October 25, 2012 — Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA — WP Engine, the premiere managed WordPress hosting platform, announced today the addition of two executives. Chris Errett will lead IT and Developer operations, and LaurieAnne Lassek (LA) will head-up the company’s marketing efforts.
Austin Gunter – Content and Community Marketing at WP Engine
Chris Errett is an accomplished IT and systems executive with extensive experience in building scalable infrastructure and processes. In addition to serving in the U.S. Army, Errett was most recently at Trion Worlds, where he lead and managed technical projects for the company.
LaurieAnne Lassek brings more than a decade of marketing leadership in the Silicon Valley technology business community. Previously VP of Marketing at Quova, (acquired by Neustar) LA will support WP Engine’s engagement efforts in the WordPress community as well as lead market expansion for the company among enterprise-grade businesses that need a reliable, scalable hosting platform for their websites built on the WordPress CMS.
“When we started WP Engine we knew that there was a need for premium hosting for WordPress-built sites, but just how much of a need has really been eye-popping,” said Jason Cohen founder and CEO, WP Engine. “It’s been very important for us to maintain the highest level of support every step of the way. Our customers and the WordPress community have come to trust us to deliver excellent services and support. LA and Chris bring the right experience to help us to continue to expand our platform and scale services and support as we grow.”
Errett and Lassek join co-founders Jason Cohen and Ben Metcalfe. Previously, Cohen ran Smart Bear Software Inc. until its acquisition in 2007, at which time he launched WP Engine and helped to build Capital Factory, where both companies are currently housed. Metcalfe is a well-known San Francisco-based technologist and developer who, as an early employee of the BBC News Website, launched the BBC’s platform. He went on to build platforms at MySpace and most recently, Neustar. Lassek will be based in San Francisco working alongside Metcalfe. Errett will be based in the Austin. Both new executives bring enterprise business chops, having worked with medium to large companies known for providing top-quality customer service. The addition of this expertise to the WP Engine team puts a second stake in the ground, adding to the already established IT operations team in Austin, by bolstering a marketing, product and strategy presence in San Francisco.
ABOUT WP ENGINE
Founded in 2010, WP Engine was born out of a need for a scalable hosting platform to support WordPress, the fastest-growing CMS on the planet, now powering 18% of the world’s top 1000 highest trafficked websites. Recently, WP Engine announced tight integration with the popular version control system git, providing the first native one-command deploy-to-production deployment process offered by any web host for WordPress. WordPress is the CMS of choice for small businesses, bloggers, and enterprise companies expanding their online presence. WP Engine hosts tens of thousands of sites ranging from SMBs and to major brands such as Williams Sonoma, FourSquare, HTC, SAP, and the Rolling Stones. WP Engine is headquartered in Austin, TX. www.wpengine.com
Congratulations WP… onwards and upwards 🙂