About Us
Fueled by data. Powered by authentic voices.
From our headquarters in Austin Texas, to our offices across the globe, Bazaarvoice brings a people-first approach to advanced technology, connecting thousand of brands and retailers to the voices of their customers.
We help brands and retailers find and reach consumers-and win them with the content they trust.
Each month, more than half billion shoppers view and share authentic consumer-generated content, from ratings and reviews to curated social photos and more, across the 5,000+ brand and retail websites in our network.
858,654,716,973
Pieces of consumer-generated content in our network
Meet our
leadership
team
Gene Austin
CEO, President and Director
Gene Austin
CEO, President and Director
Gene has served as Chief Executive Officer since February 2014, president since May 2013 and as a member of our board of directors since November 2013.
Gene has more than 30 years of experience delivering results in high-growth technology companies, with a particular emphasis on SaaS applications. He most recently served as president and chief executive officer of Convio, Inc., where he was the driving force behind the company’s success that led to an IPO and eventual sale to Blackbaud, Inc. in May 2012.
Prior to Convio, Gene was BMC Software’s vice president and general manager of Enterprise Data Management and previously worked at Dell as vice president and general manager of Internet Servers. He also served as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Careerbuilder.com, where he contributed significantly to growth leading to a 1999 public offering.
Gene holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BS in engineering management from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Gene also serves on the board of directors of Abila, Inc. and OutboundEngine. He is active in the Austin, Texas, community as the chair-elect for KIPP Austin Public Schools and was the 2015 chairman of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Kin Gill
Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary
Kin Gill
Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary
As chief legal officer, general counsel, and secretary, Kin is responsible for worldwide legal affairs at Bazaarvoice, including the development and implementation of the company’s overall legal strategy. Kin also advises the company’s board and management on legal, compliance, and corporate governance matters.
Kin brings nearly 20 years’ experience as a corporate transactional attorney. Before assuming his current role, Kin served as deputy general counsel for Bazaarvoice with oversight spanning compliance and regulatory matters; mergers and acquisitions; intellectual property; litigation; and commercial fields such as corporate finance, contracts, employment, and real estate. Prior to joining Bazaarvoice, Kin served as vice president, general counsel, and secretary for Xtreme Power Inc. Kin was previously in private practice, having served as a partner in the corporate and securities sections at Fish & Richardson and Andrews Kurth.
Kin holds an undergraduate degree in accountancy and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi. He earned his juris doctorate from The University of Houston Law Center.
Kin is a diehard Ole Miss football fan, and loves good food and drink. In his spare time he likes to cook and homebrew, and enjoys live music.
Ryan Robinson
Chief People Officer
Ryan Robinson
Chief People Officer
Ryan Robinson brings more than 21 years of human resources experience to Bazaarvoice. As chief people officer, Ryan believes the heart of any strong organization is its people and is passionate about helping Bazaarvoice leaders, teams, and individuals win and grow. His responsibilities include talent acquisition, career management, total rewards, and employee engagement — all in the pursuit of greater Bazaarvoice business success by building a strong performance-driven culture.
Ryan honed his people leadership and management skills with tenures at leading technology companies like HP and Compaq. A decade spent at Compaq established a strong foundation in human resources and started Ryan on his current people leadership and management path.
In his most recent role at HP, Ryan served as vice president, human resources of the Global Technology and Business Process organization. In his nearly 11 years at HP, he garnered worldwide experience invaluable to his position at Bazaarvoice as it grows globally.
Ryan holds a master of arts degree in human resources development and a bachelor’s degree in organizational development, both from the University of Texas.
Sara Spivey
Chief Marketing Officer
Sara Spivey
Chief Marketing Officer
As Chief Marketing Officer, Sara Spivey is responsible for overall leadership of Bazaarvoice’s global marketing programs, including demand generation, product marketing, brand strategy, and communications.
Sara has more than 30 years of marketing, strategy, and leadership experience with industry-leading organizations. Before joining Bazaarvoice, Sara served as CEO of InReach, a provider of online continuing education management solutions, a role preceded by her tenure as chief marketing officer for Convio. Prior to that she was vice president, Marketing and Business Development at rPath, Inc. and earlier served as vice president, Worldwide Sales, Strategic Account Alliance Development for Advanced Micro Devices. Sara began her career with Hewlett-Packard before joining Quantum Corporation, where she held a number of roles including vice president, Marketing for the Network Attached Storage Division.
Active in the Austin community, Sara serves on the Austin Chamber of Commerce board of directors and previously served as the vice chairman of the board of directors for Girlstart from 2010 – 2016. She is an Adjunct Professor in The Bill Munday School of Business at St. Edwards University. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and earned an MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.
In her spare time, Sara enjoys hiking (especially with her dogs), foreign travel, and exploring new food trucks in Austin.
