Stellar, a venture-backed technology-driven marketplace which solves maintenance at scale for the single-family rental market, recently announced the appointment of Melissa Bates as chief revenue officer and Jami Smith as vice president of people operations. Their arrival is significant as the company has already made strides toward achieving rapid growth, and with the addition of these two leadership roles, it will fuel the company as it continues to evolve to offer innovative technology and customer-centric services to pioneer proptech, Stellar said in a press release.
Bates will drive the company’s revenue growth by working closely with clients to understand and help solve their needs and pain points, and to align Stellar’s platform with their objectives. She will also lead the revenue organization and build and implement Stellar’s overarching growth strategy.
Prior to joining Stellar, Bates was chief growth officer at Enjoy Technology, Inc. (now Asurion), a technology-powered platform reinventing “commerce at home” by bringing the best of the store directly to the consumer on behalf of some of the world’s leading consumer brands.
“We want Stellar to be the obvious choice for maintenance for our clients because of the value we create for them and their residents,” Bates said. “I look forward to working with our clients to create an industry-leading maintenance marketplace that solves their pressing business problems, drives net operating income, and generates long-term benefits for them and the SFR industry.”
Smith will drive a person-first approach with responsibility for developing a world-class employee experience and oversee employee recruitment, engagement, and development to ensure a smooth transition and open culture during the company’s hyper-growth phase.
Smith was director of culture at Procore Technologies, a global, cloud-based construction software provider, where she led the team and had oversight of the company’s communications and workplace experience divisions.
“I’m thrilled to join the Stellar team and introduce new ways to empower our employees to continue to deliver exceptional service to our customers,” Smith said. “Through impactful people operations and leadership, I’m eager to build a talent strategy and culture that effectively manages the employee experience to support Stellar on its growth journey.”
These new leaders bring decades of experience driving revenue and growth, cultivating teams, and implementing scalable best practices. Their proven track records will help Stellar prepare for accelerated expansion in the proptech space from a product, process, and people perspective, according to the company.
“We are proud to have reached the point in our growth where we attract the talent and experience Melissa and Jami bring to the organization,” Stellar founder and CEO Dustin Marx said. “We are confident that their ideas, perspectives, and previous successes, combined with our planned innovation and continued expansion, will take our teams and company to the next level. As we build our go-to-market and customer momentum under Melissa’s leadership and enhance the employee experience through a more holistic approach under Jami's leadership, we put Stellar in a prime position to achieve untapped growth goals.”