Former Avaya executive Jim Chirico has been appointed CEO of Dallas-based INSTANT Intelligence, a data automation and agentic AI technology company founded in 2015.
INSTANT said that former CEO Michael McMackin will remain with the company as co-executive chairman of the board.
“On behalf of the board, employees, and our investors, I am excited to announce this incredible move forward for our organization,” Executive Chairman Michael McMackin said in a statement. “Jim brings tremendous value to our organization in both financial strategy and sales growth. We look forward to substantial growth, scalable development, and enterprise quality under his capable leadership.”
Chirico has more than four decades of strategic leadership and operational excellence.
Most recently, he was president and CEO of Avaya Holdings. INSTANT said that Chirico is a proven technology executive who oversaw the cloud-focused strategy for the company, which serves 90% of the Fortune 500, providing enterprise-grade communication solutions such as contact centers, unified communications (UCaaS), and collaboration tools worldwide.
Before Avaya, Chirico held leadership roles at Seagate Technology, where, as executive vice president, he was responsible for more than 40,000 employees in 14 facilities around the globe, successfully driving significant changes and impactful advancements in the organization’s operations capabilities and effectiveness.
Chirico also worked at IBM, where he developed expertise in global operations, supply chain management, and manufacturing.
“As a global technology innovator, I’m excited about the opportunity that INSTANT provides for corporations seeking critical strategic intelligence,” Chirico said in a statement. “Corporations are inundated with promises of artificial intelligence only to receive more reporting. INSTANT is different.”
Chirico noted the importance of harnessing AI.
“Powered by agentic AI, INSTANT’s Platform is not simply reporting but learning and acting,” he said. “The depth of information sourced by the INSTANT Platform occurs as transactional changes happen, making the timing of action as responsive as possible. INSTANT takes global enterprises beyond being informed to actual strategic, actionable intelligence.”
The story was updated with founding information on Feb. 27.
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