The Biggest Moves in Tech This Week

These are the most notable hires, promotions, and departures within the US tech community in the last week. For executive news updated daily, check out The Org's People on the Move.

Workplace Tech

Calendly, a scheduling platform for teams and individuals, announced the appointment of Frank Russo as its first Chief Information Security Officer. Prior to joining Calendly, Frank was the vice president of information security and CISO of XRP II at Ripple.

Robocorp, an open-source process automation platform, has appointed Dave Dabbah as its Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently, Dabbah was Chief Marketing Officer at CleverTap.

AnyRoad, a Experience Relationship Management (ERM) software provider, announced that former Lyft talent and HR leader Iris Hermelin has joined the company as its VP of People.

CleverTap, a user engagement and retention platform, added Vikrant Chowdhary as Chief Growth Officer. Before CleverTap, Chowdhary directed Salesforce’s finserv vertical and enterprise business units in India.

Everise, a technology-driven customer experience (CX) service provider, has hired Nicole Palina-Pace as Chief Marketing Officer. Before joining Everise, Palina-Pace was the global head of brand marketing and communications at Outbrain.

CallMiner, a provider of conversation analytics, announced that Marty Pankau has joined the company as Chief Customer Officer. Pankau was previously the SVP of Revenue at DialogTech.

Pipedrive, a CRM platform for sales and marketing teams, revealed that Dan Dizon has joined the company as VP of Financial Planning & Analysis. Before joining Pipedrive, Dizon held several finance leadership roles at Cisco.

Xactly, an intelligent revenue solutions provider, announced that Megan Ackerson has been named as the company’s new Chief Human Resources Officer. Before joining Xactly, Ackerson was the Chief People Officer at Brillio.

Internet

VacationRenter, a vacation rental search engine, announced that Heath Hammett will join the company as its CEO. He joins from Copart, where he was VP of Product.

Shutterfly, an online photo sharing and digital retail and manufacturing platform, announced that Mike Eklund has joined as SVP and CFO. Eklund most recently served as EVP, CFO, Treasurer, and Corporate Secretary for Scientific Games.

Clubhouse has hired Anthony Falzone, the Deputy General Counsel at Pinterest, as its new General Counsel.

Fintech

Bosonic Digital, a real-time and custodian agnostic clearing and settlement platform for digital assets, announced that Tony Kiehn has joined as President and CFO. Kiehn is the co-founder of Fortis Pacific, which invests in, advises, and launches companies across blockchain, crypto and fintech.

Varo Bank, an all-digital nationally chartered bank in the US, has named Amy Ferris as Chief Growth Officer. Prior to joining Varo, Ferris served in a number of leadership positions including Global Head of Consumer Marketing - Media Services at Apple.

Green Dot, a fintech provider and digital bank, announced that George Gresham has joined the company as Chief Finance and Operating Officer. Gresham previously served on the Boards of Directors of both Green Dot Corp. and Green Dot Bank and was CFO at NetSpend Holdings from 2010 to 2013.

Chia Network, an open-source decentralized blockchain, digital currency, and smart transaction platform, announced the hiring of Vishal Kapoor as SVP of Business Development. Kapoor previously served as the CEO of Paradata

Transportation Tech

Lumotive, a leading developer of solid-state lidar systems for automotive, industrial and consumer applications, announced the appointment of Dr. Sam Heidari as CEO. Dr. Heidari takes the helm from Dr. Bill Colleran.

Real Estate Tech

Audience Town, the advertising platform for real estate, moving, and home, announced that it has added Ian Barbo as VP of Operations, and Liz Cronin as VP of Sales.

E-Commerce

Famous, a no-code mobile e-commerce design platform, has hired Laura Haines as Chief Product Officer. Previously, Haines was the General Manager of Global Partnerships and Products at graphic design platform Canva.

Kaspien, an e-commerce marketplace growth platform, announced the appointment of David "Dave" Sayyed as its new Vice President of Brand Growth. Sayyed has been in enterprise-level account management roles at Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé Purina.

ChowNow, an online ordering, payments, and marketing platform for independent restaurants, announced the appointment of Andre Mancl as CFO. Mancl joins ChowNow from Credit Suisse.

