Gamification Startup SessionM Brings On Hires From Apple And Google

SessionM CEO and co-founder Lars Albright says the company has been recruiting aggressively since it raised a $20 million Series B a few months ago. Today, he’s announcing three big hires from Apple and Google:

Gerald Hewes, who led the analytics, optimization, and insights team for Apple’s iAd program, and who’s now SessionM’s vice president of engineering.
Amy Jerusalmi, who joined Apple through its acquisition of Quattro Wireless and led the iAd account management team. She is joining SessionM as vice president of client services.
Deborah Powsner, who was on the marketing team for Google+, and is joining as SessionM’s senior director of marketing.

Albright came from iAd himself — he co-founded Quattro, which became the basis for iAd when it was bought by Apple. However, he emphasizes that both Hewes and Jerusalmi had already decided to leave Apple because they wanted to stay in Boston. (In other words, he’s not poaching his former team members from Apple.)

The company helps app developers try to improve engagement and retention by rewarding users within the app, while also opening up new advertising opportunities.

SessionM is also announcing expansion beyond Boston, with offices in New York City (where Powsner will be based), Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Albright says that SessionM is hiring across the country in sales, product, and engineering. During our conversation, he focused particularly on sales: “One of the big learnings for me at Quattro was to invest heavily in great people on the sales side.”

The company now has more than 40 employees.