John Evarts appointed new COO at network automation firm BackBox

Leadership team additions at BackBox, a leading network automation platform, have marked the recent enhancement of the company's corporate structure, with John Evarts joining as the new Chief Operating Officer.

Reporting to CEO Andrew Kahl, John's primary oversight will be the go-to-market functions, holding responsibility for Sales, Marketing, and Corporate Finance. "John brings both range and depth to this role, and his initial focus will be on establishing operational metrics that will help us measure our growth more consistently and predictably," Kahl said.

He further expressed his optimism about the impact John's contribution will bring to the company's future, highlighting the importance of the executive team's expansion in the past year. "Growing our executive team has been a key factor to our success this past year. With John's track record in operational planning and strategy for companies of our size and scale, the sky is the limit for BackBox," said Kahl. 

With his extensive tenure in operational planning and business strategy, John Evarts has amassed credible experience, having offered his leadership to several early-stage software companies throughout significant growth periods. Most recently, he served nearly 14 years as President and Chief Operating Officer at Mediafly, where he accelerated corporate development initiatives. John's role encompassed a multitude of responsibilities, including deal sourcing, due diligence, and integration for eight company acquisitions.

In addition to his professional roles, John Evarts plays an active part in the start-up ecosystem, serving as an advisory board member with VITALIZE Venture Capital. He has earned his MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he is an Executive in Residence, regularly speaking and mentoring students and alumni. For his consistent contributions, John received the Chicago Booth Career Services Alumni Award in 2021.

John will be joining forces with Michael Calonica and Isabelle Papoulias, who also joined the BackBox leadership team in 2023. Michael, as Senior Vice President of Global Sales, has a track record of scaling inside sales teams for companies such as HYCU, LogicMonitor, and AlienVault. Isabelle, who stepped into the role of Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, was previously associated with Mediafly as Chief Marketing Officer and then EVP of Operations and Global Expansion. She holds experience in senior global account management roles for Fortune 1000 technology brands at large advertising agencies.

As the new Chief Operating Officer, John remarked on the impending challenges faced by enterprise network teams worldwide in securing their networks amidst rapidly changing infrastructures, limited resources, and overall complexity. In this area, BackBox has been pivotal. He anticipates working with his team towards this goal: "Isabelle and Mike have already built a strong marketing and sales execution engine to meet the demands of companies looking to address these challenges. I am honoured to be part of an incredibly talented and passionate team that is focused on helping network teams shine with BackBox."