Category: Team

Proven Tech Leaders, Sarah Webber (from Constant Contact) and Vartan Hagopian (from Monster and PeopleFluent) join ClearGov’s Executive Team

ClearGov, a leading provider of transparency, budgeting and forecasting solutions for local governments, announced today that two accomplished software professionals have joined the executive leadership team to support the company’s rapid growth and expansion.

New additions to the team include Sarah Webber, VP of Client Success and Vartan Hagopian, VP of Sales.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have both Sarah and Vartan on our executive team at ClearGov,” said Bryan Burdick, President and Co-Founder of ClearGov. “ClearGov has seen rapid growth over the last two years and is poised to accelerate this trajectory in 2019. Sarah brings a proven track record and expertise in scaling a client success team, and I am confident she will ensure every ClearGov customer has a tremendous experience working with us. Vartan has successfully led software sales teams of all shapes and sizes, and he knows how to drive rapid growth. Best of all, both Vartan and Sarah share our common vision of what it takes to build a high-performing, positive company culture, so I am confident they will continue to attract and hire top-notch talent as ClearGov continues to grow.”

Sarah Webber has over 20 years of experience in strategic leadership roles with a core focus on driving client satisfaction and success in order to build lasting relationships and increase retention. Sarah brings a unique set of leadership skills to ClearGov and is dedicated to creating a service environment that drives immediate impact and long-term value for ClearGov clients. Sarah specializes in mentoring and building a client success organization that will delight ClearGov customers and exceed their expectations.

“I am profoundly impressed by ClearGov’s mission to build a community of transparent, data-driven, modern governments,” said Sarah Webber, VP of Client Success. “It is both personally and professionally rewarding to work with a company that is truly making a difference. Helping to make democracy work better – especially at the local level – has significant, positive impact for everyone involved.”

Vartan Hagopian is a proven sales leader with over 20 years of experience in SMB and enterprise sales. Vartan’s experience in developing and implementing sales strategies that drive company revenue goals will be critical in attaining ClearGov’s long-term growth strategy. Vartan specializes in building and scaling sales teams and using data to identify areas of improvement and drive strategic direction. He is a developer of people and high-performing sales organizations.

“I am excited to join an incredible team that has already built a thriving business,” said Vartan Hagopian, VP of Sales. “ClearGov has produced cutting edge technology to make municipal organizations significantly more efficient. I’m excited to bring these timely data solutions to local governments nationwide.”

ClearGov is a leader in government transparency, benchmarking, and budgeting solutions and works with hundreds of local governments and school districts in 20 states across the country. The Massachusetts based startup recently raised a round of seed capital and has consistently grown their customer base 250% year-over-year. ClearGov’s mission is to build a community of transparent, data-driven, modern governments.

To learn more about ClearGov visit www.cleargov.com.

About ClearGov

ClearGov is building a community of transparent, data-driven, modern governments. ClearGov drives this mission by offering a suite of SaaS solutions for town, cities, schools and other municipal entities that includes transparency, benchmarking, budgeting and forecasting solutions. ClearGov’s award-winning platform is utilized by hundreds of communities across twenty different states.

PRESS CONTACT:

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

Seed Round to Fuel Sales Growth, New Product Development and Client Services Expansion

Maynard, MA (5/31/18) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced it has raised an additional $2.25M through a second seed round of financing bringing the total raised to $3.75M.  The oversubscribed round was lead by new investments from Launch Capital, Riverpark Ventures and Hub Angels, along with current investors Kepha Partners and MassVentures both increasing their stake in ClearGov.

“We are thrilled by the support we’ve had from our initial investors and excited to bring new investors onto the ClearGov team as well,” said Bryan Burdick, President of ClearGov.  “The response that we’ve had from the market has been tremendous, so we are ready to put this additional capital to work to scale our team and continue our mission to help local governments be more efficient and effective.”

ClearGov provides local governments and school districts with an online platform to better communicate complex financials in an easy-to-understand, infographic format.  The platform is now used by more than 400 municipalities across 16 states to drive trust and support through enhanced transparency. ClearGov also provides tools to help municipalities compare financial performance against similar communities to better inform budgetary decisions.

Following 400+% YoY growth in 2017, ClearGov will use the funding to fuel sales team and client services growth, as well as expand the executive leadership team.  The funding will also be used to bring key new products to market over the next twelve months.

“The public is increasingly demanding accountability and transparency from our government agencies, so we feel that ClearGov is offering an incredibly timely solution,” said Eric Hjerpe of Kepha Partners.  “We were impressed with traction the team was able to generate after the first seed round and are excited to continue to support their growth and product expansion.”

As part of the latest round, ClearGov has also named Bill McCullen of Launch Capital to its Board of Directors.

