I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. I recently read a post that called this a Consulting CTO and suggested: Founders of startups use a consulting CTO when they have business vision but limited knowledge of the technology needed to launch their company. That same post said that finding part-time, consulting CTOs is fairly hard. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up . I used an image from Roger Smith

Los Angeles-based Everbridge , which develops incident notification and mass calling systems, said Thursday that it has named Scott Sullivan as the firm's Chief Technology Officer. Sullivan was most recently Chief Technology Officer, Interactive, for the Tribune Company and the Los Angeles Times. Overture Services, where he was SVP Technology Operations and Engineering. Sullivan has also served at Edmunds.com, where he was CIO, and Yahoo!/Overture READ MORE>> ...Tags:

Calabasas-based DTS , a developer of surround sound technology, said today that it has named Dr. Frederick Kitson as the firm's EVP and Chief Technology Officer. Kitson joins from Motorola, where he was Corporate VP and head of Research and Development of the firm's Applied Research Center. Kitson has also served at Hewlett Packard.

At the Verizon Wireless Town Hall you'll hear from Anthony Melone, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Verizon Wireless about what's just around the corner at Verizon. Monday, May 18, 2009 -- CommNexus presents: Verizon Wireless Town Hall. This event will offer plenty of time for audience QandA, so bring your questions!

San Diego-based Skinit , a developer of personalized "skins" for electronic items, reports today that it has hired on Stanford Au, former SVP of technology at Shutterfly, as its Chief Technology Officer. Au was behind Shutterfly's Photobook line of products, and also held the position of VP of Products at WebEx. The firm said that Au has also previously served as an executive at Virage, inc.,

San Diego-based DivX said late Wednesday that the firm's Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Markus Moenig, has resigned from the firm. DivX is a developer of codec technology used for encoding digital vide According to DivX, Moenig, who joined the firm when it acquired MainConcept in November of 2007, is returning overseas to "explore new entrepreneurial opportunities." DivX said that Jim Reesman, the firm's Vice President of Engineering, will now lead its global engineering organization.

San Diego-based Verimatrix has snagged a Motorola vet as its new Chief Technology Officer, the firm said today. The firm said it has named Petr Peterka, formerly a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in the CTO's office at Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility Team to the position. Peterka is active in the DECE, DLNA CPS, ATIS, SMPTE, Coral, DVB, ITU-T and other standards organizations, specifically working on digital rights management (DRM0 systems. Verimatrix is a developer of DRM software used in set top boxes and IPTV.

Monrovia-based AeroVironment , a developer of unamnned aerial vehicles and energy products, said late Friday that it has named Tom Herring as its Senior Vice President and General Manager of its Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) businesss, and also named John Grabowsky as its Chief Technology Officer. Grabowsky was previously GM of the UAS segment. Herring was most recently at BAE Systems, where he was VP and GM of BAE Systems Integrated Solutions unit; Herring had been at BAE Systems for 27 years.

Geoff Barrall as its new Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering. San Diego-based Overland Storage said earlier this week that it has hired Dr. Barrall was most recently CEO of Data Robotics, and also was founder of BlueArc. Barrall also serves on the board of Nexsan, and has served on the board of Tacit Networks, the advisory boards of Data Domain, and NeoPath.

Grant Kirkwood , CTO of Mzima Networks, will become Chief Technology Officer for the merged company. Los Angeles-based Mzima Networks , a provider of Internet bandwidth services, is being acquired by London's PacketExchange , the firms said Monday. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.