Barry Padgett, the CEO of Seattle startup Amperity, has announced his resignation to spend more time with his teenage children. He will transition to an advisor role next month. Chris Jones, the company’s chief customer and product officer, will take over as interim CEO. Padgett joined Amperity in 2020 as president and COO, becoming CEO in 2022. The company recently had a record quarter and turned a significant profit for the first time, but has also gone through three rounds of layoffs since August 2022.
Amperity, founded in 2016, provides services to help companies optimize their targeted marketing campaigns by consolidating data sources about individual customer habits. This includes emails, purchase history, mobile app usage, website traffic, physical store visits, and more. The goal is to give marketers a comprehensive understanding of each user to increase sales and brand loyalty. The company reached a $1 billion valuation and unicorn status in July 2021 after raising $100 million. Padgett took over as CEO following the departure of co-founder Kabir Shahani for personal reasons.
Jones, who joined Amperity in 2018 after over 26 years at Microsoft, will now serve as the company’s interim CEO. He has been involved in pivotal projects at Microsoft, such as Healthcare NExT, OneDrive and SharePoint. Jones praised Padgett for leading Amperity through significant transformation and challenges, including those posed by the pandemic and economic downturns. Padgett previously spent 20 years at SAP Concur, climbing up the ladder to chief product and strategy officer before moving to Stripe for a year as chief revenue officer.
Since his departure from Amperity, Shahani has co-founded a new startup called Avante, which is focused on empowering a healthier workforce and improving the bottom line. The company has raised $10 million in funding and is currently in stealth mode. Meanwhile, Amperity co-founder Derek Slager remains in his role as chief technology officer. The company’s board of directors includes individuals such as Concur co-founder and Accolade CEO Raj Singh, Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain, former Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, and music artist Ciara.
Amperity currently has around 300 employees, down from nearly 400 earlier in 2023. The company recently introduced Lakehouse CDP, a product aimed at helping businesses streamline the sharing and management of customer data internally. Despite the challenges faced by the company in the past year, it remains focused on providing innovative solutions to its clients. Padgett expressed his excitement about supporting his children’s academic endeavors and taking a summer off for the first time in many years. Jones, the incoming interim CEO, is optimistic about leading the company during this transition period and building on the progress made under Padgett’s leadership.
