Movista makes additional strategic hires, accelerating growth trajectory

Bentonville software firm Movista has expanded its leadership team by hiring Fran Stevenson as senior vice president of customer success and Paul Kennedy as senior vice president of sales.

Stevenson will lead the agency’s client partners and customer support representatives and focus on customer retention and growth initiatives, according to a news release. Kennedy will head up Movista’s international sales team, grow the platform’s global expansion and implement rigorous growth efforts.

April Seggebruch and Stan Zylowski, both University of Arkansas graduates, founded Movista in 2010. The company’s cloud-based software allows companies to manage their distributed workforces via smart devices.

“Fran and Paul represent the best of the best in their roles,” said Zylowski, the company’s chief executive. “They are consummate professionals with impeccable records. Most importantly, they share the Movista spirit of placing clients first and letting growth follow. We could not have chosen two better people. The stronger our team grows, the stronger our service to the retail industry becomes.”

For nearly 20 years, Stevenson has built a robust set of experiences leading people and organizations from the inside-out. Most recently, she worked on the North American leadership team at Accruent, an Austin-based provider of health care technology and facilities management solutions

“The very thing that drew me most to Movista was the teams’ ferocious commitment to customer partnerships and their strategic product investments to ensure their objectives and their customers’ objectives are not only met, but exceeded,” Stevenson said in a statement. “I’m energized to join this team, maintain critical relationships with retail leaders and continue to invest in the ever-evolving retail IT space.

“Movista’s team of retail veterans and SaaS experts have been solving big problems in the retail industry for more than 10 years. I’m enthusiastic to join them because I truly believe Movista is the connecting tool that makes retail exponentially better for key players across the industry,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy brings more than 15 years of experience in the retail solutions industry, from improving execution strategies in stores with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Inc. to propelling expansive digital transformation results at Fujitsu Americas.

Zylowski said the growing executive leadership team sets Movista up for the next phase of development, after growing more than 400% in the past five years. In 2019, the firm acquired Virginia-based competitor Natural Insight within a year of receiving a $12 million investment from Level Equity of New York.

Movista also hired a new chief financial officer, Adam Carson, and new chief customer officer, Eric Wilson, late last year.