Austin startups and tech companies have been busy making key hires as we head into the holiday season.
In November, we tracked 12 local companies that brought on new talent to help them grow through their next chapters.
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Bumble Inc. co-founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is stepping down from her role as CEO on Jan. 2 almost a decade after starting the Austin-based dating app company. She will be succeeded by Lidiane Jones, who is currently CEO at workforce communications company Slack, according to a Nov. 6 announcement. Herd will remain at Bumble as executive chair.
Herd founded Bumble in 2014 after being a co-founder and vice president of marketing at Tinder. She built Bumble into a fierce rival with a differentiated approach to dating – requiring women to make the first move and following up with a series of user experience rules that helped keep women more comfortable and safer in the rapidly emerging world of app-based dating. In addition to its namesake dating app, Bumble also operates Bumble for Friends, Badoo and Fruitz.
Austin-based health education company Ideology Health said Nov. 6 that it has hired Sandra Park as its chief compliance officer and general counsel. She was most recently VP of the commercial legal group at Gilead-owned company Kite. Before that, she was assistant general counsel at Genetech and on the regulatory counsel at the FDA. Ideology, led by CEO Mike Gramling, was founded in 2020.
SmartSights, a company formed by the merger of WIN-911 and SyTech earlier this year, announced it has appointed Corey Rhoden as CEO. The company, which specializes in industrial monitoring and notifications, also announced Greg Jackson, who had been serving as CEO, will transition to chief operating officer.
Rhoden was most recently CEO of Austin-based IoT monitoring company Olea Edge Analytics. Before that, he was senior VP at Enverus.
Austin-based cybersecurity startup SpyCloud said Nov. 7 it has named Bill Cull as VP of federal, a role overseeing the company's products for defense, national security and civilian agencies. He was most recently VP of North America public sector at Palo Alto Networks, and he has held similar federal roles with IBM, Oracle and Splunk. The move follows SpyCloud's $110 million funding round announced in August, and the move is expected to help the company protect government agencies from intrusions and fraud. SpyCloud already works with 15-plus federal agencies, including the IRS and U.S. Cyber Command.
Austin digital banking and lending company Q2 Holdings Inc. said Nov. 13 that it has appointed Himagiri Mukkamala as chief development officer, Beth-Anne Bygum as chief information security officer and Blair Williams as chief risk officer. Mukkamala was previously general manager of Penguin Edge and CEO of Pelion. He has also held senior leadership roles at Arm, GE Digital, Raaga Corp and Sybase.
Bygum was most recently senior VP and chief security and compliance officer at Acxiom. Williams was previously managing director of risk and technology services at SS&C Technologies and chief risk officer of DST Systems.
FlashParking Inc., an Austin digital parking and vehicle charging company, said Nov. 14 that it has named Eric Levine as chief growth officer. He was most recently chief client officer at Aurea Software. Before that, he was executive director of consumer and SMB marketing at Dell and chief marketing officer at Trilogy.
Flash, led by CEO Dan Sharplin, last year landed a $250 million-plus strategic investment led by Austin-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which acquired a minority stake in the business.
Locally based prepaid credit card company Green Dot Corp. said Nov. 16 that it promoted Dave Harden to the role of CTO. He joined the company's executive team last year and was most recently senior VP of product development. Before that, he was managing director and head of core banking tech at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and in tech leadership roles at Bridgewater Associates.
Greendot, led by CEO George Gresham, was formed in Pasadena, Calif., in 1999 and went public in 2010. It moved its headquarters to Austin in 2021. The company has about 1,200 employees spread across its multiple offices, according to ABJ research.
Austin-based edtech startup Aceable said Nov. 15 that it has appointed Neil Seth as CTO and Kevin Morris as chief product officer. Seth was most recently CTO at Austin-based last-mile delivery startup Dropoff. Before that, he was CTO at GameFly Inc. Morris, meanwhile, was most recently VP of product and engineering at Indeed.com. Prior to that, he was senior VP of product at Khorus.
Aceable founder and CEO Blake Garrett said the new hires come as the startup is introducing AI-powered enhancements to its real estate and drivers ed offerings. Those big moves will be coming later this year and early 2024.
Volcon Inc., which makes electric off-road vehicles, said Nov. 21 that it has appointed Doug Cline as its director of U.S. sales. He was most recently director of OEM partnerships at Dominion DMS. Before that, he was a sales operations manager at Gulf States Toyota.
The new hire comes just days after Volcon announced it had raised $18 million though an underwritten public offering. It targeted that money to general corporate purposes.
Austin-based health care services and insurance company Curative said Nov. 28 that it has hired Dr. Brandon Charles as its new chief medical officer. He was most recently managing director of partner health practice at Accenture. Prior to that, he was senior VP and chief operating officer at John Hopkins HealthCare and an associate at McKinsey & Company.
Curative, led by co-founder and CEO Fred Turner, became well-known for its Covid-19 testing and vaccinations during the pandemic. Since then, it has acquired an insurance company and expanded its offerings to include employer-based health plans.
Austin-based emergency communications and threat monitoring company AlertMedia said Nov. 29 that it has named Marc Ostryniec as its new chief revenue officer. He was most recently chief sales officer at Austin-based BigCommerce. Before that, he was head of sales at Austin-based CSID, which was acquired for $360 million by Experian Partner Solutions, where he also went on to led sales and go-to-market strategy. His resume also includes sales leadership roles at Bazaarvoice, TATA Consultancy Services and Trilogy.
Last year, AlertMedia secured a major investment from Austin-based Vista Equity Partners. The company is led by CEO Christopher Kenessey.
Austin- and San Francisco-based speech-to-text company Rev said on Nov. 29 that it has added Aron England as chief product and technology officer. He was most recently chief product officer at Babylon Healthcare Services in Austin. Before that, he was VP of product management for data and AI at Expedia Group and has held key development roles at Vrbo, Dell and Open Text.
Rev, led by founder and CEO Jason Chicola, runs a transcription marketplace and is a speech-to-text partner for Vimeo, Spotify, Yale, PBS and Sundance Film Festival. The company, which has raised about $33 million, went through a round of layoffs last year.
