Alexandria-based Fishbowl names new CEO

Alexandria-based Fishbowl has a new big fish in its pond.

Jim Soss, a big data, digital marketing and business analytics executive from the San Francisco Bay Area, was recently named CEO of the restaurant data company.

Soss comes from a career leading tech companies such as Responsys—acquired by Oracle Marketing Cloud—and Red Aril, a SaaS company acquired by iCrossing, now owned by the Hearst Company.

In February, Fishbowl was acquired by Silicon Valley-based  Symphony Technology Group a private equity firm with a broad portfolio of tech businesses reporting $2.5 billion in revenue.

Yet, Soss made it clear that the STG acquisition was not just another case of the big fish eating the smaller. “My opportunity as the new CEO is to leverage the support and investment from our partners at Symphony Technology Group in order to broaden and deepen the scope of the Fishbowl strategy, not change it,” said Soss.

Fishbowl was founded more than 17 years ago by Scott Shaw, a partner with Alexandria Restaurant Partners, the group that manages The Majestic and Virtue Feed & Grain, among others.

The company, which focuses on marketing automation and analytics for restaurant chains, also recently announced the formation of an internal innovation council to concentrate on engagement with millennial customers, according to a press release.

Soss replaces Dev Ganesan, who led the company since October, 2014.