Our Lead(H)er series features impressive women leaders in the Tech Industry.  In this Q&A, we are featuring Bela Labovitch, VP of Engineering at athenahealth.

What did you study in college and what was your first job out of school?

I earned my Bachelor’s degrees in both Computer Science and Psychology from Brandeis University and my Master’s degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University. I have always loved to code, and my first job out of college was as a software engineer (no surprise!).

Can you share the details on your career path and what were the critical moments that got you to where you are today?

My career path was not linear - I started out as a Software Engineer and then went down the management path. I was working long hours as the Director of Engineering of a dynamic and fast-moving organization when a critical moment in my career occurred. My second son, then eighteen months old and possessing a limited vocabulary, said “Mom, I hate, hate that you work.” It was then that I decided it would be better to balance work and mothering two boys by returning to an individual contributor role. So, I stepped down from my Director position and spent my children’s formative years working part-time as a developer and architect. Ten years later, when I returned to full-time work and eventually a management position, I realized that you could toggle between management and individual contributor functions effectively. For those managers who miss being hands-on, it is possible to go back and forth - in fact, it can make you a better manager.

My 18-month-old has since grown up. I am pictured below with both of my children.

What is your current role and responsibilities?

I currently lead engineering for athenahealth’s flagship Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) product athenaCollector. athenahealth’s vision is to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. I lead a team of architects and developers whose goal is to deliver stable, scalable, performant and secure software to support our healthcare provider community. I am proud that our product has received a 2020 Best in KLAS award for Ambulatory RCM Services.

Looking back, is this where you thought you’d be professionally?  Was it always your goal to be in this position?

Earlier in my career the only thing I knew was that I wanted to be doing what I was passionate about, while making a difference in this world. I was always enthusiastic about building excellent software that has an impact on people’s lives. I am lucky to be in a position where I love my job and find it very rewarding. One of my goals also includes developing and retaining women in the technology field and cultivating women leaders. Being on the steering committee of one of athenahealth’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) – the Women’s Leadership Forum — and founding our Women in Technology initiative has given me an outlet to express myself, mentor, and help achievethis goal.

For people who are looking to be in a similar position, what advice would you give to others in terms of helping them achieve their career goals?

Visualize where you would like to be and then work hard with a sense of optimism. It is important to enjoy your journey - if you are passionate and work hard but with ease, and help others along the way, there is a good chance you can achieve your career goals. Early in my career, I learned to take initiative, not let fear hold me back and that I didn’t need the title of a leader to be a leader.

What are the most important skills that you need to do your job well?

My job is to create and sustain high-performing teams that deliver great outcomes for our customers. Towards this, it is important for me to focus on creating a culture for my team to do their best work, optimize processes and imbue software excellence in my organization. I need to care deeply about and understand my team, communicate well, empower my staff and make sure I keep learning and stay on top of technology and healthcare trends. In short, I need the skills to be both a great leader and technologist.

What do you find most interesting/rewarding about your work?  What’s most challenging?

There are so many interesting things about my work - different pockets of my organization are solving various problems of automation, scale, performance and creation of value for our customers, who are healthcare providers. Most challenging (and interesting!) for athenahealth’s engineering team is our microservice journey, as we work towards partitioning our software into independent pieces of functionality, while continuing to delight and deliver value to our healthcare community.   

Are you involved with any professional organizations outside of the company? Volunteer work?

I am passionate about bringing and keeping women in STEM - particularly technology - and I mentor and speak at various local organizations such as Girls Who Code. I belong to The Boston Club and work with women across technology companies in the Boston area on programming for women. I am looking forward to joining and getting more involved with the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association this year.

What’s next for you and your career?

I am perfectly happy with where I am right now and someday look to be on an Executive leadership team for an organization. I would also like to serve as a board member for some organizations whose values align with mine.

Q&A

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I am a reader and belong to two book clubs. I run and practice yoga, and I love being outside. I also like to volunteer and have been a long-time parental stress counselor and serve on the board of a non-profit called Parents Helping Parents.

