LAWRENCE, Kan. — Oct. 4, 2018 — Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based data protection, today announced the appointment of Andy Hurt as chief marketing officer, effective Oct. 1. Reporting directly to Richard Spurlock, Cobalt Iron CEO and founder, Hurt will manage all marketing and product management activities for the fast-growing company.
“Andy is the ideal professional to lead our marketing and product management organization. Having more than 18 years of experience with technology and software organizations, he is a seasoned professional who brings deep expertise in marketing, product management, and mergers and acquisitions,” Spurlock said. “We welcome Andy to the Cobalt Iron team and are excited by his proven leadership in marketing and product management as we continue to define the standard in the SaaS-based data protection marketplace.”
“Backup, data protection, and archiving are at the heart of every company,” Hurt added. “After spending much of my career focused on data preservation and rethinking archival approaches, joining Cobalt Iron is a natural next step in my career. I am honored to join a team of experts that has its sights set on modernizing how organizations think about data protection through a SaaS-based software solution.”
Over his career, Hurt has held numerous leadership positions in marketing, product management, strategy, and operations for global technology organizations. He joins Cobalt Iron from Wazee Digital, where he served as senior vice president of marketing and business development. Prior to that, Hurt led the global strategy and product roadmap for Oracle’s digital media product portfolio following Oracle’s acquisition of Front Porch Digital. Other previous positions include senior vice president of marketing and product management at Front Porch Digital, senior director of product development and delivery at Level 3 Communications, senior director of product solutions at First Data, and general manager of product operations and finance at Dish Network.
Hurt received a Master of Business Administration in international management from the Fisher Graduate School of International Business at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas. He is certified as a New Product Development Professional from the Product Development and Management Association.