StatusNet Inc. Hires Mark Ruddock as CEO

New executive will guide next stage of growth for leading open-source social software startup.

MONTREAL, QC – StatusNet Inc. has hired veteran technology executive Mark Ruddock as its new CEO. Ruddock, with twenty years of experience in software startups, will guide the company through its next stage of growth as it expands to serve more corporate customers.

“We've been very fortunate to attract the commitment of an executive with Mark's experience and depth of knowledge,” says Evan Prodromou, founder of StatusNet. “Mark has worked with enterprise software, with mobile developers, and with social tools. He's uniquely positioned to help StatusNet's enterprise push.”

Most recently, Mark was the CEO of Canadian wireless software company Viigo.  Under his leadership Viigo was downloaded by millions and rapidly grew to become one of the most popular BlackBerry apps of all time. When Viigo was acquired by Research in Motion last year, the company boasted hundreds of distribution and content partners, had won numerous awards, including “PC Magazine’s Editors Choice“, the “Most Promising New Company of the Year” from the CNMA, and the “Wireless Leadership Award” from RIM, and had signed marquee enterprise customers such as Oppenheimer, UBS, BAT and Scotts.

Prior to Viigo, Ruddock was the founder and CEO of INEA, an innovative enterprise software company focused on the Financial Services Industry. INEA was a key strategic partner to many of the world's leading financial institutions, including RBS, RBC Financial Group, Mellon and TD Bank, and had deployments in over 44 countries when the firm was acquired by Paris based Cartesis Group in 2005.

“Enterprise social networking is an exciting software market sector, and one of the most promising growth opportunities I have seen in a long time,” says Ruddock. “StatusNet, which is in my opinion one of the best kept secrets in social software, has one of the most compelling product portfolios of any company in the space and a visionary founder in Evan Prodromou.”

As CEO, Ruddock will also join the company's board of directors. Prodromou will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer.

“This is a great move for StatusNet,” says John Elton, board member for the company and partner at iNovia Capital, an investor in the startup. “As StatusNet focuses on the next stage of its journey, bringing additional expertise into the company will help us take advantage of what we believe is a very exciting market opportunity.”