TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Top Hat, the software platform that enables professors to engage their students more effectively through interactive content and learning environments, today announced that proven brand builder and marketing leader Nick Stein joined the company November 1 as its first Chief Marketing Officer. Stein is responsible for driving Top Hat’s overall marketing strategy, including brand management, corporate communications, customer acquisition and retention and marketing planning and execution.
“Nick is a world-class strategic marketer and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the Top Hat executive team,” said Mike Silagadze, Top Hat co-founder and CEO. “Top Hat has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past four years. With professors at 650 of the top universities and colleges using our platform to provide more engaging and interactive learning environments and content to more than two million students, now is the right time to bring on an experienced marketing leader with a proven track record of building high performing teams and driving growth. Nick has built successful marketing organizations at startups, mid-size companies and large enterprises; his leadership will be of tremendous value as we continue to scale the amazing growth we’ve experienced to date.”
Stein, an award-winning journalist turned software marketer and entrepreneur, joins Top Hat from Vision Critical, where as Senior Vice President of Marketing he led a global team responsible for brand management, corporate communications, content marketing, demand generation, field marketing, events and customer marketing. Previously, Stein served in senior marketing roles at Salesforce.com and Rypple, a venture-backed startup acquired by Salesforce in 2012. He holds a masters in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in English from McGill University.
“Top Hat’s innovative platform, unique business model, world-class management team and top flight investors are what attracted me to this opportunity,” said Stein. “They’ve been able to grow revenue by more than 5300% over the last four years — and do it profitably — placing them in rarified company. Their success demonstrates a tremendous pent up need from university professors to provide a more engaging, interactive and immersive classroom experience to their students. And they have attracted accomplished venture capital firms including Emergence Capital, an early investor in Salesforce.com, Box and Yammer, and Georgian Partners, which backed Shopify. I’m excited to build the marketing function and help them realize the enormous potential they’ve created.”
“Nick’s strong track record of helping enterprise SaaS companies build compelling brand narratives and content marketing programs that generate significant demand makes him the right choice for Top Hat,” said Gordon Ritter, co-founder and general partner of Emergence Capital, who is an investor and member of Top Hat’s board of directors. “Our fellow investors and board members are confident in Nick’s ability to help the company exceed its own expectations in the coming years.”
About Top Hat
Top Hat’s interactive platform enables college and university professors to engage their students inside and outside the classroom with compelling interactive tools and content. Thousands of professors and more than 2 million students at 650 of the top 1,000 colleges and universities in North America use Top Hat's platform. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Top Hat has been operating profitably since its 2009 launch with $22M in venture capital funding. To learn more, visit www.tophat.com.
