DURHAM – Black-led social media startup SpokeHub has had an executive shakeup.
The social media startup based out of Durham, which made headlines last year after its black founders raised $2 million in capital, has replaced its chief executive officer with Pamela Bishop — an African-American woman and former Cisco executive.
The startup’s former CEO, Robert Hartsfield, one of its original five founders, “is no longer with the company,” Jackie Ferguson, a source close to the company told WRAL TechWire today.
She said the startup needed a leader with a “more robust vision for the company.”
Meanwhile, Walk West’s CEO Donald Thompson, who runs one of the fastest growing digital marketing agencies in the Triangle, is serving as executive chairman to support the team as they move forward.
Thompson and Richard Berryman, another founder and head of business development, were unavailable for comment.
SpokeHub CEO … Pamela Bishop.
Bishop is a University of Chicago graduate and a former senior program manager with Cisco, with more than 20 years of “broad technology expertise leading cross functional deployments with $10 million budgets.”
Jeanne Roberts Johnson, chief business officer for SpokeHub, leads operations and legal for the startup and “has worked diligently to fill in multiple gaps while the company looked to replace the CEO,” the source said.
“SpokeHub is already experiencing some big wins as they explore opportunities that are taking them to the next level of success.”
Photo copyright SpokeHub
Back in August 2018, the startup raised $2 million after closing its second seed round. It was a noteworthy achievement because it’s notoriously hard for black founders to raise capital.
It was made even more so because most of the fund – though not all – were raised by black angel investors.
Founded in 2016, SpokeHub is working to bring a “unique version of augmented reality to social media.
It is a graduate of the Google for Entrepreneurs Exchange for Black Founders out of Durham’s American Underground, and has partnered with sports analytics firm STATS and Durham’s Chamber of Commerce.
