Aktify, a conversational collective intelligence (CI) platform for enterprise businesses, recently announced the appointment of SaaS-industry product powerhouse Chase Rigby as Chief Product Officer and tech talent Dave Barney as Chief Technology Officer.
Rigby has vast experience creating and enhancing enterprise SaaS software. In his six years at Google, he led various teams at Niantic Labs, Search & Assistant, and ML reengagement for ads across YouTube, and Chrome. He also led Google’s Social Good team, processing payments for mining public data to predict public health epidemics that aided federal and NGO relief efforts.
Barney spent more than a decade at Google developing machine learning and digital attribution models, teaching ML classes to fellow Google engineers, and leading fulfillment efforts in its global support organization. Prior to Google, Barney spent a decade working at various ML/AI start-ups, where he came to know and understand the intricacies of building strong ML teams in a start-up environment.
Most recently, Rigby and Barney rebuilt the technology, product, stack, and culture at Kanopy, an enterprise video streaming platform. Their efforts resulted in the acquisition of the company by KKR and OverDrive in June 2021.
Working in tandem, Barney will guide engineering and data science teams at Aktify, while Rigby will spearhead the product development and design. Their leadership will further develop Aktify’s science-first approach to cutting-edge conversational AI.
“Aktify has experienced extraordinary growth in the last year,” said Rigby. “When you consider its technology, people, and market opportunity, that progress makes sense. There’s much more room to grow, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Barney and Rigby’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for Aktify. The company continues to generate previously unseen revenue for its clients. It is onboarding an ever-increasing number of new customers. The dynamic duo will help innovate products and develop the technology to meet future customers’ needs.
Aktify’s product, data science, and engineering teams develop conversational AI technology. The AI has increased sales and meetings across various industries.
“Chase and Dave’s expertise will allow us to take not only Aktify, but the entire conversational AI space to the next level,” said Aktify CEO Kreg Peeler. “They join the other powerhouses in our company to create a product and a long-overdue solution for sales needs. We expect big things to come shortly.”
