Clarabridge Hires for New European HQ

US text analytics firm Clarabridge has hired software industry veteran Darren Jaffrey to lead its new European headquarters in London.

Clarabridge, which is based in Reston, VA and has offices in San Francisco and Boston, develops software which automatically collects, classifies and scores sentiment, and analyzes qualitative data found in customer feedback channels.

Last spring, the firm secured $4.33m in a mixed securities offering from existing investors, which it has been using to pursue 'aggressive growth' in sales, marketing and technology enhancement.

The firm's SVP Sales and Marketing, Tony Lopresti, says that the UK and Europe are 'key areas of expansion' for the firm in the next few years.

Jaffrey joins the new office from talent management software developer Taleo (previously known as Vurv Technology), where he served as General Manager, EMEA & APAC. Before this, he held senior management positions at business intelligence vendor MicroStrategy. He began his software industry career at Electronic Data Systems.

'It was important for us to hire someone with deep industry experience who also understands what it takes to land and expand in new markets,' Lopresti explains. 'Darren's track record clearly shows he's the right person for the job.'

Web site: www.clarabridge.co.uk .