Gary Allison
Executive Vice President, Engineering
Gary Allison
Executive Vice President, Engineering
As leader for all of Bazaarvoice’s Research and Development efforts, Gary Allison is responsible for design, development, quality, deployment and 24×7 operations of our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution.
Gary strongly believes in driving quality throughout the organization and fostering innovation as key pillars in building world class R&D teams. His team at Bazaarvoice embodies these values as they continually deliver innovation through cutting-edge cloud technologies to serve our clients worldwide.
Gary brings over 25 years of software engineering expertise, including more than 12 years of executive leadership along with extensive experience in delivery and operations of 24×7 enterprise class SaaS solutions. He has a passion for building exceptional engineering teams, encouraging innovation, developing leaders, and delivery of highly available solutions that delight clients.
Gary most recently led the R&D team at E2Open whose SaaS solution serves the supply chain needs of Fortune 500 companies. Prior to E2Open, Gary led all Engineering and Data Center Operations for Convio, processing over $1 billion in annual transactions. His experience also includes executive roles at software startups complimenting leadership roles at IBM.
Gary graduated magna cum laude from Texas A&M University in Computer Science, and also earned a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. He is active in the Austin technology community providing coaching and mentoring to startups and R&D leaders.
In his spare time, Gary enjoys physical fitness, adventures with his family, and analog therapy like restoring 60s muscle cars or motorcycling through the Texas hill country.
Michael Paulson
Executive Vice President, Product
Michael Paulson
Executive Vice President, Product
Michael is a technology product leader with a passion for building strong teams and evolving commerce. He has held product leadership roles in consumer and business-facing companies including Amazon, Microsoft and eBay, as well as at startups and retail brand companies.
Most recently, Michael led the product team for eBay’s new Seller Insights group, created through the acquisition of Decide.com. At Decide, Michael was Vice President of Product & Marketing, and grew the business from inception through acquisition.
Michael holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Yale University.
Joe Rohrlich
Executive Vice President and General Manager, EMEA
Joe Rohrlich
Executive Vice President and General Manager, EMEA
As General Manager, Joe leads strategy, revenue growth, and overall operations for Bazaarvoice in EMEA. Previously, Joe was SVP Client Success at Bazaarvoice, leading the global account management function to improve long term client value and retention outcomes. He initially joined the company in 2010 to grow Bazaarvoice’s first CPG Brands offering and practice.
Prior to Bazaarvoice, Joe led account management at a Procter & Gamble-owned marketing consultancy. He has consulted on digital marketing strategies with brands ranging from Pampers to Sprint to Newell Rubbermaid.
Joe holds a BA from the University of Michigan and is an avid Michigan sports fan – Go Blue!
Kelly Trammell
Executive Vice President, Services
Kelly Trammell
Executive Vice President, Services
As the Executive Vice President of Bazaarvoice Services, Kelly is responsible for leading our global strategy consulting, implementation, managed services, technical support, network and content integrity, and insights services business units. Kelly has more than 20 years of leading and growing services business units within the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market. Before joining Bazaarvoice, Kelly was Senior Vice President of Consulting and Solutions at SCS. Prior to SCS, Kelly was President and CEO of Servique, which was acquired by SCS in 2007. Previously, Kelly was Senior Vice President and General Manager for Commerce One and was Managing Director for E-commerce for IBM Global Services. Kelly started his career at KPMG and was elected to join the partnership team.
Kelly holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Houston.
We believe in giving back
Community outreach is part of who we are, and we make it a priority to support our employees’ involvement.
We dedicate b:generous week each year to local volunteer efforts across the organization.
We hold annual Office Choice Awards to select a local non-profit for a company donation in every Bazaarvoice location.
We enable team members to redeem points for charitable donations as part of our employee recognition program.
We match employee contributions to worthy causes and non-profits, plus special contribution matching during times of need.
We're committed to diversity and inclusion
It is our responsibility to build a workforce of diverse talent, background and expertise – and to cultivate a work environment that includes, supports and champions everyone.
We prioritize events and programs that foster a collective investment in diversity.
Our managers are continually educated on diversity practices for career development and mentorship.
We're dedicated to driving greater diversity in our recruitment pipeline, not just in our hiring numbers.
Our Diversity Advisory Board is constantly monitoring our diversity mix and exploring new and better ways to improve it.
We live our core values every day
Performance
We act with purpose.
We are decisive.
We exceed expectations.
Innovation
We believe there is power in change.
We have the courage to act.
We lead.
Authenticity
We promote trustworthy intereactions.
We embrace integrity and transparency.
We operate with undisputed credibility.
Respect
We are a companyof equals.
We value difference.
We are people first, roles second.
Generosity
We share.
We give without expectations.
We are connected to our community.
Teamwork
We play to one another's strengths.
We trusth each other.
We are stronger and smarter together.
Passion
We excite with possibilities.
We celebrate success.
We love what we do.