Artico Search Recruits CEO for Labster
February 12, 2024 – Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor and Alex Klein of Artico Search have assisted in the recruitment of Shawn Boom as the new CEO of Labster, a platform for virtual labs and interactive science in Boston. CEO and co-founder Michael Bodekaer Jensen will transition to executive board member. “My deep love for high-impact edtech innovation has only grown stronger over the past year with the rapid advancements in AI,” said Mr. Bodekaer Jensen. “As I transition to an Executive Board Member role to focus more on this area, I see a tremendous opportunity to further advance Labster’s mission. With the evolving landscape of AI in education, we need a CEO whose experience and drive align perfectly with our goals. Shawn Boom, with his proven track record and deep understanding of the edtech sector, is the ideal leader for Labster at this pivotal moment. I am excited to support him and continue contributing to Labster’s groundbreaking journey.”
“With a passion for edtech, deep commercial enterprise leadership experience, integrity, empathy, and drive, Shawn’s expertise and vision are perfectly aligned with Labster’s mission and values,” Mr. Bodekaer Jensen said. “Transitioning into the role of executive board member, I am thrilled to partner with Shawn to amplify our impact on education, delivering a learning advantage to even more students and setting new benchmarks in edtech. I am wholeheartedly confident that under Shawn’s leadership, Labster will continue to thrive and redefine the future of science and nursing education.”
Mr. Boom’s prior roles in the edtech industry include working nine-plus years with Blackboard, the online learning management system (LMS) now part of Anthology, where he held the position of global vice president. He previously spent five-plus years as director of sales for The Active Network, with a focus on the higher education market. Most recently, Mr. Boom spent nearly six years with K-12 and non-profit focused fintech provider Vanco, serving as CEO and executive chairman.
“Michael’s exceptional leadership over the last many years, marked by his positive influence on product innovation and the cultivation of a vibrant, collaborative company culture, sets the stage for Shawn Boom to come on board to fully realize our bold goal of helping 100 million learners,” said Mads Bonde, executive board chairman and co-founder of Labster. “Shawn will guide our journey ahead through his deep understanding of the education sector, partnership with customers and a focus on business strategy to accelerate growth for Labster.”
“We are highly confident that under Shawn’s leadership, Labster will continue unlocking the most profound learning outcomes in the sector,” said Tory Patterson, managing director, Owl Ventures. “Shawn has the perfect background to expand Labster’s reach and leverage the extremely high potential of digital learning in the new AI-enabled global classroom. Every student in every school should be using Labster’s platform to accelerate science learning.”
“The world is calling upon our next generation to solve the biggest challenges of our time, such as hunger, climate change, economic inequality, tech disruptions, and disease,” said Mr. Boom. “Labster’s core focus is to help all learners succeed in STEM programs so they can change the world. I’m excited to continue focusing my professional efforts on using edtech to make the world a better place.”
Related: Artico Search Recruits Chief Revenue Officer for Labster
Labster is dedicated to developing fully interactive virtual training simulations that are designed to enhance traditional learning outcomes by stimulating students’ natural curiosity and reinforcing the connection between science and the real world. Labster works with leading educational institutions to improve science learning, resulting in collaborations with over 3,000 institutions around the world, including ETH in Zurich, MIT, and Imperial College.
Fast Growing Boutique
With offices in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, TX, Artico is off to one of the fastest starts among boutique search firms in recent memory. Given the billions of dollars flowing into venture capital and private equity investments, as well as the ever-present threat of cybersecurity breaches, the founders expect continued growth ahead. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor has completed over 75 CEO searches as well as partner, principal, and other CXO level assignments for the world’s most successful global investors.
Artico Search Recruits Leader for Newly Formed Night Capital
Artico Search recently recruited Alexandra K. Moore as the founding managing director of a new investment company, Night Capital, which was recently launched by The Chernin Group (TCG) and digital talent-management and media firm Night Inc. In addition, TCG has invested an undisclosed sum in Night to “further accelerate Night’s growth as the leading next-generation talent representation platform,” the company said. With the stake, TCG co-founder and partner Mike Kerns will join the board of Night. Night Capital, which has funding commitments of $100 million from TCG, is focused on acquiring majority interests in “consumer-facing companies in partnership with leading talent,” the companies announced.
Ms. Chatfield-Taylor’s team focuses on executive-level search for scale-up venture capital and private equity-firms and their portfolio. The team has deep expertise in global software, data and emerging technology businesses. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor is deeply passionate about the importance of diversifying the industry, with a full 53 percent of her placements tracked since 2019 being underrepresented executives.
Mr. Klein is a partner and leader of the firm’s global product and engineering practice. With over a decade of experience focused on emerging and established product and engineering talent, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the Artico team and its clients. He has worked with a wide range of companies, from series A start-ups to pre and post IPO companies. Mr. Klein was previously with True Search, where he led and executed VP and C-level engagements across product and technology functions, helping companies identify, attract, and hire elite product and engineering talent.
Related: Artico Search Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for parcelLab
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