“ClearGov’s mission to help government leaders make better, data-driven decisions is powerful,” said Bill McCullen of Launch Capital.  “With their innovative market approach and proven team we believe that ClearGov can have a significant impact on how local governments engage and serve their constituents.”

To explore ClearGov’s local government transparency and benchmarking platform visit http://www.cleargov.com.

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms city and town financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

PRESS CONTACT:

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

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Virtual Towns & Schools to Offer Fiscal Transparency Module Powered by ClearGov

Maynard, MA (3/21/18) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced today a strategic partnership with Virtual Towns & Schools (VTS), a leading municipal website provider.  The partnership will enable VTS clients to embed fiscal transparency profiles seamlessly within their municipal websites to offer residents more accessible and digestible budgetary figures.

“Fiscal transparency is top of mind for towns and school districts, but communicating complex financials to residents is a challenge,” said Millard Rose, President of VTS. “ClearGov has created a turnkey plug-in for our clients that communicates their budget in a simple, digital format that everyone can understand.”

ClearGov specializes in transforming government-sourced financial and demographic data into easy-to-understand infographic profiles.  Hundreds of local government agencies leverage the ClearGov platform to increase transparency and gain financial insights through the company’s sophisticated municipal benchmarking tools.

As part of the partnership agreement, ClearGov has created financial transparency dashboards that can be embedded in VTS clients’ websites.  The Town of North Attleborough, MA is the first municipality to integrate a “Fiscal Transparency Center” powered by ClearGov on its VTS website, which can be explored here.

Additionally, VTS clients that claim their ClearGov profile will have access to expanded features, including additional demographic metrics and tax bill customization.

“Virtual Towns & Schools has established itself as the leading provider of turnkey government websites in the Northeast,” said Bryan Burdick, President of ClearGov. “We are excited to partner with VTS to help our mutual customers more effectively engage with their citizens and drive community support.”

To explore ClearGov’s local government transparency and benchmarking platform visit http://www.cleargov.com.  To explore Virtual Towns & Schools services visit https://www.vt-s.net.

 

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms city and town financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

About Virtual Towns & Schools

Virtual Towns & Schools’ websites support 600+ clients with a wide variety of populations and needs – including special districts and agencies.  2017 was VTS’s 7^th straight year of record new contract growth and it’s award winning Drupal based CMS provides an extensive list of features and responsive design.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

 

Millard Rose

978.461.5848

mrose@vt-s.net

Government Performance Pioneer to Support ClearGov’s Rapid Growth

Hopkinton, MA (1/9/18) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced today that former Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley, has been elected to ClearGov’s board of directors.

O’Malley served as Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015 and previously served as Mayor of Baltimore for eight years.  O’Malley is widely recognized for his innovative approach to data-driven governing and has earned a reputation for pragmatic and effective governance via analytics.

“Governor O’Malley is a true pioneer in data-driven governance,” said Chris Bullock, ClearGov’s CEO and Chairman. “We believe his extensive experience in implementing performance management and analytics in government will be instrumental as ClearGov continues to expand rapidly across the country.”

Utilizing publicly available data, ClearGov has built nearly 40,000 infographic profiles of local governments and school districts.  Hundreds of local government agencies leverage the ClearGov platform to increase transparency and gather financial insights through the company’s sophisticated municipal benchmarking tools.

“A data-driven approach to governing has become the norm in large cities,” said Gov. O’Malley.  “ClearGov represents a powerful platform for tens of thousands of small and mid-size communities to take advantage of the latest technologies to improve government decision-making and drive transparency with a turnkey solution and minimal investment.”

“We targeted an independent director that would bring relevant and extensive government experience to the ClearGov team, and Governor O’Malley was at the top of our list,” said Bryan Burdick, ClearGov’s President.  “He is a proven leader at both the municipal and state level and we look forward to leveraging his real-world insights.”

O’Malley graduated from Catholic University, and went on to earn his law degree from the University of Maryland in 1988. That same year, he was appointed as an Assistant State’s Attorney for the City of Baltimore. Driven by the epidemic of crime, drugs, and poverty that he witnessed as a lawyer, O’Malley ran for Baltimore City Council at the age of 28, where he served for eight years.

In 1999, O’Malley was elected Mayor of Baltimore where he implemented a performance management and mapping program called CitiStat, which achieved tremendous success in improving the responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency of the City’s operations.  The program is credited with saving the city $100 million through analytics-based service delivery and achieving the largest ten year crime reduction of any major city in America.  These accomplishments earned O’Malley Time Magazine’s distinction of “one of America’s top five big city mayors.”

In 2007 O’Malley was elected Governor of Maryland and brought his analytical prowess to the state house by establishing StateStat.  The widely-acclaimed program measurably improved the performance of government workers, improved water quality and deterred crime.  Under O’Malley’s leadership, Maryland’s school system became the top public school system in America for five years and the US Chamber of Commerce ranked Maryland the best state for innovation and entrepreneurship for three years in a row.  Dozens of cities and states across the country have since adopted similar programs.

