Astronomer, a technology company that specializes in data orchestration, said on Saturday it had put CEO Andy Byron on leave after a viral video emerged featuring him engaging in a romantic moment with the company's head of HR, Kristin Cabot, at a Coldplay concert. As a consequence, co-founder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy will become the interim CEO.
The firm established the shift in leadership and recognized the circumstances in a public post on X (formerly Twitter), stating, "Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy is temporarily acting as interim CEO as Andy Byron has been put on leave. We will provide additional information as necessary in the next few days."
Board of Directors of Astronomer has also launched an official probe into claims of an improper relationship between Cabot and Byron. The company has committed to updating as the investigation goes on.
Byron has issued no public statement regarding this. The company further stated, ".reports stating otherwise are all wrong."
In the same blog post, Astronomer responded to online rumors about employee identities, explaining that staff member Alyssa Stoddard had been incorrectly identified as part of the viral video. "Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video," the company said.
The drama started when Byron and Cabot were caught on the venue's "kiss cam" during a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Boston. The couple were shown hugging before suddenly breaking off when they realized they were on the giant screen. Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin responded to the uncomfortable moment by joking, "Either they're having an affair or they're just really shy," before immediately covered up with, "Oh s**t, I hope we didn't do something bad."
The video rapidly went viral on the social media, causing speculation regarding Byron's relationship with Cabot, particularly since he is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron. Interestingly, Ms. Kerrigan subsequently deleted her last name from Facebook as public interest grew. The pair, who have two young children, live in Northborough, Massachusetts, where Ms. Kerrigan is Associate Director of Lower School and Hope Graham Program Admissions at the Bancroft School.
Andy Byron became the CEO of Astronomer in July 2023, based on his currently deleted LinkedIn profile. He has had experience holding senior leadership positions at companies like Lacework, Cybereason, Fuze, BMC Software, BladeLogic, and VeriCenter.
Kristin Cabot came on board at Astronomer in November 2024 as Human Resources head. At the time, Byron complimented her recruitment in a company release, commenting, "Kristin's exceptional leadership and deep enterprise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory."
Throughout the course of the investigation, Astronomer has said that it will provide further updates as necessary.
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