Featured Image Credit: Linkedin/Petedejoy/Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Topics: Music, Entertainment, US News, News, Technology
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Music, Entertainment, US News, News, Technology
Following the Coldplay kiss-cam scandal that gripped the internet last week, the new CEO of Astronomer has spoken out.
For those out of the loop with the social media frenzy, in recent months, that British band have been touring the US, finally arriving into the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on Wednesday night (16 July).
For the first time, frontman Chris Martin has been including a segment in the group's show, where the cameras filming the performances pans to the audience, after which he serenades them with a song.
During last week's show, however, they panned to a couple standing on one of the balconies. A woman was standing in the arms of a man, who was standing closely behind her.
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Immediately after realising their faces had been plastered upon the big screen, however, they broke free from one another, moving out of view.
Their speedy escape prompted fellow attendees to share footage of the incident online.
It later emerged that the couple in question were Andy Bryon, the CEO of the tech-data firm Astronomer, and Kristin Cabot, the Chief People Officer of the same firm.
And while workplaces romances are hardly uncommon nowadays, what came as an even bigger shock to spectators, was that both Byron and Cabot are married.
Astronomer later issued a statement (on Sat 19 July), revealing that Byron had since resigned from his position following a formal investigation.
The official message read: "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.
"Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO."
As we say, a new CEO has since stepped into the position, in the form of Peter DeJoy, who also released a statement on the matter.
Taking to LinkedIn to share the news of his powerful promotion, he penned: "Over the weekend, I stepped into the role of Interim CEO at Astronomer, a company that I’ve proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build.
"Over the past few years, our business has experienced incredible growth. What was once a mission to help companies with Apache Airflow has turned into so much more.
"We’re privileged to sit at the centre of our customers’ data & AI strategy, powering data pipelines behind in-game analytics of your favourite sports team, LLM powered chatbots for customer support, training AI for self-driving cars, and every mission-critical process in between."
Addressing the kiss-cam scandal, DeJoy continued: "The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter.
"The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name."
Turning the topic back to business, he went on to claim Astronomer has 'never shied away from challenges', adding: "A near-decade of building this business has tested us time and time again, and each time we’ve emerged stronger.
"From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room.
"And yet, we’re still here."
Seemingly attempting to boost morale following a controversial few weeks, DeJoy concluded his message by writing: "We’re here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way.
"We’re here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.
"I’m stepping into this role with a wholehearted commitment to taking care of our people and delivering for our customers. Astronomer’s foundation remains strong, built around the thriving Apache Airflow community.
"Our opportunity to build a DataOps platform for the age of AI remains massive. And our story is very much still being written."
He lastly added: "To our team: thank you for your resilience & commitment to building something great. And to our community and customers: thank you for your trust.
"We won’t let you down."