To explore ClearGov’s local government transparency and benchmarking platform visit http://www.cleargov.com.

 

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms city and town financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

PRESS CONTACT:

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

Hopkinton, MA (3/29/17) – ClearGov, a leading provider of local government transparency and benchmarking solutions, announced today that is has raised a $1.2 million seed round to fund its rapid expansion.  Local governments use ClearGov’s enterprise SaaS solution to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions, and improve communication with citizens.  The seed round was led by Kepha Partners and included MassVentures, as well as a host of angel investors.

“ClearGov’s team has a proven entrepreneurial track record and the company’s traction with local governments in Massachusetts speaks for itself,” said Eric Hjerpe, partner at Kepha Partners.  “The company’s solution is incredibly topical as governments are increasingly battling misinformation, making the need to improve transparency and build public trust ever more important.”

Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Chris Bullock and Bryan Burdick, the company has transformed complex, public data sets from state and national entities into a network of easy-to-understand financial profiles on over 20,000 local governments across 20 states.   Each town profile includes an infographic-style breakdown of revenues, expenditures and debt, which are compared to statistically similar towns to provide taxpayers with context to every figure.

“ClearGov has created an invaluable tool not only for citizens, but also for government officials to access and, more importantly, utilize public spending, taxation and budgeting information,” said Jennifer Jordan, vice president at MassVentures.

The company’s premium Insights^TM service allows local governments, such as Brookline, MA and Decatur, GA, to enhance their basic ClearGov profiles with more granular financials and commentary on fiscal trends.  Local governments then promote their ClearGov site as a “transparency center” to the public via their town website, social media and town meetings to help drive trust through transparency.

ClearGov Insights^TM also includes web-based software that enables government leaders to identify potential areas for improved efficiencies by comparing their finances against similar communities via the company’s extensive database of over $1.8 trillion of government expenditures.  A local government could, for example, analyze the cost efficiency of its snow and ice removal program by comparing expenditures to neighboring towns with similar road miles.

“This investment is an important step in our vision to make democracy work better.  ClearGov is much more than financial transparency; we are providing insights to taxpayers and officials that can help improve the effectiveness of their local government” said Chris Bullock, CEO and founder of ClearGov.  “Ultimately, we believe our platform has the potential to positively impact millions of people through a more informed and efficient democracy.”

To explore ClearGov’s local government network visit http://www.cleargov.com.

 

Burdick’s Sales and Operations Leadership Enables ClearGov to Further Scale and Grow

Wayland, MA (January 3, 2017)  – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced today that Bryan Burdick has joined the founding team and will serve as the company’s President reporting to Chris Bullock, ClearGov CEO and Chairman.  Burdick will oversee all aspects of revenue, financial and administrative operations of the company.  As a co-founder Burdick’s entrepreneurial experience will help guide ClearGov’s strategic direction and fuel rapid growth.

“Bryan is a proven leader that brings tremendous experience in scaling SaaS businesses to ClearGov at a time when we are positioned to rapidly expand our team and client base,” said Chris Bullock, CEO.  “I am confident that his leadership will help vault ClearGov to a new level and be a key asset in the evolution of our company in the years ahead.”

Burdick brings to ClearGov over 25 years experience in the technology sector, including business-to-business, big data, digital media and software-as-a-service.  Most recently, he co-founded Bizo, a leading B2B audience targeting platform, which scaled to $50M in revenues and was successfully acquired in August 2014 by LinkedIn, where Burdick has spent the last 2+ years as Global Head of B2B. Bizo was spun out of ZoomInfo, Inc. – a leading business intelligence provider, where Burdick served as President. Prior to ZoomInfo, Burdick held senior executive roles at Monster Worldwide, Lycos, Inc., Go2Net, Inc. (acquired by InfoSpace) and Reality Online, Inc. (acquired by Reuters).

“I have been thoroughly impressed with what Chris and the ClearGov team have accomplished,” said Bryan Burdick, ClearGov President. “They have built an elegant solution to deliver the information and insights that local governments need to drive efficiencies. And feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive as demand for government transparency is at an all-time high. I am thrilled to be joining the ClearGov team, and I am confident that we are well poised to help make democracy work better.”

About ClearGov

ClearGov’s mission is to delivery clarity and unique fiscal insights that help governments operate more efficiently and effectively. ClearGov transforms municipal financial statements, key metrics and other relevant data into easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use. Local governments leverage ClearGov to clearly communicate their financial performance in order to better collaborate with constituents and communities. ClearGov also provides a proprietary municipal benchmarking platform that empowers government leaders to make more informed and data-driven policy and budgetary decisions and enables the sharing of best practices between municipalities.