While Elon Musk is talking about hiring 10,000 people for jobs in the Austin area to support his companies, scores of Austin startups have also been making big moves to improve their executive suites.
In addition, the city saw more than 6,000 tech job openings posted in March.
Below, we've put together a list of the the most interesting hires and departures from March 2021.
Let's get to it …
Austin-based software consulting firm Headspring has hired Walt Hauck as chief operating officer. Prior to joining Headspring, he led product development at Haemonetics and Pamplona Communications and served as VP of worldwide technology at Pfizer.
Outdoorsy, an online RV rental marketplace, named Kim Armor to its board of directors. Armor currently serves as managing director and CFO at Comcast Ventures.
Austin identity security company SailPoint Technologies Holdings announced it named Heather Gantt-Evans as its new chief information security officer. She was previously at The Home Depot as senior director of security operations and resilience. She also previously worked in security roles at Ernst & Young and served in the U.S. Army Reserves as a threat intelligence analyst.
Austin legal tech startup DISCO announced March 15 it promoted Melanie Antoon to senior VP of professional services. It also promoted Aaron Trull to senior VP and chief human resources officer. Both of them joined DISCO in 2019. The company has raised about $235 million in funding since its founding in 2012.
Austin tech titan Bob Metcalfe plans to retire from his professorship at the University of Texas at the end of the year, Silicon Hills News reported. Metcalfe, who is the co-inventor of Ethernet and one of Austin's best-known and accomplished innovators, has had an outsized impact on the Austin startup community, including his recent role as co-founder of TexasGeo.org, which works with geothermal startups. He is about to turn 75, but he has left the door open to future endeavors.
LitLingo Technologies Inc. added Neil Etheridge as its first COO. Etheridge was previously CMO at Austin legal tech startup DISCO. LitLingo, a risk management software startup, is led by CEO Kevin Brinig, and it closed a $2 million seed round last August.
Austin-based private equity giant Vista Equity Partners announced it appointed Rachel Arnold as senior managing director and co-head of Vista's Endeavor Fund. She'll work alongside fellow co-head of the fund, Rene Stewart. The firm also appointed Patrick Severson as senior managing director and co-head of Vista's Foundation Fund, along with current co-head Marc Teillon.
Austin coding platform Coder appointed Ketan Gangatirkar as VP and head of engineering. Prior to Coder, Gangatirkar was VP of engineering at Indeed, where he worked for 12 years. Coder, founded in 2017 by Ammar Bandukwala, Kyle Carberry and John Andrew Entwistle, last year raised $30 million, bringing its total funding to about $43 million.
VORAGO Technologies, which helps protect commercially designed semiconductor components in extreme environments, added Sue Younglove as VP of finance. She was previously VP of finance and human resources at Austin-based Caringo. VORAGO also brought on Jen Quinonez as VP of marketing. She had previously been an executive marketing consultant with VORAGO.
