While South by Southwest was in full swing, along with several other big tech events, startups and tech companies were busy announcing new products. But several also added key talent to their teams.
Take a closer look at the new faces at these companies in our March tech hiring roundup. If you'd like to get news like this as it emerges each day, consider subscribing to our daily tech and startup newsletter, the Beat.
Austin- and San Francisco-based PE firm Serent Capital said March 6 that it promoted John Caselli and Dexter Hope to partner-level positions. They both joined the firm as associates in 2013. They both appear to be based in San Francisco.
Cognite, an Austin- and Norway-based industrial software company, said March 6 that it has named one of its co-founders, Geir Engdahl, as chief product officer. He helped start the company in Oslo, Norway, in 2017 and was previously chief technology officer. Before that, he co-founded Snapsale, a mobile marketplace app in Norway.
Austin-based emergency medical services software maker ESO said March 7 that it has promoted Brandon Martinez to chief innovation officer. He had been CTO at the company since 2020. Prior to that, he held roles in engineering and software development at ESO dating back to 2009. Before that, he was a software developer at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and at Dell Technologies.
Workrise, an energy worker matching platform and supply chain startup, said it has named a new CEO. Former Cloudera President Mick Hollison will take over the top executive role, replacing co-founder and former CEO Mike Witte. Witte had taken over as CEO from fellow co-founder Xuan Yong in early 2022. Yong is now the company's chairman and Witte will continue on as a board member.
Melissa Douros has been appointed as chief product officer at Austin-based digital banking company Green Dot Corp., according to a March 6 announcement. Before joining Green Dot, she was vice president of digital experience at Discover Financial Services and also held senior product roles at Great Wolf Resorts.
Austin-based VC firm 8VC said March 13 that it named Karen White as executive partner. In addition to working with portfolio startups, White is also expected to co-found a new tech startup that will be announced down the line.
White, who has been an advisor at 8VC since 2016, was CEO of risk management tech company RMS from 2018 to 2022. That company was acquired by Moody's for $2 billion in 2021. Before that, she was president and COO at Addepar, an investment management software company founded by 8VC founder Joe Lonsdale. She's also held top roles at Syncplicity and Solarwinds.
Voxeleron, an ophthalmic image analysis company, said March 13 that it has named Joanna Williams as its new CEO. She was previously co-founder and COO of ophthalmology research organization Lexitas. Voxeleron was founded in 2010 by Jonathan Oakley and Daniel Russakoff.
Colossal Biosciences, a de-extinction company based in Dallas with offices in Austin, said March 19 that it hired Beth Shapiro as its chief science officer. She's a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Award winner and National Geographic Explorer who was most recently lead of the Paleogenomics Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has also been an advisor to Colossal for a few years, helping launch its effort to bring back the Dodo.
Yash Patil, an Austin-based employee of OpenAI, is among 20 people worldwide named to the 2024 class of Thiel Fellows, an initiative of the Thiel Foundation. An announcement said Patil is a research engineer who is evaluating language models and creating systems for machines to collaborate with less human oversight. The fellowship comes with $100,000 and access to a network of tech founders, investors and former fellows.
Auto loan analytics company Open Lending Corp. (Nasdaq: LPRO) said March 25 that its CEO and board member, Keith Jezek, is stepping down from his roles. Jezek had been appointed CEO in 2022 after co-founder John Flynn retired from his role leading the company. And Jezek had been on the company's advisory board since 2013. The company didn't say why Jezek is leaving, but it thanked him and wished him well in future endeavors.
The company's board appointed its CFO, Chuck Jehl, as interim CEO and chief operating officer. He had served as CFO since 2020. Before that, he was CFO at Forestar Group Inc.
Austin- and San Francisco-based headless CMS platform company Contentstack said March 26 that it added Gurdeep Dhillon as its new chief marketing officer. He'll be based in California. Prior to Contentstack, Dhillon was CMO at Bay Area software company Zuora. Before that, he was global head of commercial marketing at Adobe Digital Experience Business and global VP of demand generation at SAP.
Contentstack, led by founder and CEO Neha Sampat, has raised $169 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company is co-headquartered in Austin and San Francisco, and it also has offices in Amsterdam and Mumbai.
Mission Capital, the Austin nonprofit formerly known as Greenlights, said March 26 that it has named Ira L. Williams III as its new CEO. He is the founder of Debut Ventures Inc. Before that, he was head of alliances at Castlight Health, held the CEO role at Austin startup PriceAdvice Inc. (formerly known as iTaggit) and was VP and GM of Callaway Golf.
