Forsta Hires for Rio SEO Integration

In the US, MR and customer and employee experience tech firm Forsta has appointed former Google exec Joel Headley as Vice President of Product Management, Rio SEO, tasked with accelerating the latter's capabilities into the Forsta HX platform.

Formed last year through the merger of research software firms Confirmit and FocusVision, Forsta powers the HX (Human Experience) platform, which links customer experience, employee experience, and market research. The firm recently combined with its sister agency, local marketing platform Rio SEO, whose data from review sites drives online traffic to web sites and physical locations.

Headley (pictured) joins with more than twenty years' experience in product transformation, including twelve years spent at Google, leading Consumer & Partner Operation teams for geo products such as Google Maps, Google Earth, Local, and SketchUp, as well as integrations in Search and Knowledge Engine. More recently, he was Director of Product and Local SEO and Practice Marketing at medical practice growth platform PatientPop. In addition, Headley founded business text and messaging platform Leadferno.

In his new role, Headley will lead and execute product strategy for Rio SEO, and integrate their capabilities, including Local Listings and Local Reviews, with the Forsta HX platform. Brian Bhuta Chief Product Officer at Forsta, comments: 'Joel's expertise will be invaluable in scaling and expanding our local experience and marketing solutions and intuitively integrating them with Forsta's HX platform, giving our clients the solutions that they need to optimize their CX and local marketing strategies to capitalize on shifts in consumer behavior.'

Web sites: www.forsta.com and www.rioseo.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.