Chatham developer and original co-founder Andrew Brown will be joining SmashToast, Inc. — a locally based tech-startup that was recently featured in Springfield Business Journal — as its full time Chief Technology Officer starting October 2nd, according to company CEO Barnabas Helmy.

“We are thrilled to bring Andrew aboard full time.  His presence will immediately strengthen our programming and development, and ensure that the products we move to market are both highly functional and elegantly designed — which is a central part of the SmashToast mission,” said Helmy.

SmashToast is a new company focused on developing mass media technology solutions through the combination of inexpensive hardware and mobile applications.  The new company recently signed CCK Automations in Jacksonville as its sole manufacturer, and just closed its first stage of Angel Investment; surpassing its financial goal by 17%.

Brown, who helped found SmashToast this past March, joins the company full time from his previous position at Horace Mann, where he served as a business intelligence developer for 2 years after having received his degree from University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.   Brown now will lead all programming development for SmashToast products.  He joins CEO Barnabas Helmy and Chief Operating Officer Barbara Kolkmeier in rounding out the executive team.
Brown stressed his excitement at joining the company in this capacity, noting, “This is a company with great products under development, and significant interest from investors in the field of high tech.  I’m excited for this opportunity to build this company from the ground up.”