Across North Texas, companies are promoting and hiring people to take on leadership positions within their organizations. Dallas Innovates covers prominent personnel moves in Dallas-Fort Worth businesses and nonprofits—from the newest startups to well-established companies. Here are people moves tied to innovation and technology in the region.

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Varidesk promotes Lamb to president and chief operating officer

Jeff Lamb

Jeff Lamb has been promoted to president and chief operating officer by Coppell-based Varidesk, the furniture maker that made sit-stand desks an office staple.

Lamb has been a corporate leader for 37 years, including more than a decade at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. He joined Varidesk as COO in May 2018.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with how Jeff has raised the bar for our company,” Varidesk co-founder and CEO Jason McCann said in a statement. “This promotion to president acknowledges the growth in our business since he came on board. He’s been instrumental not only in streamlining our operations and shaping our strategic plan, but in our foray into commercial real estate with our VARISPACE endeavor.”

Masergy names Laskey as chief revenue officer and EVP

Bob Laskey

Masergy announced that Bob Laskey will be its new chief revenue officer and executive vice president.

He will head the global sales and marketing organizations for the Dallas-based provider of secure hybrid SD-WAN, managed security, and cloud communications solutions. Laskey brings more than 20 years of tech industry experience to his new role at Masergy.

“I have seen first-hand how Bob applies a career’s worth of technology expertise to guide the strategic growth of a company. He will serve as a critical catalyst as we seek to further accelerate our growth trajectory,” CEO James Parker said in a statement.

One Technologies names Medina vice president

Carlos Medina

Carlos Medina has joined Dallas-based One Technologies LLC as vice president of strategic business development.

He will report to Clay Myers, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

The company, a provider of consumer credit products, said that Medina will work to strengthen its relationships with credit data bureaus and financial technology firms by utilizing his extensive experience in the financial and credit services arenas. Previously, Medina worked for Experian for 11 years.

rewardStyle names 9 executives to its leadership team

Dallas-based rewardStyle, a leader in global influencer marketing, has hired nine new executives to help drive the company’s growth. rewardStyle is the company behind LIKEtoKnow.it.

The new executives to the senior leadership team include:

• Jeff Dawson, chief financial officer (former CFO of Match)
• Tom Sipple, chief revenue officer (former vice president at AppLovin)
• Kacy Cole, senior vice president of marketing (former marketing director at T-Mobile)
• Raj Lalsare, senior vice president of strategy & analysis (former vice president of merchandise and analytics at Travelocity)
• Ben Newell, vice president of product (a 17-year veteran of Sabre)
• Kristi O’Brien, vice president of corporate development and strategy (from Allen & Company)
• Vijal Viswanathan, vice president of engineering (former senior director of product development at Lexis Nexis)
• MeLinda McCall, vice president of human resources (formerly of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, The Coatings Group, and Coca-Cola Enterprises)
• Brittany DeGran, general counsel (former deputy general counsel and vice president of ALQIMI Group)

Each year, rewardStyle drives more than $1 billion in retails sales, hitting the $4 billion milestone in lifetime retail sales as of January 2019. This represents a 300 percent growth since 2015.

Hilltop Securities names Winges as president and CEO

M. Bradley Winges

M. Bradley Winges has joined Dallas-based financial services firm Hilltop Securities Inc. as president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Hill A. Feinberg, who will remain as chairman.

Winges comes to Hilltop from Piper Jaffray, where he was senior executive managing director and a member of its leadership team. Winges will be based at Hilltop’s Dallas headquarters, the company said.

Hilltop offers advice and tailored solutions for municipal users, institutions, broker-dealers, and individuals.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings Inc., Hilltop Securities’ affiliates include Hilltop Securities Independent Network Inc., PlainsCapital Bank, PrimeLending, and National Lloyds Corp.

Sheffield returns as CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources

Scott Sheffield

Scott Sheffield has returned as chief executive officer of Irving-based energy company Pioneer Natural Resources, succeeding Timothy L. Dove, who retired as CEO and from his seat on the board.

Sheffield was Pioneer’s founding chief executive officer, serving in that role from 1997 to 2016. He has been chairman since 1999, but will be replaced by Lead Director J. Kenneth Thompson.

Pioneer is in the midst of relocating its headquarters to the Hidden Ridge development in the Las Colinas business park of Irving.

Brett Whitmire to become CFO at Diodes Inc.

Brett Whitmire

Brett Whitmire has been named chief financial officer by Plano-based Diodes Inc., where he will replace Richard White, effective March 1.

White has been in the role for 10 years, and will remain with Diodes part-time as corporate secretary and special assistant to the CEO.

