ATC Names Barbary Brunner as its New CEO

The Austin Technology Council on Thursday announced the appointment of Barbary Brunner as its new CEO.

Brunner will take the reins from Julie Huls who has served as the organization’s president for the past six years. She announced her plans to resign in December.

Brunner has more than 20 years of experience as an executive at Experian, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Vivendi Universal and as a consultant to small and mid-sized companies.

“Barbary is an advisor and board member to, and investor in, a number of early stage companies, is a past mentor of the Founder Institute’s global accelerator program and prior to her years in high tech, worked with nonprofits and civic organizations as a board member, committee chair and lobbyist,” according to a news release.

“After a thorough executive search, the ATC board is thrilled to appoint Barbary Brunner as CEO,” Mark McClain, ATC Chairman and CEO of SailPoint, said in a news release. “Barbary’s extensive experience leading and growing technology companies of all sizes, from a marketing, sales and executive leadership capacity, will serve as a tremendous asset for ATC’s diverse membership as we enter the next chapter of growth and evolution as an organization and a market.”

“Austin Technology Council has built an incredible and unique network of strong, strategy-minded technology and life sciences industry leaders all working together to tackle some of the area’s greatest challenges,” Brunner said in a news release. “As CEO, I look forward to building upon the momentum ATC has gained around understanding how we will attract talent, increase Austin’s access to later stage capital, build our life sciences sector, and continually evolve market strategy in these critical years of rapid growth. I’ve had the opportunity to work in some of the strongest technology markets in the US, but Austin has always been my dream destination, and I look forward to helping ensure Austin’s place among the elite locations for tech and life sciences companies to do business.”

The ATC, founded in 1992 as the Austin Software Council, operates as an independent nonprofit 501-C6 organization. It also runs the ATC Foundation, a separate 501-C3 organization. The organization has 280 companies as members representing 1,600 executives and more than 60,000 employees in the Austin area.

The ATC will host its ATC Gateway event tonight at The Belmont and Brunner will be in attendance.