Structural, a St. Paul software startup using artificial intelligence to build a human resources platform, has hired Ron Lancaster as its first chief technology officer.
Lancaster, a veteran of the Twin Cities tech scene, joins a leadership team that includes Scott Burns, former CEO and co-founder of GovDelivery, and Chip House, a former ExactTarget executive.
Prior to joining Structural, Lancaster was with Pearson VUE, a local assessment-tech business, for just over two decades. Most recently, Lancaster was the company's chief technology officer and senior vice president of product and development.
Lancaster joined VUE in 1997 when the company had just seven developers. Today, Pearson VUE operates more than 20,000 testing centers in 100 countries. Lancaster said that he's looking forward to working with an early-stage tech company again.
"VUE was so generous in helping me grow, and now I feel I'm in a place where take what I've learned and pay it forward," he said.
Structural launched about a year ago through a partnership with Indianapolis-based venture capital firm High Alpha. The company aims to give businesses greater insight into their workforce by analyzing data contained in human-resources systems and employee-created profiles. Earlier this month, Structural closed on $2.5 million to fund growth efforts. Investors in the round included Minnesota groups like Matchstick Ventures, The Syndicate Fund and Great North Labs. Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund also invested. The company now has around a dozen employees and has raised a total of $5 million.
"When I first heard about Structural, I knew this company was going to be something special," Lancaster said. "It's the right team with some phenomenal talent. It also has the right level of support with High Alpha, and it's in the right location here in St. Paul."
Lancaster lives in the St. Paul area, and is part of the city's Full Stack initiative, a formal effort from the city that aims to bring more tech jobs, startups and office space to St. Paul. Structural is based out of downtown St. Paul in Osborn370, a building that investors hope becomes a hub for startups in the area.
"The startup scene in the Twin Cities has changed a lot over the last five years," Lancaster said. "Minneapolis really upped its game. Things like the North Loop didn't happen by accident. We're seeing that same effort in St. Paul now as well."
Lancaster said that during his first year at Structural, he plans to double-down on the company's use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. He also hopes to add more developers to the company's tech team.
"I've gotten to know Ron over the past year. He's as comfortable talking to a customer as he is writing code," Burns, Structural's CEO, said in an email. "We know that Ron will attract even more great technologists to work at Structural, and our expertise building other successful tech companies has taught us how key that is."