Whitmire has 30 years of industry experience and has been with Diodes for more than eight years.

Hemsey named managing director of Prudential energy fund

Debra Hemsey

Debra Hemsey has been appointed as managing director of Prudential Capital Energy Partners, the middle-market energy mezzanine fund sponsored by Dallas-based Prudential Capital Group.

Prudential Capital said the move comes shortly after the close of Prudential Capital Energy Partners I LP, a $343 million energy mezzanine fund.

Mezzanine funds investments in mezzanine financing—a hybrid of debt and equity financing—for acquisitions, growth, recapitalization, or management and leveraged buyouts.

Previously, Hemsey was managing director at GE Energy Financial Services–Power & Renewables Group, where she originated principal equity and mezzanine investments in the power, utilities, renewables, and infrastructure sectors.

Ryan names Sweet to lead European and Asia-Pacific operations

John Sweet

Ryan, a Dallas-based global tax services and software company, has appointed Jon C. Sweet as president of its European and Asia-Pacific operations.

Sweet brings 26 years of industry experience to his new role, half of them with Ryan. He will now lead the company’s operations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, develop key strategic initiatives for client services, and direct the company’s organic international growth.

“[Sweet] was instrumental in the launch of our European operations more than a decade ago and has consistently remained involved in a leadership capacity,” said Ginny Kissling, global president and chief operating officer of Ryan and Ryan International. 

Doherty to lead Mr. Cooper’s HR corporate communications

Kelly Ann Doherty

Coppell-based Mr. Cooper has appointed Kelly Ann Doherty as executive vice president and chief people and communications officer, a new position at the company.

Doherty will be tasked with leading the human resources and corporate communications operations.

Mr. Cooper Group Inc. is a provider of mortgage servicing, origination, and transaction-based services related primarily to single-family residences throughout the United States.

Carter named chief security officer at MedeAnalytics

Cindi Carter

MedeAnalytics, a Richardson-based healthcare analytics firm, announced that Cindi Carter has been appointed chief security officer.

Carter has more than 15 years of experience leading large-scale strategic technology initiatives. In her new role, she will oversee the company’s global enterprise security; advance a culture of accountability; and protect people, information assets, data, and technologies for the company and its clients.

“Security needs to be a shared mindset across the organization, from top-down and bottom-up,” Carter said in a statement. “Advancing a culture that places high value on securing and protecting our company and the clients’ information entrusted to us is my guiding principle.”

Mortgage Contracting Services announces leadership moves

John Maxwell

Chad Mosley

Lewisville-based Mortgage Contracting Services LLC has announced that Chad Mosley has been promoted to chief relationship officer and that John Maxwell will add additional responsibilities to his role as chief operational officer.

Mosley will oversee all of the company’s customer-facing functions, including management of all MCS client teams, as well as business development and marketing.

Maxwell’s responsibilities will also now include supervision of MCS’ continuous process improvement and vendor management areas.

CrowdOut Capital names Bell to lead new Dallas office

Stu Bell

Stu Bell has been hired as managing director of the new Dallas office of CrowdOut Capital LLC, a non-bank private lender for middle market companies.

Bell brings more than 20 years of experience in commercial banking and private equity to his new position, according to CrowdOut. He will be responsible for leadership in business development, managing customer retention, and identifying lending opportunities.

Norman joins Simpli.fi board of directors

Rob Norman

Rob Norman has been appointed to the board of directors of Fort Worth-based Simpli.fi, the programmatic advertising platform designed to scale localization and personalization.

Previously, Norman served as chief digital officer of WPP’s GroupM. Since leaving that post, Norman has joined the boards of a number of companies.

McCarthy named Geesbreght chair in emergency medicine

Terence McCarthy

Terence McCarthy, M.D., has been named the inaugural recipient of the John M. Geesbreght, M.D., M.S., FACEP, Chair of Emergency Medicine at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine in Fort Worth.

The newly established endowed chair was made possible by a gift from Geesbreght, the former director of emergency medicine at Texas Health Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, and his wife, Priscilla.

RETIREMENTS

White retiring as CEO of Dallas’ Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Alan B. White

Dallas-based Hilltop Holdings Inc. has announced that co-Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman Alan B. White is retiring. The retirement is effective April 1.

White will step down from Hilltop Holdings’ board of directors and his other leadership roles with Hilltop and PlainsCapital Bank.

White founded Hilltop’s banking subsidiary, PlainsCapital Bank, in 1988. He has served as co-CEO of Hilltop Holdings with President Jeremy B. Ford since September 2016. 

The company said that Ford will remain as president and serve as the company’s sole CEO following White’s retirement. Jerry L. Schaffner will lead PlainsCapital Bank as president and CEO.

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