How do you manage stress?

Between meditation, yoga, and running, I have had a good handle on stress (mostly!).  

How many cups of coffee do you have in a day?

I love my coffee! Two cups a day, maybe three if I have a break from meetings and can get a third.

What's one of your favorite places in the Boston/New York area?

I love the water - take me anywhere - the Boston Harbor, Crane Beach or Lake Waban and I am happy!

Any book or podcast recommendations? 

Here is what you will find on my bedside today - books that I am reading right now:

What advice do you have for recent college graduates?

My son graduated from college this month, so I have a lot of advice! This is a hard time - college graduates have missed much of their final semester, time with friends and find themselves graduating into a tough job market. They are learning early, that things don’t always go the way you imagine they will. But this is an opportunity to purposefully learn resilience and grit. Be grateful for all that is good and stay optimistic, every day. Confront your fears, and then move forward with a sense of purpose - you can make a difference every day, to your community and to the larger world. Take this privilege, give to others and work hard - life will fall into place and be good.

6+ million software professionals and 20,000+ companies in 194 countries use SmartBear products to build and deliver the world’s greatest applications.

We connected with Frank Roe, CEO of SmartBear, for a Q&A on his new role in the company and to see how SmartBear is transitioning and learning to adapt in these challenging times.

You joined SmartBear nearly two years ago as Chief Revenue Officer running the sales organization worldwide. What about the company interested you in the first place?

A few things really; as CRO, you want a strong market for your products, and I’ve learned over the years those products must be reliable and have the utmost in quality. Additionally, it was evident SmartBear had a really strong executive team and its PE owner, Francisco Partners, was extremely supportive. After the first few months, it became obvious that we had a world class sales team as well. With a little structure and drive, we would do some great things…and that we did, including beating 2019 revenue goals!

SmartBear named you as CEO two weeks before the pandemic shut-downs, disrupting all of our lives. Can you describe a few of the top challenges you’ve faced while transitioning into leading the company?

Yes, it was sort of a crazy time to start, but it was obvious from the start we needed to make timely decisions and act quickly. One area of concern was maintaining communications within the company as every office worldwide shut down over the course of a week, as we transitioned to “work from home.” My goal was to make sure people not only knew they were still part of a strong, cohesive organization, but that we would survive this and come out stronger for it. So, we opened up a lot of lines of communication; initiating weekly all-company virtual standups, and other new forums on Slack for sharing between teams in addition to virtual social gatherings like happy hours. 

What are the top two or three most important leadership attributes you are practicing that are helping during this time?

At SmartBear, we pride ourselves on our core values of smart, open, driven, accountable, and curious; so it was fairly seamless to double down on a few of these for the first few weeks. 

For me, it felt fairly obvious at the time that smart and driven was something that was going to easily transfer into a WFH environment without further reinforcement. I made a clear decision to push openness and what I like to call the other side of accountable, and that is authority. Early on, I, with the support of our entire leadership team, reinforced that though we never planned for this scenario, we were built for it. Through frequent and open communications, we wouldn’t skip a beat. 

A lot of our workforce is under 35, which means many have never worked through something like this before, such as 9/11 or the 07/08 financial recession. In these times, it’s critical more than ever that people know they have the authority to make decisions; so that’s been another important theme to reinforce. 

Being in the fast-moving software development industry, is there a silver lining to all of this?

Yes, at the macro level, I predict that software development will reap many benefits from this rapid, nearly overnight move to a distributed workforce. Those companies fortunate enough to have built their business around omnichannels, particularly ecommerce, will flourish, and they in turn will consume much more software. Those that aren’t so lucky and were a bit caught by surprise in all of this will desperately try and build those channels before it’s too late. All of this will result in rapid development of a lot of new software, and fortunately, SmartBear is right in the middle of it all. 

