Andy Byron Resigns as Astronomer CEO. He's in a Social Media Firestorm

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6 hours ago

Andy Byron, who has found himself at the center of a social media firestorm over a Coldplay concert video, was the CEO of a tech company named Astronomer.
On July 19, the company announced that Byron has resigned in the wake of the scandal.
"As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met," the company wrote on X.
"Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO. Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI. While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We're continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems."
Astronomer previously announced that the company had placed him on leave, along with Astronomer's "chief people officer" Kristin Cabot.
Cabot was the woman seen in an embrace with Byron in the viral Coldplay Jumbotron video, which made them the subject of memes and jokes all over the country.
According to his now-deleted LinkedIn page, Byron held the Astronomer CEO's position for more than two years. Before that, Byron worked for a company called Lacework in Mountain View, CA.
His employment history before that point includes being the chief revenue officer for Cybereason in the Boston area; being CEO of a company called Fuze; being a vice president of sales for BMC Software; and working for BladeLogic and VeriCenter. Under education, he lists Providence College.
The tech CEO found himself at the center of an internet firestorm due to accusations relating to the Coldplay concert video from Foxborough, MA. Men's Journal reached out to Astronomer for comment on the accusations surrounding Byron and Cabot, who were seen in a viral kiss cam video ducking for cover, leading even Chris Martin to question whether they were "shy" or having an affair.
The company first responded on July 17, first to debunk a fake statement attributed to Byron by others on the internet. Men's Journal had sent the company a statement that circulated on X and asked if it was real. Asked for a legitimate statement, Astronomer provided its first full response on July 18.
"Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," the company wrote in a statement posted to X and LinkedIn.
"The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly. Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video. Andy Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect," the company stated.
Stoddard was falsely identified by some social media users as the woman captured in the corner of the video. That woman's identity is unclear.
Before the video went viral, Byron gushed about Cabot in a press release, and Cabot praised Byron on LinkedIn. The New York Post reports that Cabot is a once-divorced mother who is currently remarried to a rum company CEO.People have deluged the Facebook page of a woman Newsweek says is Byron's wife (Megan Kerrigan Byron) with comments after the video went viral. Her Facebook page showed the couple with their kids in family photos. It has since been deleted.
Multiple reports indicate that Cabot, who is divorced from a man named Kenneth Thornby, is married to the CEO of a rum company, Andrew Cabot. They own a home together in Rye, NH.
The Coldplay video shows a man and a woman on a kiss cam who appear to be very uncomfortable with the attention.
Here's the Coldplay video:
Coldplay's frontman, Chris Martin, even made comments during the concert about the video, saying, "Oh, look at these two," and questioning whether they were "just very shy," or something else was transpiring, according to Newsweek.
'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy," alleged Martin during the concert. That set off a social media hunt to identify the man and woman in the video.
TMZ has now published a second video it says shows Byron and Cabot kissing at the concert.
Newsweek described Astronomer as "a private data infrastructure startup that achieved 'unicorn' status in 2022 with a $1 billion or more valuation."
A press release announcing Cabot's hiring in 2024 quoted Byron.
'At Astronomer, our people are the most valuable asset in helping our customers do more to gain a competitive advantage with their data,' Byron said in the release.
'Kristin's exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory. She is a proven leader at multiple growth-stage companies and her passion for fostering diverse, collaborative workplaces makes her a perfect fit for Astronomer.'That press release also quotes Cabot.
'I prefer to think of my role as people strategy versus traditional human resources, as the real magic happens when you align the people strategy with the business strategy,' said Cabot, in the release.
'There are plenty of companies out there where a leadership team doesn't recognize the value that a strong people leader and people team can bring to a company. It's not just about benefits or catered lunches. There's so much more to it, and I was energized in my conversations with Andy and the Astronomer leadership team about the opportunities that exist here.'
That release says Kristin Cabot "has a proven track record of preserving and enriching company culture at organizations experiencing rapid growth. She comes recently from Neo4j, where she served as Chief People Officer for nearly four years and saw the company grow from 225 to 900 employees. Prior to Neo4j, Cabot led ObserveIT through 50 percent year-over-year growth, multiplying the global employee base by 4x, while receiving multiple 'Best Places to Work' awards and managing an acquisition by Proofpoint."
"Andy is a highly inspirational, motivational and experienced sales professional. I met Andy during his first couple weeks at ThinkingPhones and learned that he was a leader who would help me take my career to the next level," a recommendation on his LinkedIn page says.
What is Astronomer? "We are the company behind Astro, the industry-leading data orchestration and observability platform powered by Apache Airflow. Astro accelerates building reliable data products that unlock insights, unleash AI value, and power data-driven applications," the website says.
The company's leadership team is just eight people in addition to Byron. The other top employees at Astronomer are listed on the website as Leo Zheng, Vikram Koka, Kristin Cabot, Pete DeJoy, Mike LeBlanc, Viraj Parekh, Greg Neiheisel, and Carter Page.
Public records show that Andy Byron, also known as Andrew Byron, is from Massachusetts. Property records in that state show that Andrew Byron owns a more than $1 million Massachusetts home, through a trust, with Megan Byron, who is also known as Megan Kerrigan Byron.
"Astronomer CEO Andy Byron recently went on NYSE TV to discuss everything from our recent $93M Series D, to the critical role that Astro, our unified DataOps platform, plays in the AI ecosystem, as organizations have recognized that data is the key to achieving production AI," a video shared to LinkedIn in July 2025 says.Andy Byron Resigns as Astronomer CEO. He's in a Social Media Firestorm first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 17, 2025