While the Dallas area lost more than 4,500 tech jobs from October to November, according to a CompTIA analysis of job posting data from Emsi Burning Glass, that didn’t stop a number of local tech companies and startups from adding to their leadership in December.
In total, NTX Inno and the Dallas Business Journal tracked more than 15 companies making leadership moves, more than half of which were at the C-suite level. In addition, four firms – NuZee, OncoNano Medicine, Orthofix Medical, and Texas Instruments – added to their boards.
After holding the role in the interim since August, Jason Safran was named the new chief investment officer at Texas Christian University. Before joining the university in 2012 as a senior asset manager, Safran served as a senior research analyst at Texas Capital Bank. He takes over for James Hille – the first person to hold the position.
To help you keep track of who is entering the North Texas ecosystem, we’ve rounded up the top personnel moves from December.
Following a $8.8 million Series A round led by FM Capital and a $20 million credit line deal with Medalist Partners earlier this year, Grapevine-based automotive fintech Car Capital announced adding Steve Kline as its new chief risk officer. Before joining the subsidiary of Car Capital Technologies, Kline served as a senior VP and group manager of credit risk at Bank of the West.
Dallas-based fintech startup Gig Wage, which focuses on payroll solutions for the gig economy, tapped Kristen Blum as its new senior director of strategic brand initiatives. She is set to help the company launch a new consumer-facing product, the details of which are still under wraps. She joins Gig Wage from her previous role as the head of business development for LTK, which raised $300 million from SoftBank in November.
Plano’s ZeOmega, a 500-person health management solutions firm, named Andy Arends as its new chief growth officer. Arends most recently served as a vice presidents at NTT DATA Services, where he worked since 2016. The announcement comes as ZeOmega is buying out investors, with CEO Sam Rangaswamy putting in about $26 million for a minority stake.
Plano-based NuZee, a publicly traded single-serve coffee company, tapped Nobuyuki Idei and Yoshinori Hashitani as its newest advisors. Idei, a former CEO to Sony, currently serves as the founder and co-CEO at consulting company Quantum Leaps Corporation. Hashitani also serves as co-CEO and vice chairman at Quantum and did a stint at Sony Europe Finance as its president. NuZee relocated its HQ from California to North Texas in 2019.
Dallasite Kevin Stevens was promoted to partner at Chicago-based early- and growth-stage VC firm Energize Ventures. According to LinkedIn, Stevens has worked with the firm, which raised a $330 million fund in late September, as a principal since January. Before that, he served as a venture investor for California data analytics company Ensemble Energy.
After emerging from stealth with a $3.5 million funding round in September, Richardson-based fintech CollateralEdge named Warren Nobel as a business analyst, Dallas Innovates reports. Before joining CollateralEdge, whose CEO is former Perot Jain partner Joe Beard, Nobel served as an associate credit analyst at BMO Financial Group.
Technology-focused private equity firm Trive Capital made some promotions and new hires. It promoted Andrew Frank, Nick Miner and Tanner Cope to the role of managing director, while naming former CFO Jonathan Nunnaley as its new chief compliance officer and head of special projects. In addition, it tapped former TPG managing director Kim Whitener to fill the CFO role.
Former Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing, was tapped as the chief brand officer for The Tower, a fashion magazine-e-commerce venture by publisher Hearst. According to The Dallas Morning News, the company “merges content with commerce,” allowing users to shop items featured in the magazine. The company is set to launch in the spring and have physical storefronts by then end of next year.
Southlake cancer-focused biotech OncoNano Medicine added Brett Giroir to its board of directors. Giroir has a long history in medicine and public health, having served as assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, acting FDA commissioner and as an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He’s also served as a U.S. representative on the World Health Organization’s executive board. Last month, OncoNano closed its $68.4 million Series B funding round by converting Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grant funding into an equity investment, bringing its total to around $120 million.
Frisco-based fintech startup Meritize made a number of leadership moves. The company promoted Chief Business Development Officer Beck Pryor to the role of COO, while promoting Kelly Birch as its new VP of marketing and analytics and Courtney Ramirez – who also chairs Meritize’s DEI committee – as its VP of technology. In addition, Meritize tapped John Watkins, a former senior VP of enterprise risk management at Freddie Mac, as a senior advisor.
Triet Nguyen, the former senior ventures programs coordinator at Capital Factory, took up a new role as the locally-based deal flow associate for Austin crowdfunding platform MicroVentures. In addition to working with Capital Factory, Nguyen has been involved in the local startup scene as a co-founder and interim director of events and programs at The DEC Network.
Orthofix Medical, a spine- and orthopedics-focused medical device firm based in Lewisville, tapped Thomas West to its board of directors and its compensation and talent development committee. In addition, to his new role at Orthofix, West serves as president and CEO at publicly traded California medical tech company Intersect ENT.
Interface Security Systems, an Earth City, Mo.-based managed services provider with corporate offices in Plano, announced naming Daniel Bordeleau to the newly-created role of chief people officer. Based in North Texas, Bordeleau is a former HR director for PepsiCo. Earlier this year, Interface landed a $60 million funding round led by Dallas PE firm SunTx Capital Partners and Prudential Capital Partners.
After working at Texas Instruments for more than two decades, the chipmaking giant tapped current COO Ilan Haviv to join its board. He joins CEO Rich Templeton as the only other TI leader on the board. The move comes as TI announced plans last month to potentially invest $30B and hire around 3,000 new workers at a future fabrication plant in Sherman.
Let’s finish up by welcoming a new face to the scene. Grapevine-based automotive fintech company Car Capital brought on Cory Cox as its new chief revenue officer. Before joining the company, Cox served as VP of enterprise sales at content platform company GPO. According to LinkedIn, he is also the founder of consulting firm Business Propulsion Partners. In April, Car Capital closed an $8.8 million Series A led by FM Capital. That same month, it announced a $20 million credit line deal with New York firm Medalist Partners.
After naming a new chief technology officer in late October, Plano-based property management platform ResMan is again shaking up its C-suite. The company, which was acquired by InhabitIQ this summer, announced promoting its COO Michael Dunn to the role of chief executive officer. According to LinkedIn, Dunn joined ResMan in 2019 as its chief technology and product officer. He takes over the CEO position from Paul Bridgewater.
5G LLC, a wireless tech company that moved its HQ to North Texas from Maryland earlier this year, tapped John Morgan as its new chief operating officer. Before joining the company, Morgan served as the global lead of solutions and deployment for Facebook Connectivity. According to LinkedIn, 5G has nearly 70 employees.
Andy Chen, senior VP of Match Group’s innovation team at its +1Labs, took on a new role as chief product officer at job search platform Glassdoor. The announcement comes amid other leadership moves at the California-based company, which named a new chief technology officer and chief financial officer.
The Arlington Economic Development Corporation named a new leader. The organization has tapped Broderick Green as its new executive director. Before joining the Arlington EDC, Green served as a senior manager of economic development for Amazon. He takes up his new role on Dec. 15.
