Orlando, FL (January 4, 2019) – IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA), operator of IZEAx®, the premier online marketplace connecting brands and publishers with influential content creators, announced the appointment of Chris Staymates as Chief Technology Officer. Staymates is responsible for driving customer success by leading all aspects of software ideation and delivery. In his role, he directs a global team of software engineers, product designers, data scientists and customer facing personnel.
Staymates joined IZEA in 2015 as Vice President of Engineering and was tasked with revamping the underlying architecture of IZEAx to provide the foundation for an enterprise-class influencer marketing platform. Under his leadership, the company has transformed its technology stack from the ground up, dramatically improved the customer experience, and introduced multiple industry firsts including ContentMine, VizSearch and ScoreSuite.
“We are delighted to promote Chris to Chief Technology Officer,” said Murphy. “He has been instrumental in the success of our software strategy and quickly became a key member of our leadership team shortly after joining the company. He has unbridled passion for our customers, deep technical knowledge, and is a hands-on natural leader. There has been a tremendous effort put forth by Chris to help the company realize our vision. I am excited by what is ahead for IZEAx and look forward to working side-by-side with Chris as we continue to grow IZEA.”
Staymates has an extensive background in both consumer and enterprise software design. Prior to joining IZEA, Staymates was the Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering at SPLYT, an analytics company acquired by Knetik in 2015. At SPLYT, Staymates and his team developed a patented cloud-based platform for data collection, data visualization, multi-variant testing, personalization, and application optimization.
Earlier in his career, Staymates served as Software Architect and Lead Engineer at Electronics Arts, where he owned the software architecture road map for key console franchises, including “Madden NFL,” “NCAA Football,” and “NFL Blitz.” In addition, he designed and led the implementation of ‘SuperSim’ at EA, a cross-platform, cross product football simulation engine.
“I’m honored to be appointed CTO of such an innovative and dynamic company.” said Staymates. “It has been a pleasure working alongside this team. Our hard work is paying off and I’m very excited about IZEA’s role as the premier technology provider for influencer marketing, as well as the greater creator economy.”
Staymates is a Cum Laude graduate of The University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Science & Engineering and serves on the Industry Advisory Board of the University of Central Florida’s Computer Science Department. He was also a Co-Founder of Canvs, a co-working space and nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Central Florida’s startup community, now part of StarterStudio.
