North Texas is a good place to be for those looking for tech-related jobs.
According to the most recent CompTIA analysis of data from Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights, the region saw the biggest increase in tech job postings with more than 4,200. And along with filling their ranks, local firms have been adding to their leadership in the past month.
In total, NTX Inno and the Dallas Business Journal tracked more than 20 tech companies making leadership moves in November, with 11 of those being C-suite positions. Of those, cybersecurity firm Intrusion, health tech firm CASPR Group, EarthxTV, Solutions by Text, and fintech Alkami named new CEOs.
On the other side of the coin, Envy Gaming’s Counter-Strike team parted ways with two players and GameStop COO Jenna Owens stepped down from the role after about seven months on the job.
To help you keep track of who is entering the North Texas ecosystem, we’ve rounded up the top hires and departures from November.
Pro tip: You can read daily updates on hires, departures, funding, M&A and VC activity in our newsletter, The Beat.
Hires & Promotions
Brandy Dalton, the senior director of BBA and MS career programs at SMU’s Cox School of Business, was tapped to serve a two-year term on the SMU President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Dalton first joined the university in 2014. The commission focuses on issues affecting female faculty, staff and students in areas including employment, compensation and work-life conditions.
According to the Fort Worth Business Press, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed three locals to the state’s Commission on Virtual Education. Joining the commission is Carroll ISD trustee Hannah Smith; Bernie Francis, CEO of Addison’s Business Control Systems; and Josue Tamarez Torres, a “master teacher” at Dallas ISD.
After going public earlier this year, Plano fintech Alkami Technology (NASDAQ: ALKT) has a new leader. Its board tapped Alex Shootman as its new CEO, replacing Mike Hansen, who held the position since 2013. Shootman is the former CEO of work management platform Workfront, which was acquired by Adobe last year in a deal valued at about $1.5 billion. He will become part of the board, joining Hansen, who will remain a director until at least 2022. Alkami has seen its sales grow 37% to $39.8 million during Q3 – higher than originally forecasted.
As Frisco esports franchise Complexity Gaming looks to monetize its media assets better, to hit $28 million in revenue by 2022, the organization brought Olly Emery as its head of marketing and Christina Grushkin as head of sales. Emery most recently served as CMO at Australian investing platform Spaceship, while Grushkin most recently served as VP of brand partnerships at Austin's StreamElements. The move comes as Complexity has been adding streamers and an all-female VALORANT team to its roster. Over the summer, Complexity was acquired by Canada's GameSquare Esports in a $27 million all-stock deal that saw Complexity shareholders take a 47% stake in GameSquare.
After spending about two months on The Dallas Fuel's roster in 2018, former DPS player Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun rejoined the Overwatch League team of Envy Gaming as its new assistant coach, per The Dallas Morning News. Dong-jun most recently played for the Philadelphia Fusion, joining the team in March after a stint on the San Francisco Shock.
After Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s Task Force on Innovation and Entrepreneurship called for the creation of an entrepreneur-in-residence position within the city in May, a local leader was tapped for the role. Taking up the call is Nina Vaca, CEO of Dallas workforce solutions firm Pinnacle Group. She will provide guidance on how to better support the local entrepreneurial community. Other recommendations from the task force include creating a VC-in-residence role, launching new incubators and forming a private investment fund.
Reparify, a Plano-based tech solutions provider to the auto repair industry, named Chris Chesney as its VP of training and organizational development. Chesney most recently served as a senior director of customer training at Advance Auto Parts’ Carquest Technical Institute.
Following newly-minted Austin unicorn ZenBusiness’ $200 million funding round led by Oak HC/FT, Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban joined the business formation and management startup as a company advocate and spokesperson on a two-year contract. “He loves the product and is sold on it, and he's using it with his companies, and that's where it started and ended,” Founder and CEO Ross Buhrdorf said. ZenBusiness’ latest funding gives it a $1.7 billion valuation.
Michael Williams was tapped as the new chancellor of the University of North Texas System. He’ll serve both as both the chancellor and in his previous role as president of the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth until the latter is filled. Williams takes over for Lesa Roe – the first woman to hold the position – who announced she was stepping down from the role in late June.
The former chief revenue officer of Dallas parking hardware and software startup ParkHub, Laurens Eckelboom, joined U.K.-based cashless payment solutions provider Tappit – which has its U.S. HQ in Plano – as its new chief commercial officer. According to LinkedIn, Eckelboom also serves as a board member for Atlanta IoT startup Karios and Boston startup Vend Park. While some of the company’s leadership team, like Chief Revenue Officer Meka White-Morris, is based in DFW, much of its around 20-person U.S. team is working remotely across the country.
Intrusion, a Plano-based cybersecurity company named Tony Scott as its new CEO and president. Scott has served as the CIO of Microsoft, Disney and VMware, as well as serving as Federal CIO under the Obama administration. He takes over at Intrusion for Franklin Byrd, the company’s CTO, who was handling the position’s responsibilities following the sudden departure of former CEO Jack Blount in July.
Addison environmental health technology company CASPR Group, which focuses on air purification and surface disinfectants, tapped Derek Blount as its new CEO. Blount joined the company earlier this year as its COO, after serving as a senior VP at Daseke. He takes over for former CEO Scott Wheeler, who is joining CASPR’s board.
Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Edward Crawford, the president, owner and founder of Fort Worth diversified holding company Coltala Holdings, to the state’s Product Development and Small Business Incubator Board. According to the Fort Worth Business Press, the term expires in February 2027. The board’s goal is to boost the development and commercialization of new products and businesses in Texas.
Dallas B2B parking tech provider ParkHub promoted Danielle Kormushoff as its new chief technology officer. She first joined the company in 2016, overseeing product development. ParkHub was launched in 2010 and has raised around $30 million.
After being acquired by PE firm H.I.G. Capital earlier this year, Plano technology firm Enseo promoted Kristen Singleton as its new president. In addition to that role, she will continue to serve as the company’s CIO – a position she’s held since joining Enseo in 2020.
In other promotion news. Dallas nonprofit accelerator Impact Ventures named Lucy Huang as its new chief programs officer. According to LinkedIn, Huang joined Impact Ventures in 2020. She also serves as co-founder and principal consultant at the Women’s Entrepreneur & Empowerment Institute and as senior director of programs and business development at WiNGS Dallas.
Following a $19 million Series B raise in July, Dallas video technology startup OneDay named Lacy Jungman as its new VP of strategic development. She joins 35 others who have joined the OneDay team this year, bringing its headcount to 64. Before joining OneDay, Jungman served as VP of sales and management at senior living community operator Heritage Communities.
Dallas-based environmental organization Earthx tapped Michael Fletcher as the new co-CEO of it on-demand video platform EarthxTV. He joins fellow co-CEO Lynn McBee. Before joining Earthx, Fletcher co-founded equestrian focused network Ride TV.
Zen Media, a B2B marketing firm, promoted Stephanie Chavez to the role of president. Chavez worker at Zen from 2009 to 2013, serving as VP of client relations. She rejoined the company last year as its chief marketing officer. Before that she served as a vice president at Plano restaurant tech startup OneDine.
Rich Goode, the former VP and chief financial officer of Children’s Health, took up a new role as an operating partner at Southlake PE firm Gauge Capital, which has a track record of investing in startups. Gauge has around $2 billion in assets under its management.
McKinney telehealth platform MyTelemedicine brought on Brad Kabb as its new VP of national sales, Founder and CEO Rey Colon announced in a LinkedIn post. He joins the company from a previous director of sales position at Chicago-area telemedicine startup First Stop Health.
Irving-based molecular science firm Caris Life Sciences appointed Lloyd Minor to its board of directors, bringing the board’s total headcount to 11. Minor has served as the dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2012.
Locally-based leader Amy O’Neil was tapped as the new chief operating officer of California energy delivery startup Booster. Before joining the company, O’Neil held a similar role at CBRE-owned flexible workspace firm Hana. According to LinkedIn, she also serves on the board of Colorado’s Arden Technologies. Her appointment comes amid a number of other leadership shakeups at Booster, which has raised more than $100 million in funding from backers including local VC firm Perot Jain.
Dallas cybersecurity company Cyber Defense Labs, which raised $10 million earlier this year, promoted Jason Lobell to be its new chief technology officer. Lobell joined the company in 2019 and has been serving as its director of cyber-managed security services and deputy CTO. Before becoming part of the Cyber Defense Labs team, Lobell served as the director of cybersecurity operations and services at Comcast.
Chrissy Liotta was tapped as the new Dallas-based venture partnerships manager for Texas-focused accelerator and VC firm Capital Factory, where she’ll oversee relationship management with the organization’s corporate and government partners. Before joining Capital Factory, which shuttered its physical DFW location last year, Liotta served as a senior legislative assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives, overseeing the legislative portfolio of the Ways and Means Committee.
Dallas’ Solutions by Text, which helps financial firms with texting services, landed $35 million in growth financing led by New Jersey-based Edison Partners, marking the company’s first institutional investment. It also announced David Baxter, who has experience in the payments industry, as its new CEO. He follows Co-founder Danny Cantrell, who held the same post.
Excellarate, the tech solutions company formed from the 2020 merger of Pennsylvania’s Prime Technology Group and Dallas-based Agile software development provider Synerzip, added to its C-suite. The firm brought on Rob Howe as its new CFO. Before joining Excellarate, Howe served as the head of corporate strategy for New York fintech Liquidnet. The announcement follows a number of other executive moves at Excellarate this month, including the appointment of Vikram Bhalchandra as chief strategy officer.
Departures
After about seven months on the job, GameStop COO Jenna Owens left the Grapevine-based video game retailer. The company announced her exit in an SEC filing, without citing a reason. It adds that other members of the management team will absorb her responsibilities. Before joining GameStop, Owens held executive roles at Amazon and Google. Her appointment was a part of leadership shakeups at GameStop. In June, it announced former Amazon exec Matt Furlong would take over the chief executive role, while fellow leader of the e-commerce giant Mike Recupero would become CFO.
Departing Complexity Gaming are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players Justin “jks” Savage and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen. The Frisco-based esports organization announced in a Twitter post that it has moved the players to its inactive roster as it looks for a new team for Savage and Hansen.
