Brightcove Hires Jeff Ray as CEO

Jeff Ray

Jeff Ray

Online video publishing specialist Brightcove said its board has appointed Hugh Jefferson (Jeff) Ray III as CEO, effective immediately.  

Ray succeeds acting CEO Andy Feinberg, who has served in that role since 2017 as Brightcove sought a permanent replacement. Feinberg will continue as president and COO. 

Brightcove also announced that Ray has joined the company’s board, along with two other new additions -- Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the FCC; Kristin Frank, a former Viacom exec. Tied in, David Orfao, managing partner at General Catalyst and an early investor in Brightcove, will be stepping down from his position as a director. With the latest changes, Brightcove said its board now consists of eight members, including six who are independent. 

Ray is late of enterprise technology companies that include Ellucian, Ventyx (acquired by ABB), DS SolidWorks, Progress Software, and Compuware. He started at IBM after graduating from Texas A&M.  

“The Board was impressed with Jeff’s decades-long track record of accomplishments as a CEO and senior executive. That, combined with his extensive technology leadership experience made him the ideal candidate to serve as Brightcove’s CEO,” Gary Haroian, Brightcove’s chairman of the board, said in a statement. 

“I am incredibly optimistic about the opportunity in front of Brightcove,” Ray added. Internet video traffic will grow fourfold from 2016 to 2021, reaching 82% of all global consumer internet traffic. This explosion in video consumption is creating tremendous opportunities – and challenges – for companies around the world.”  

Brightcove will announced Q1 2018 results on April 26. For Q4 2017, it posted revenues of $40.1 million, up 4%, versus the year-ago period, and a net loss of $1.4 million, or 4 cents per diluted share.