Cold Play Kiss Cam Fallout: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron Resigns

A kiss-cam cameo at a Coldplay show just toppled the top boss at Astronomer.

Coldplay singer Chris Martin at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival, and Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s HR chief Kristin Cabot seen at a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 16.

Andy Byron stepped down as chief executive after he and Kristin Cabot, the company’s HR officer, were shown together on the stadium’s “kiss cam” during the band’s Wednesday, July 16 concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Both are married.

Video of the moment ricocheted across social media, igniting speculation and forcing the Cincinnati-based DataOps firm into damage-control mode.

Astronomer confirmed Byron’s departure

Saturday afternoon, July 19, in a statement posted on X

. The company wrote that  Byron has submitted his resignation, which has been accepted by the Board of Directors.

The board, the message continued, will now hunt for a permanent leader while co-founder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy serves as interim CEO:

“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” the post stated. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”

Before the scandal, Astronomer was best known for building data-pipeline tools that help corporate teams move analytics and artificial-intelligence projects from development into production. The 2018 startup had raised more than $300 million and counted Goldman Sachs and Salesforce Ventures among its backers.

“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” Astronomer stated in its statement. “While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.

• Earlier report: Astronomer Speaks Out After Andy Byron Caught On Kiss Cam

Earlier report: Astronomer Speaks Out After Andy Byron Caught On Kiss Cam

“We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”

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