Our mission as a company is focused around quality – ensuring anyone developing software can deliver better quality applications and tools, faster for their customers. We are all about testing, test automation, collaboration, documentation, and management at all stages of software and API development. 

It’s not just about entrepreneurs and companies launching software faster than ever; it has to work and handle the loads.

How have the people at SmartBear stepped up during this time?

That’s a trick question, right? I would say that within 24 hours, we were 95% up and running and in 48 hours we were at 99%. That’s especially significant since we have people in countries all over the world. We also found out that one or two didn’t have great home internet, so we quickly helped them find a solution. Our people, process, and technology were all built for such a transition. 

Something that everyone may not know is that SmartBear has been fortunate to not just have acquired some outstanding companies over the years, but to have created a culture where the founders of those companies have remained on board within the SmartBear family. And, they are flourishing here. That entrepreneurial spirit really helped inspire all of us during this transition, and we will be showcasing their stories in our Founders’ Series throughout the remainder of 2020. 

Is there anything you’d like to say to customers of SmartBear?

Proudly, we just finished our first virtual user conference with great success. It surpassed all of our expectations with over 66 countries being represented! 

SmartBear isn’t just committed to meeting each of our customers’ unique needs; we’re prepared to meet those needs, even as they change amidst everything else that’s changed in the world. Our products are designed to help our customers meet their customers’ demands while weathering the challenges of an evolving world. 

Our message: first, thank you for your continued faith in us and your business over the years. Second, we are here for you. Quality software isn’t the goal. It’s the whole point. ☺

Is there any advice you have for new CEOs out there, after you’ve been through an onboarding period like no other?

Sort of early to be handing out advice I think, but since you asked, I guess it would be “go with what got you to the position.” Don’t try to transform yourself into something different out of the gate. Take time to pause and reflect, and my best advice for any executive position, don’t go it alone – lean hard on your team and then act decisively. 

Want to learn more about SmartBear? Check out their Company Page

For the 176th episode of The VentureFizz Podcast, I interviewed Lee Hower, Co-Founder & Partner of NextView Ventures.

I have been wanting to interview Lee for a long time, as he has played a key role in the early stages of two iconic tech companies. He was an early employee at PayPal and was part of the founding team at LinkedIn before becoming a venture capitalist. Needless to say, he’s worked with some amazing people like Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, David Sacks, and others. 

He shares some awesome stories around each company, especially how LinkedIn started to gain traction in the early days.

Today, Lee is a Partner & Co-Founder of NextView Ventures, a seed stage investment firm that is focused on investing into companies that are redesigning the Everyday Economy.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

• Lee’s background and why he was so interested in joining a startup after college.
• How he met Elon Musk which landed him a job at the startup he was working on that turned into PayPal.
• A deep dive into the early foundational years at LinkedIn.
• His transition into VC and all the details on NextView Ventures.
• Why you shouldn't hire specialists for your startup.
• And so much more.

Keith Cline is the Founder of VentureFizz. Follow him on Twitter: @kcline6.

A couple of weeks ago, we hosted an online event with General Assembly titled: How to Land a Job at a Tech Startup.

If you were not able to join us, the video is below.

The panel included:

• Carly Laniado - Director of Recruiting, Movable Ink
• Kelsey Heitz - Sr. Talent Acquisition Partner, Reonomy
• Taylor Rao - Manager of Talent Acquisition, Wistia
• Keith Cline - Founder, VentureFizz (moderator)

We covered lots of topics:

• Regardless of economic conditions, why is it a good idea for people to join a startup and what can they expect by working at one? (culture, skills, marketability)
• Resumes - do they matter? When you read one... what are you looking for? What about cover letters?
• How can you stand out? What else should candidates do to build up their personal brand and stand apart from other candidates?
• Things you can do to network in a remote world. (online conferences, LinkedIn, etc.)
• What tips do you have for remote interviewing over video? Advice on how to avoid Zoom fatigue.
• How should job seekers evaluate companies in terms of its remote culture? What questions can you ask? Examples of things that you have done to keep the culture fun and lively during this timeframe.
• What does the future of the office potentially look like? Is remote here to stay?
• Are there sectors and/or positions that are still in high demand?
• Is it possible for someone to join a startup if they are making a complete career change? What about if someone has experience, like in marketing, but never in the tech industry?
• And more!