Health Tech

PAVmed, a commercial-stage medical technology company, and its digital health subsidiary Veris Health announced the appointment of Sunny Webb as Veris’ CTO and PAVmed’s VP of Data & Analytics. Webb most recently served as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Hummingbird Search Partner.

Virgin Pulse, a global provider of tech-enabled health solutions, announced the addition of Rik Thorbecke as CFO and Amit Jain as CTO.

Education Tech

Duolingo announced that Linda Simensky has joined the company as Head of Animation and Scripted Content. Simensky joins Duolingo from PBS Kids, where she oversaw the development of shows like “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Wild Kratts,” “Molly of Denali,” and “Alma’s Way.”

DeepHow, an AI company that turns technical know-how into smart, how-to training videos, has appointed Steven Correnti as SVP of Sales. Correnti joins DeepHow from Perforce Software, where he was VP of Global Sales.

IT

OpenDrives, a global provider of enterprise-grade, hyper-scalable network-attached-storage (NAS) solutions, named André Rievers as its new VP of Operations. Rievers most recently worked at Activision Blizzard, where he was the head of the post production department for the esports division

Cybersecurity

Keeper Security, a provider of zero-knowledge security and encryption software, announced the appointment of Tristen Yancey as VP of Public Sector. Prior to joining Keeper, Yancey was the Regional Vice President of Public Sector at Flexera.

ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, announced the hire of Ryan Grant as VP of Sales. Grant comes to ESET from Ingram Micro.

Aqua Security, a pure-play cloud native security provider, named Limor Schwartz as CFO. Prior to Sygnia, Schwartz served as CFO for several startup companies, including Team8, APOS, Traffix Systems, and cVidya Networks.

Noname Security, an API security company, announced the appointment of Matt Tesauro as its API Security Evangelist. Prior to Noname Security, Tesauro held senior positions in security engineering and consulting at 10Security, Rackspace, Pearson and Duo Security.

Breker Verification Systems appointed David Kelf as CEO and Adnan Hamid as Executive President and CTO.

Connectivity

FirstLight, a fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud, Unified Communications and managed services to enterprises, announced Katie Brandl as the company's VP of Carrier and Wholesale Sales.

Broadvoice, a provider of hosted voice, unified communications (UC) and SIP trunking services for businesses, announced it has hired Jason Smith as VP of Sales Engineering.

IntelePeer, a leading Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider, announces the appointment of Tom Dziersk to Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to IntelePeer, he served as EVP of Worldwide Sales at PROS.

CommScope, a network infrastructure provider, promoted Kyle Lorentzen from SVP and Chief Transformation Officer to EVP and CFO, effective November 1, 2021.

Energy Tech

Amprius Technologies, a manufacturer of high-energy and high-capacity lithium-ion batteries, announced it has appointed Ronnie Tao as the VP of Business Development. Tao most recently served as the Vice President of Marketing and Business development for Highpower International.

Climate Tech

Greentown Labs, a climate tech startup incubator, announced Lara Cottingham will serve as the organization's Chief of Staff. For the past seven years, Cottingham served as the City of Houston's Chief Sustainability Officer and the Chief of Staff for the City's Administration and Regulatory Affairs (ARA) Department.

Aerospace

Phantom Space Corporation, a space transportation technology development and manufacturing company, announced the hiring of Chris Thompson as CTO. Previously, Thompson was the Chief Engineer of Advanced Projects at Astra.

World View, a stratospheric ballooning company, named Obie Jones as its COO. Jones comes to World View from Boeing, where he served as the VP of Vertical Lift and Integrated Systems Operations.

Telesat has hired Glenn Katz as Chief Commercial Officer and promoted Tom Eaton, from VP of International Sales, to President of Telesat Government Solutions.

Entertainment Tech

PointsBet, a global online gaming operator, has hired Kyle Christensen as U.S. Chief Marketing Officer. Christensen previously worked as the head of U.S. brand and consumer marketing for Facebook.

comScore, a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms, announced the appointment of Jon Carpenter as CFO. Carpenter has served as CFO at Publishers Clearing House since 2016.