The 18 Biggest Tech Hires and Departures in Austin From April 2018

This article first appeared on Austin Inno.

Karl Fisher has been named as the new executive director of UT’s Applied Research Laboratories. He’ll oversee the largest contract in the university’s history — a $1.1 billion contract with the Department of Defense. Fisher has been with ARL:UT, which was founded in 1945 and now employs about 400 scientists and engineers, since 1996.

Zilliant, a B2B enterprise sales analytics company, hired Phil Fraher as its CFO. He was most recently with Bask Technologies as president and CFO. He has also led Fuel-Quest and Visual Numerics as CEO.

Erik Wagner was named interim CEO at Ortho Kinematics, a company using high tech motion analysis and software to measure instability in the spine. The Austin Business Journal reports that Wagner took over for former CEO Paul Gunnoe, who left last month to become CEO of Primero Med in Austin.

Seranova, a workforce optimization software and services company, appointed Michelle Burrows as its CMO and David Nelson as CFO. Burrows was most recently VP of marketing and analytics for Comcast Business. Nelson was most recently CFO at Periscope Holdings.

Baxter Planning Systems, a supply chain software company, appointed Chuck Moeling as its new CEO. He was previously CMO and EVP of sales at Interface Security Systems, and he has worked with other SaaS companies. He takes over for Greg Baxter, who founded the business in 1993. Baxter will remain in a leadership position as chief product officer.

Digital discounts company RetailMeNot appointed three new executives. It added Mausam Bhatt as chief product officer; Kim Read as senior VP of operations; and Srini Palamarthy as senior VP of business operations. Bhatt was previously senior vice president at RetailMeNot. Read has been with the company since 2012 in roles including VP of operations. Palamarthy has been with RetailMeNot since 2013 as senior director of revenue planning.

Spiceworks, an IT networking and support company, appointed James Pinckney as its senior VP of revenue. Pinckney was previously chief strategy, sales and services at OuterWall. He’s also held management roles at Microsoft, The Sabre Group and Hitachi.

Bloom Communications, an Austin communications agency, hired Olga Campos Benz as its community development director. She was previously a reporter in Houston, Corpus Christi and Austin.

WayBlazer, an Austin startup using AI to help travel companies provide recommendations to their customers, hired Adam Prishtina as its first chief product officer. Prishtina has an extensive Austin tech background, having worked as VP of product at YouEarnedIt, as senior director of product management at WP Engine and as director of product management at BigCommerce.

Bloomfire, a local customer insights SaaS company, added Cynthia Mancha as its senior product manager, and Sam Schneider as its senior director of client success. Mancha was previously with Tasktop Technologies. Schneider was previously at TransUnion.

EverlyWell, an Austin-based maker of at-home health and wellness testing kits, appointed Joshua Stanley as its CFO. Stanley was most recently VP of finance at Austin-based MagnitudeSoftware, and, before that, he worked at SpareFoot.

Vertify Inc., an Austin-based smart integration software company, announced it hired Wayne Lopez as VP of product and Edward Anderson to newly created leadership role as senior technology architect. Lopez was most recently VP of product at TrendKite, and Anderson was previously a senior technology architect at the University of Texas Systems.

Rock Candy Media, a digital marketing and advertising agency, hired Stephanie Christoffers as chief operations manager. Christoffers was most recently brand manager and executive assistant to the CEO at River Oaks Energy in Dallas.