Here's your look at the latest hires and promotions across the Boston tech community at DraftKings, Carbon Relay, SimpliSafe, Veeva Systems and PatientKeeper.

Did I miss your new employees? Send me an email with their name and details about their new role. I'll add them to next week's edition of Talent on the Move. 

DraftKings

Jigyasa Kohli

 

Reporting and Visualization Specialist at DraftKings Inc.

Previously, Data Visualization Analyst at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

Kimberly Amphai

 

Senior Accountant at DraftKings Inc.

Previously, Senior Staff Accountant at Penn National Gaming

Lucas Pomeroy

 

Business Data Analyst at DraftKings Inc.

Previously, Business Data Analyst Intern at DraftKings Inc.

Michael Grimes

 

Editor In Chief at DraftKings Inc.

Previously, SVP, Director, Creative Media at Hill Holliday

DraftKings is hiring!

Carbon Relay

Josh Viney

 

Vice President of Product at Carbon Relay

Previously, Manager of Product Management Developer Experience at DigitalOcean

Carbon Relay is hiring!

SimpliSafe

Don LeBlanc

 

Chief Commercial Officer at SimpliSafe

Previously, President, Vistaprint Corporate Solutions at Cimpress

SimpliSafe is hiring!

PatientKeeper

John Kelly

 

Chief Technology Officer at PatientKeeper

Previously, IT Managing Director | Served as a Platform Lead, Product Manager and Segment CIO at CIGNA

PatientKeeper

Ashley Spangler

 

Talent Partner at Veeva Systems

Previously, Recruiting Manager at Salsify

I was texting with a friend this week, and we were comparing our workout practices. Since quarantining, both of us have used the time to get ourselves back into the best shape we can - mind, body, and spirit.  He’s often my go-to buddy when I need a dose of “all in'' motivation, and today I was seeking some help on why I might be stalling in my progress.  After he shared some incredibly valuable insights, we started talking about how so many people in our lives are continually complaining about how hard it is to be quarantined, or how miserable this whole situation is. Rather than focus on those negative people, however, he leaned into those who share our outlook. “There’s a lot of Shakespeares out there writing the next Hamlet that we just don’t know about yet.”  I’ve been thinking about that sentiment all week.

This is such an extraordinary time in our lives.  Without question, the health and financial hardship it has caused has been horrifying. And yet, people seem to fall into two obvious buckets right now. There is the “glass half empty” crew, (as in, those who approach it with “This is the worst thing ever! Let me share why this is harder for me than everyone else!”) OR those on the “glass half full” opposite end of the spectrum (“Wow, this time at home is a gift!  I’m recreating my whole approach to XYZ.”)  Of course, there is a host of reactions in between, but I seem to zero in on those two extremes the most when I connect with people.  And it’s likely to come as no surprise, I index more on the glass half full side.

We are now several months into this incredible period in history.  Of course, each of us needed to settle into our new routines and alternative ways of balancing our personal lives AND our work lives at home. As the world is slowly beginning to re-emerge from this period of isolation,  we are all getting excited to get outside and reconnect with the familiar.  Friends, family, and the simple pleasures of grabbing a bite to eat outdoors or laying on a beach are within our sight line.  Of course, hopefully we’ll be mindful about not jumping back in too quickly, as we don’t want to set ourselves back.  Finally, though, we can begin to see the sunshine peeking through the trees.

