData. The move follows a $31.5 million in series C in February that brought its total funding to nearly $58 million.
Austin-based apartment cleaning and services provider Spruce said Aug. 9 it has hired David Sweet as VP of marketing and growth. He was most recently VP of marketing and product at Austin startup Eterneva. Before that, he was a senior director of growth at Austin-based Favor. The new hire follows Spruce's $26 million series B round in July. The company has said it plans to double its team to roughly 100 full-time employees in coming months.
Chris Tranquill has been promoted to CEO at Khoros LLC. The Austin-based customer engagement software company said Aug. 8 that Tranquill, who joined the business as part of a 2020 acquisition, was promoted from chief strategy officer. He replaced Jack Blaha, who after nearly three years as chief executive moved to a senior adviser role. Blaha "will provide continued support through the transition," according to the announcement. Tranquill was previously co-founder and CEO at Topbox, which Khoros bought in 2020. Citing his more than 25 years in customer experience and "extensive leadership experience, track record for developing market-winning strategies, and success within the organization," the company said in the announcement that Tranquill "is well positioned to lead Khoros into its next phase of growth."
Austin-based employee engagement and human resources software company Kazoo Inc., which does business as Kazoo + WorkTango, said Aug. 11 it added three executives to its team. Lindsey Fine, who was most recently VP of sales at Minneapolis-based Dyspatch, joined as senior VP of sales. Merrily McGugan, who was most recently senior director of global brand and communications at LogicMonitor, joined as VP of brand and communications. And David Sin, who was most recently head of demand generation and operations at Orchatect, became VP of demand generation and growth. Kazoo, which was built out of a combination of YouEarnedIt and HighGround, acquired WorkTango in April. Kazoo is backed by Austin-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners.
Markaaz Inc., an AI-powered fintech startup that moved to Austin last year, said Aug. 11 that it brought on David Clarke as chief data officer in residence. He was part of the Mastercard Track team, and he was previously president of sales and marketing solutions at Dun & Bradstreet. Markaaz has raised $8 million in funding since its launch in 2019.
Locally based edge computing for water utilities company Olea Edge Analytics said Aug. 16 it hired Jennifer Crow as chief financial officer. She was previously CFO at Austin-based AI company CognitiveScale. Meanwhile, the company added former IBM global analyst relations lead Melissa Anderson as VP of marketing and former Datatrak CTO Chris Wilke as VP of operations. The new hires follow a $35 million series C funding last year.
Local hospitality software company Optii Solutions said Aug. 17 it has appointed Anthony Santa Maria as product manager. He was previously a product lead at real estate company Get Done, which is a subsidiary of Rex. Prior to that he worked in sales and support at Apple. Optii Solutions, led by CEO Katherine Grass, was founded in 2006 and has raised about $8.3 million, most recently adding $4 million in 2018, according to Crunchbase.
Austin WordPress technology company WP Engine said Aug. 18 it has appointed Ezinne Udezue as chief product officer and promoted Ramadass Prabhakar to CTO. Udezue was previously VP of product at Procore Technologies, and has also worked at Bazaarvoice and Time Inc. Prabhakar was previously SVP of global engineering at WP Engine. Prabhakar takes over the CTO role from founder Jason Cohen, who's now chief innovation officer.
Austin educational-technology company Lightspeed Systems said Aug. 18 it appointed Sheridan Doerr as executive VP of customer success. She was co-founder of Fluence Learning, and has held prior roles at Illuminate Education, Amplify and Riverside Publishing. She also taught elementary school for eight years. The news follows a recent strategic growth investment from Genstar Capital, and earlier this year it acquired edtech company CatchOn.
An Austin pharmaceutical company previously known as DisperSol Technologies said Aug. 22 that it has a new name, a new path and a new CEO. The company, which is changing its name to AustinPx, Pharmaceutics and Manufacturing named Tim Scott as president and CEO. Scott was previously co-founder of Pharmatek Laboratories, which sold to Catalent Pharma Solutions in 2016. New leadership comes as the company shifts focus from its drug dispersion tech to pharma chemistry services, such as formulation development. AustinPx is backed by Research Corporation Technologies Inc. and Acadia Woods.
Financial-technology startup FirstClose Inc. said Aug. 24 it appointed Craig Austin as executive VP for new and existing customer initiatives. He was most recently a VP at ICE Mortgage Technology, and prior to that was an executive VP of sales at ClosingCorp, according to his LinkedIn page. FirstClose, which develops underwriting workflow automation technology, point-of-sale software and data services for the U.S. home equity and mortgage markets, landed a $35 million growth equity investment from Lateral Investment Management in May.
Identity security startup 443ID said Aug. 24 that it appointed Kristen Komatz as VP of engineering and Paul Oshan as VP of global sales. Komatz was most recently VP of engineering at Ping Identity. Oshan was most recently VP of sales at SecurityScorecard. 443ID, led by CEO Stephen Shoaff, says it has doubled its headcount in less than a year. The company emerged from stealth in June with $8 million in seed funding led by Bill Wood Ventures and Silverton Partners.
Supply chain optimization software company Baxter Planning said Aug. 26 it appointed Mårten Gustafsson as chief revenue officer. He previously worked for PTC, Dassault Systemés and Syncron. The company also appointed Phillip Kennedy as its first ever CMO. Baxter Planning, led by CEO Chuck Moeling, was founded in 1993. It raised about $25 million from Polaris Partners in 2017.
