Celtx Names Ashley Stamps-Lafont as Vice President of Customer Success and Mike Duquet as Vice President of Marketing

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (July 13, 2022) - Celtx, a leading media production software developer, today announced the appointments of Ashley Stamps-Lafont as vice president of customer success and Mike Duquet as vice president of marketing.

Celtx, which was recently acquired by Backlight™, a growth-equity backed media technology holding company, is growing its senior leadership team to strengthen its go-to-market capabilities. The addition of Ashley and Mike's roles was a top priority for Backlight, whose strategy was to inject Celtx with resources and investment in talent, product development, innovation and infrastructure.

“Our team at Celtx has built some of the most innovative and loved products that help writers and creators accelerate the development of their narratives through collaborative workflows,” said Mark Kennedy, Celtx co-founder, and CEO. “With the investment from Backlight we are able to rapidly scale our marketing and customer success so that we can continue to engage with our customers using the channels and information that will enable them to deliver the next generation of exciting storytelling”.

As the vice president of customer success, Ashley Stamps-Lafont is responsible for the Celtx customer lifecycle. She is charged with optimizing and driving a healthy, growing customer base. Ashley joins Celtx from Unity Technologies, a leader in video game creation and real-time 3D technology, where over the course of five years she held several positions of increasing responsibility. In her last role with Unity, as global director of customer success, Ashley built a 30-member customer team that improved subscriber retention by 21 percent year-over-year while under her leadership. Ashley holds a MSc in Global Health from the University of Copenhagen and a BA from the University of Wisconsin.

“We are extremely excited to have Ashley lead the customer success team,” said Mark Kennedy. “Her experience at high-growth organizations, along with her specialized expertise within the gaming-sector where she has a track record of supporting top creative teams with their on-time delivery of cutting-edge entertainment experiences, makes her the ideal leader for this function. With the recent release of Celtx Gem, the latest version of our narrative design tool for video game studios, the timing of her arrival could not be better.”

Mike Duquet is responsible for the overall marketing go-to-market strategy for Celtx. He has 11 years of experience leading integrated marketing teams at high-growth organizations to great results. Previous to joining Celtx, Mike served as the vice president of marketing operations at Strawhouse, a media capital agency that specializes in customer acquisition. Prior to Strawhouse, Mike directed web strategy for Absolute Software, where he ushered in a new digital presence by leading the redesign and rebranding of their customer facing web properties. He has also held positions with the social media management platform, Hootsuite, and Widerfunnel, a Vancouver-based conversion optimization agency. Mike holds a BA from McGill University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mike to the team,” said Mark Kennedy. “He has a proven ability to help organizations drive new customer acquisition and grow revenue during critical high-growth stages. We are confident that his strong leadership skills and deep marketing expertise will be instrumental in helping Celtx continue to scale.”