So who will you emerge as?  Will you be the person who immediately goes back to your comfortable space, and tries to get back to life as you knew it as quickly as possible?  Or did you instead embrace your life as if you were in a snowglobe (I’m stuck in a bubble, but let’s shake it up and find the beauty?!) I’m hoping for all of us that we are more of a snowglobe crew.  Why?  Consider this:

• Yes, we have all faced challenges during this difficult time.  Health, financial, emotional, family...the list is endless. Obviously, some of us have been impacted significantly worse than others with layoffs, furloughs, and of course COVID related health issues. For those still working, we muddle through days trying to be productive while homeschooling our children or trying to plot out “safe” grocery store runs between meetings. At the core, each of us is facing unique challenges, and it offers such a wonderful time to pause and exercise our best empathy and understanding to all.  My challenges might be different than yours, but we all have them.  Those who emerge having not just “survived” but rather “thrived” are those that lean into those challenges, and find new and creative ways to be productive and connect with others. So whether it’s committing to taking a MasterClass in place of a few nights of Netflix, or getting outside for an hour a day and getting some fresh air and exercise, we can all find a host of (often inexpensive!!) ways to enrich our minds, bodies and spirits. Already there?  Help someone else take that step forward.
• Yes, we all seem to be working harder than normal.  It’s not surprising that so many of us are claiming to be working harder than ever during this time.  This dynamic is likely happening for a variety of reasons, including never being more than a few feet away from your new “office”,  as well as attempting to be accommodating to your colleagues who are all facing their own challenges and managing their own time schedules. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries for yourself.  We are all in this together, and no one is going to judge you for laying down the guidelines about what works best for you.  Personally, I start early in the morning, go straight out, and find myself totally useless by 6 pm.  That means I’m missing out on some virtual happy hours and need to be thoughtful about how I schedule time with people on the west coast, but it allows me to set expectations with both my colleagues, as well as my kids.  And because it works for me, I’m sticking to it.
• Yes, our lives have been disrupted, but will this drive you to become a disruptor? As far as I am concerned, it’s not about what happens to us in life that matters; it’s how we choose to respond to it.  It’s fun to see how many people have used this time to lean into new hobbies (I’m floored by how many bread bakers there are in the world now!), pick up old ones, and find new ways to approach their lives. For some, that’s just been a function of adaptation.  For others, it’s sparked a creative outlet to shake up their world and make real change for the future.  I don’t care how amazing your life was before this all happened.  Every single one of us could do at least one thing differently to make our lives more meaningful or better.

We are on the cusp of entering into our new world, and nothing will be exactly as it was before this pandemic hit us. The question you should ask yourself is, “who am I going to be going forward?”.  I’d argue if you go back to life as it was, you’ve missed out on one of the biggest gifts of time and opportunity we might ever be handed.

Christina Luconi is Chief People Officer for Rapid7. Follow her on Twitter: @peopleinnovator

Dawn’s goal: to inspire bakery success every day. Boston is the home to its new Digital Innovation Hub, which is leading the efforts and developing digital solutions for Dawn’s bakery customers.

We connected with Shu-Zhen Chen, Full Stack Engineer, and Jim Nolte, Software Engineer, of Dawn Foods team to get an inside look at the company's technology, various projects, the team's culture, and more. 

Interested in joining Dawn Foods engineering team? Take a look at all of the company’s openings on the list to the right!

Quick Hit Details

• Year Founded:  Dawn Foods Digital Innovation Hub was founded in Boston in 2019​
• Number of employees: +15
• Number of engineers: 7
• Industry: Bakery Industry

Can you share a summary on what Dawn Foods does?

Global bakery manufacturer and ingredients supplier Dawn Foods has established itself as the premier bakery service provider, inspiring bakery success every day. Committed to delighting its customers around the world, Dawn Foods delivers the partnership, insights, innovations, products and bakery expertise that empowers them to achieve their aspirations. Headquartered in Jackson, Michigan, Dawn Foods partners with more than 40,000 artisanal and retail bakers, food service leaders and manufacturers located in more than 100 countries and has 5,000 Team Members globally. For 100 years, Dawn Foods has been a trusted advisor to its customers, helping drive their business forward. For more information about the company, its products and culture, please visit www.dawnfoods.com

What are some of the different technologies that the engineering team gets to work with and at what scale?

