The first week of March has kicked off strong with a slew of new executive hires and board appointments at some of the most followed tech companies in Boston. Here is a quick roundup that will catch you up to speed on some of the most buzzed about talent moves:
Gemvara
Tweeted by CEO Matt Lauzon last week and according to a post this morning, Matt Nichols has joined Gemvara as Vice President of Operations.
From the post this morning: “Nichols had worked with Highland partner Bob Davis to conduct due diligence on Gemvara (originally known as Paragon Lake) and make the investment, and he has been helping the company out on an informal basis since December. In his new role at Gemvara, he’ll be responsible for managing the company’s relationship with jewelry-makers.”
Gemvara.com offers more than 1,500 original jewelry designs that are easily customizable by the shopper: he/she can mix-and-match from 24 gemstones and 8 precious metals, creating one-of-a-kind designer jewelry.
Isobar
Part of Aegis Media Group, Isobar recently named Max Fresen as Executive Creative Director and just today followed up with announcement that long time Isobar exec Darryl T. Gehly has just been named President.
From the Fresen release: “With over 15 years in the digital space as a creative agent and over 10 years spent as a developer, Fresen brings a wealth of insights and rare expertise to the team. His ability to create engaging and resonant experiences that reflect a client’s brand while remaining highly functional, user-friendly, and on-strategy make him an asset to the Isobar team. Over his career, Fresen has worked with leading brands such as Samsonite Worldwide, NASA, Sony and Dunkin’ Donuts.”
From the Gehly release: “Gehly’s appointment follows an interim period in which Pedro Cabral, Chairman of Isobar Global, oversaw the integration of three independent agencies into one larger Isobar US brand. With that transition period now complete, Gehly has been tapped to drive the 200-person US agency forward in its mission of fusing strategy, creative and technology to bring brands and people together like never before.”
Isobar is a creative agency that combines sight, sound, motion and technology to bring people and brands together like never before.
Jumptap
Their 23rd employee addition already in 2011, Jumptap has announced Jared Hand has joined as Vice President of Sales.
From the release: “Hand brings extensive digital sales experience to Jumptap, having led successful sales teams at a variety of industry leading companies including Gorilla Nation and Clear Channel. The new appointment is the latest in a series of hires for Jumptap, as the rapidly growing company has added over 23 professionals since the beginning of 2011 from companies including Apple, IAC, Time Inc, and Maxus.”
Jumptap is the leader in targeted mobile advertising.
Morrissey & Co.
Morrissey & Company announced that Jim Barbagallo joined the firm as a new managing director.
From the release: “With more than 25 years of experience in public relations and journalism, Barbagallo has worked on a broad range of business-to-business initiatives in hightechnology and other industries, including consumer technology and healthcare IT. Previously, as a partner and managing director of the Boston office ofPorter Novelli, an international marketing-based public relations firm, Barbagallo focused on large initiatives for clients such as HP, BMC Software, 3Com and Analog Devices, Inc., among others. In addition, Jim worked with a number of smaller public and private companies. Jim also worked with 3Point Communications, a boutique consultancy.”
Founded in Boston, Mass. in 1999, Morrissey & Company is dedicated to managing, advancing and protecting the reputation of its clients through integrated communications, including public relations and other professional services.
Mzinga
Mzinga‘s Board of Directors has elected Alan F. Nugent as Chief Executive Officer to lead the company.
From the release: “A respected and highly accomplished software industry veteran, Nugent brings more than 30 years of experience in strategic management and innovation to Mzinga’s executive leadership team and board of directors. As CEO, Nugent will drive the company’s strategic vision for social intelligence initiatives, guide its long-term technology vision and research & development strategies, and manage customer acquisition, growth and day-to-day operations to ensure Mzinga’s continued success. Nugent’s appointment as CEO comes as the culmination of his work over the past year as a trusted advisor to the company and his expertise with meeting the needs of global enterprise customers.”
Mzinga is the leading provider of social intelligence solutions, services, and analytics that improve business performance.
Nasuni
Nasuni expanded their management team in hiring Jennifer Sullivan as Vice President of Marketing.
From the release: “With two decades of experience in technology marketing, Sullivan has served in a wide variety of organizations, from large established companies such as IBM and RSA Security, to several venture-backed, fast growing startups. … Immediately prior to joining Nasuni, Sullivan served as CMO at Ounce Labs, an enterprise application security company that IBM acquired in 2009.”
Nasuni was founded in 2009 by storage veterans to deliver a secure gateway to cloud storage that makes the cloud feasible for business users.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor named John Dila as joining in the company’s newly created Director of Customer Care position.
From the release: “Dila has a wealth of experience in ecommerce and customer service. He joins TripAdvisor from InnoCentive Inc., an open innovation crowd-sourcing startup, where he led the community and product business unit. Prior to that, Dila spent six years at eBay, developing and running the customer experience teams and customer support strategy.”
TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip.
WHERE
WHERE named Craig Forman Executive Chairman of the Board.
From the release: “For the past two years, Forman has served as an independent member of WHERE’s Board of Directors. … In the new role, Forman brings his extensive experience as a senior executive at Yahoo!, Earthlink, Dow Jones and Time Warner. Forman most recently served as President of the $1 billion consumer access and audience business at EarthLink Inc., the Atlanta-based Internet services provider. Previously, he spearheaded Yahoo’s media and information units, leading Yahoo! News, Finance, Sports and other award-winning products to first-place in their categories. Prior to Yahoo!, Forman headed large internet and media divisions at Time Warner’s CNN and TIME divisions, and Dow Jones’s Wall Street Journal and business-information groups. He began his career as a Pulitzer-nominated foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal.”
With a mobile audience and reach of more than 50 million consumers in North America, WHERE is North America’s largest location media company.
Zipcar
Last Monday Zipcar added Meg Whitman to its Board of Directors.
From the release: “Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman brings to Zipcar deep knowledge of online auctions, e-commerce and payments. Whitman led eBay from 1998 to 2008. During her tenure, she oversaw the expansion of eBay from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and nearly $8 billion in annual revenue, as well as a global community of 309 million registered users.”
Zipcar is the world’s leading car-sharing network with more than 530,000 members and 8,500 vehicles in urban areas and college campuses throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
