These Chicago tech firms are adding serious sales firepower

JOHN PLETZ ON TECH

GEOFEEDIA HIREGeofeedia, whose technology corrals social media dispatches by location, has hired former executives from GrubHub and Salesforce.com.Steve Sanger, former vice president of business development at GrubHub, joins Geofeedia in a similar role. Justin Fite, a former sales executive at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, which was acquired by Salesforce.com, becomes chief revenue officer at Geofeedia.“These two hires allow us to move from a founder-driven company to more of a professionally managed company,” CEO and co-founder Phil Harris said.Fite and Sanger will help Geofeedia move more aggressively into enterprise sales and corporate partnerships. The four-year-old company's customers include police agencies, corporate customers and media outlets.The company, which has operations in Chicago and Indianapolis, has doubled headcount to 55 people in the past year. It's backed by Hyde Park Venture Partners.