[Jim]: We’re building a greenfield online ordering platform based on modern architecture stack with headless leading the way. The decoupled front-end from the back-end brings a significant advantage to developers and business users alike. Most of the front-end is built on ReactJS and the back-end is built on Java Springboot. This microservices architecture leveraging BFF design pattern allows the site to scale without sacrificing performance.

What are some of the interesting projects that the engineering team is tackling?

[Shu-Zhen]: We’re tackling to make IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS to work together. This breaks new ground for Dawn as the company is venturing into the Digital space with a completely radical approach but one that’s fairly routine amongst the software world.

Does your engineering team have a chance to work on projects outside of their day-to-day responsibilities?  

[Shu-Zhen]: We do intend to adopt open source projects and contribute to them over time. Right now though, the focus is solely on getting our platform to launch on time.

What is the culture like at Dawn Foods for the engineering team? 

[Jim]: We collaborate on designs and code reviews. We help each other out when necessary. A greenfield effort means there are a lot of challenges that have to be solved and the team is rolling up its sleeves to move aside any blockers.

What can a potential employee expect during the interview process?

[Shu-Zhen]: Be prepared to talk about your past experiences and your interests. There might be a pop quiz.

Are you involved in any local tech organizations or Meetups?

[Shu-Zhen]: We’re actively in discussions with several local meetup groups to partner and provide an opportunity to showcase our work. Reach out if your meetup would like to partner with us!

We connected with Paul Liberman, DraftKings Co-founder and President, Global Technology and Product, for a special Q&A in honor of Memorial Day.

Can you share the details on what DraftKings does?

DraftKings is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company created to fuel the competitive spirits of sports fans with products that range across daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media. Headquartered in Boston, and launched in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and me, DraftKings is the only U.S.-based vertically integrated sports betting operator. We are a multi-channel provider of sports betting and gaming technologies, powering sports and gaming entertainment for 50+ operators across more than 15 regulated U.S. and global markets, including Arkansas and Oregon in the U.S. DraftKings’ Sportsbook offers mobile and retail betting for major U.S. and international sports and operates in the United States pursuant to regulations in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports product is available in 8 countries internationally with 15 distinct sports categories. 

What are your company’s core values or how would you best describe the culture and working environment at DraftKings?

We seek to innovate and to constantly improve our games and product offerings. Our focus is on creating unique and exciting experiences for our users. We are also highly focused on our responsibility as stewards of this new era in real-money gaming. Our ethics guide every decision we make, both in our respect for the tradition of sports and in our investment in regulatory compliance and consumer protection that have guided our company.

These values anchor our business. Our desire to innovate, improve and do the right thing drives our people and defines DraftKings, as we pursue our vision to transform the way people experience sports entertainment and gaming.

As a technology company at our core, DraftKings believes that the best innovation comes from diverse perspectives, thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and experiences. We consistently push boundaries and challenge the conventional to ensure our culture and products reflect the expectations of our employees, and the customers we serve.

We work to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging that makes our employees feel safe, empowered, engaged, championed, and inspired to be the very best.

Tell us about your Tech for Heroes program, and why it’s important for DraftKings.

DraftKings’ Tech for Heroes program provides free training in high demand tech skills for current and returning veterans and their spouses to help them expand their abilities and find meaningful employment. Since launching the Tech for Heroes program in the summer of 2018, DraftKings has invested over $1 million in providing free training to over 200 veterans through classes hosted in cities across the country, including Austin, Boston, Las Vegas and San Francisco. 

