Jumio brings in IPO veteran as biometrics growth spurs hiring

The sustained growth in the biometrics space has prompted new appointments at a series of technology providers, with new board members for Jumio and Vsblty, the first two members of Valencell’s advisory board and a new advisor for iComply announced, and authID.ai and Next Biometrics appointing new SVPs for sales.

Jumio brings in board member with IPO experience

Former Q2 Holdings CFO Jennifer N. Harris has been appointed to Jumio’s Board of Directors to help guide the company’s efforts to scale its role in the digital identity space.

Harris’ experience with acquisitions and initial public offerings is noted in the announcement, as is her three decades holding finance and accounting positions within fast-growing technology companies.

Jumio has been growing quickly, securing a $150 million investment in March and reporting major gains in revenue and sales for its biometric KYC and AML technology in Q2 2021. These highlights have only fueled speculation about the possibility of a Jumio IPO.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Jumio at such an auspicious moment for the company,” Harris says. “Jumio is transforming the identity verification playbook for KYC, fraud detection, compliance, bank-grade security and other demanding use cases. It’s an honor to be on the Jumio team as they disrupt the sector to meet unprecedented challenges in today’s online environment.”

Jumio CEO Robert Prigge cites Harris’ “expertise in financial and operational infrastructure at high-growth technology companies” as a key asset for the company going forward.

Valencell Medical Advisory Board

Valencell has unveiled the founding members of its new Medical Advisory Board, which will provide strategic, scientific and experience-based direction to the development of the company’s biometric monitoring wearable technology.

Dr. William E. Kraus and Matthew Banet, PhD are experts in the fields of medical wearables and translational research, Valencell says.

Kraus is a certified cardiologist and professor of Cardiology at the Duke University School of Medicine. His recent research includes studies of biometrics for clinical monitoring programs in home-based cardiac rehabilitation and related settings.

Banet is senior director of research and development at health care technology provider Baxter, after it acquired his startup toSense Inc last year. He has been involved in the development of wearable medical devices, and holds numerous pending and granted patents.

Vsblty adds to board of directors

Vsblty has appointed former Sensormatic VP of Global Strategy, Alliances and M&A Amin Shahidi to its Board of Directors. Shahidi brings 25 years of experience in digital transformation consulting and retail expertise to Vsblty.

Shahidi championed Vsblty’s retail analytics and biometric security application while with Sensormatic, according to Vsblty Co-founder and CEO Jay Hutton. The two companies launched a partnership in 2019.

“I have been working with the Vsblty team for several years and have long been a fan of VSBLTY’s industry leadership in shopper engagement using advanced computer vision and retail analytics, as well as security technology. I look forward to contributing to Vsblty’s strategic planning and implementation, as well as their continued growth.”

New SVP Sales for authID.ai

Steven J. Fazio has been appointed senior vice president of sales for authID.ai, according to a company announcement, as the company expands its selfie biometrics into target markets including banking, fintech, healthcare, insurance, travel, online gaming and ecommerce.

Fazio has 25 years of experience developing and delivering security technology and infrastructure to well-known international brands, including financial services companies.

“We are thrilled to welcome Steve to our team of experts who are committed to eliminating passwords and reducing the risk of fraud by helping businesses seamlessly offer secure biometric identity authentication solutions to their customers,” comments Tom Thimot, CEO of authID. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with Steve and witness his many accomplishments over the years. His deep connections across the security sector are validation of Steve’s unmatched reputation.”

Next appoints former FPC marketing director

Ulf Ritsvall has moved over from Fingerprint Cards to join Next Biometrics as the company’s new senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Ritsvall brings broad management experience from the ICT and biometrics industries to Next, according to the announcement, both with start-ups and more established businesses.

MIT, Kerberos veteran joins iComply advisory board

iComply has announced Thomas Hardjono, CTO of Connection Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and technical director of the MIT Trust::Data Consortium, to the company’s advisory board.

Hardjono previously served as executive director of the MIT Kerberos Consortium, and according to iComply was instrumental in establishing Kerberos as the most widely-deployed authentication protocol in the world for digital identity management.

He will help guide the company’s strategy for iComplyKYC, the company’s identity verification product, which uses edge computing to perform on-device biometric authentication.

“iComply’s degree of implementation is quite extensive, and the dashboard that they have built is terrific. iComply has a strong and very clear vision. This is one of these linchpin technologies that the industry desperately needs,” says Hardjono. “The traditional banks, private organizations, and governments need to step up their game and move in this direction. On the horizon, we have central bank digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and decentralized finance (DeFi) that need to manage all of the things that iComply can manage.”

Article Topics

appointments  |  authID  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  iComply  |  Jumio  |  Next Biometrics  |  stocks  |  Valencell  |  VSBLTY