As an extension of the program, DraftKings is introducing a new partnership with American Corporate Partners (ACP), to offer mentorship opportunities by connecting veterans across the country to DraftKings employees.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      As a company, we always look for ways to deepen our connection to the communities we are a part of. The Tech for Heroes program allows us to make a  meaningful difference for veterans while connecting them to the industry we love - tech. Students not only complete individual coding projects - gaining confidence in their understanding of tech - but just as important for many, especially those transitioning from active duty to civilian life, they all have an opportunity to re-engage with their fellow service members.

Given the current environment created by COVID-19, we transitioned the program to a new online training format and opened it up to veterans and military spouses nationwide. There are two classes running this May - one on an Eastern Time zone and one time for students on the West Coast.

Tell us more about your virtual mentoring program and what it means for employees.

Through an exciting partnership with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national nonprofit that prepares veterans for private sector careers by pairing them with a mentor at organizations, DraftKings recently announced that it is offering employees the ability to join thousands of others across the country in changing the lives of veterans and their families. This is an employee engagement tool that works hand-in-hand with the Tech for Heroes skills training program.

For DraftKings employees, the simple act of volunteering to share knowledge, expertise and network with a veteran is an opportunity to make an enormous impact. For veterans, it can make the difference between landing a job and building a long-term career, as mentors help identify career goals and tactics to achieve those goals. DraftKings employees are paired with their mentee and will meet virtually at least once a month. We’re very excited that we could launch a meaningful program remotely, while many are working from home, and feel that while we have to stay physically apart, we can still engage employees, build community, and make a difference. 

What other initiatives does DraftKings have on the horizon?

This is our third year in the Tech for Heroes initiative and our first year in the employee mentoring component and we are looking forward to opportunities to expand our impact in the years ahead. Throughout the year, we host special charity daily fantasy sports contests, giving our passionate customers the ability to get involved, with all entry fees going directly to Tech for Heroes and veterans’ initiatives. We’ve seen great support from our player community for this effort and we can’t thank them for their ongoing support of the program.

What jobs are you currently hiring for?

We’re always looking for the best talent across the company. We’re constantly hiring for technology positions to provide a best-in-class experience for our users in our hyper-competitive industry. We now have over 2,300 employees worldwide, providing more opportunities to attract top talent to DraftKings across numerous departments. If you’re good at what you do, we want you to do it at DraftKings. For a full list of the positions we’re hiring for, visit careers.draftkings.com.

Anything else you would like to share?

In these unprecedented times, DraftKings is incredibly grateful for the people who are serving their communities around the clock, including the first responders, frontline workers and healthcare professionals. We’ve been fortunate to grow our company in coordination with many committed local leaders, who are now dedicating their time to pandemic and recovery efforts. While sports may be on hiatus, leadership and teamwork is not. 

Want to learn more about DraftKings? Check out their Company Page

For the 175th episode of The VentureFizz Podcast, I interviewed Jessica Kim and Steven Lee, Co-Founders of ianacare.

Jessica and Steve are serial entrepreneurs. They both started successful companies separately in other industries, but it was their personal experiences that brought them together to build ianacare.

If you’ve ever had to care for a loved one who is ill, then you know first hand how challenging it can be on so many levels. You need help but you don’t want to be a burden to others and there are challenges around coordinating the care. In the U.S. alone, there are over 43M family caregivers and over 90% of the care happens in the home, not a hospital. 

ianacare was built to support these caregivers. It is a mobile app that provides the emotional and practical support they need.

The creation of ianacare is a perfect example of entrepreneurs who find a problem through real-world experiences and realize that something needs to change and it becomes their passion to create the solution.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

• Steve & Jessica’s background and entrepreneurial stories including scaling a consumer subscription business to an exit for Jessica and Steve’s experience taking a video AdTech company public.
• The details behind their personal experiences caregiving for a family member and why they decided to take action.
• A deep dive into ianacare in terms of their business and product.
• What the Just Show Up movement means.
• Advice for founders on hiring during different stages of a business.
• And so much more.

Keith Cline is the Founder of VentureFizz. Follow him on Twitter: @kcline6.

Here's your look at the latest hires and promotions across the Boston tech community at Examity, Acquia, Wellframe, Nexthink, Berkshire Grey, Kaspersky, Retail Business Services, Activ Surgical, and Olo.

Did I miss your new employees? Send me an email with their name and details about their new role. I'll add them to next week's edition of Talent on the Move. 

Examity

Danielle Walker

 

Senior User Experience Designer at Examity

Previously, Senior UX Designer at PrismHR

Kirsten Ruf

 

Project Manager at Examity

Previously, Project Manager, Menu Strategy at ezCater

Examity is hiring!

Acquia

Robert Hoaglund

 

Senior Billing Specialist at Acquia

Previously, Billing Operations Specialist at Toast Inc.

Richard Jackson

 

Associate Cloud Operations Engineer at Acquia

Previously, Systems Engineer at Colospace

Quan Quan Nguyen

 

Associate UX Designer at Acquia

Previously, UX/UI Design + Research Intern at GRASPIE

Meera Nanda

 

Associate UX Designer at Acquia

Previously, UX Designer at Purro Inc.

Kathleen Law

 

Associate Software Engineer at Acquia

Previously, Associate Software Engineer at ezCater

Gloria Lee

 

Associate Software Engineer at Acquia

Previously, Software Engineer at Human Care Systems

Cameron Chelo

 

Associate Solutions Engineer at Acquia

Previously, Solutions Engineer at Toast Inc.

Beth Boisvert

 

Senior Director, Demand Generation at Acquia

Previously, Senior Director of Demand Generation and Channel Marketing at NuoDB

Annie Rimbach

 

Associate UX Designer at Acquia

Previously, Workplace Operations Coordinator at Pivotal Labs/VMware

Lindsey Hardy

 

Senior Information Security Analyst at Acquia

Previously, Compliance Manager at Threat Stack, Inc.

Acquia is hiring!

Wellframe

Caroline Rhodes

 

Senior Data Analyst at Wellframe

Previously, Associate Product Manager-Data at ezCater

Brian Yeung

 

Associate Software Engineer at Wellframe

Previously, Software Engineer Co-op at Wellframe

Wellframe is hiring!

Nexthink

Meg Donovan

 

Chief People Officer at Nexthink

Previously, VP, HR Americas at PTC 

Nexthink is hiring!

Berkshire Grey

Jessica Moran

 

Senior Vice President and General Manager at Berkshire Grey

Previously, SVP and General Manager at Bottomline Technologies 

Berkshire Grey is hiring!

Berkshire Grey

Sri Solur

 

Senior Vice President & General Manager at Berkshire Grey

Previously, EVP and GM I Chief Product Officer at SharkNinja 

Berkshire Grey is hiring!

Nexthink

Claudia Hoeffner

 

Vice President of Revenue Marketing at Nexthink

Previously, Senior Vice President of Marketing at WordPress VIP 

Nexthink is hiring!

Quick Base

Ed Jennings

 

Chief Executive Officer at Quick Base

Previously, Chief Operating Officer at Mimecast 

Quick Base is hiring!

Knox Financial

Matt Marra

 

Vice President of Growth at Knox Financial

Previously, Mentor in Residents at Techstars 

Knox Financial is hiring!

Kaspersky

Randall Richard

 

Head of enterprise sales US at Kaspersky

Previously, Global Sales Manager - Fraud and Risk Intelligence Division at RSA

Retail Business Services

Eric Braun

 

Sr. Director of Innovation at Retail Business Services, an Ahold Delhaize company

Previously, Head of Innovation at Intralinks

Activ Surgical

Subhrangshu Datta

 

COO at Activ Surgical

Previously, Co-Founder & CEO at CompanionMx

Olo

Alessandra Troisi

 

Account Manager of Deployment at Olo

Previously, Strategic Accounts Specialist at ezCater

Tausight

Dave Dickinson

 

CEO at Tausight

Previously, SVP, External Business Ventures at UnitedHealth Group