Centro Inc. announced the hiring of Michael Bruns in July.
Crains Chicago Business was quick to claim the move was "another step down the path toward a possible IPO."
He previously served as the CFO at several fast-growing startups and worked as an investment banker at Robert W. Baird & Co.
The company recently passed the 500-employee mark and at the time of his hiring had 130 open jobs listed.
This isn't a secret IPO play, CEO Shawn Riegsecker told Crains. “We were looking for someone with IPO experience who understood raising private capital, someone who understood startups and had been through exit mode."
At Codifyd Inc., Bruns helped double the company's staff, and at ClearTrial, he made software for managing clinical trials while increasing the number of employees from 10 people to 50 in three years. He led ClearTrial through a successful acquisition to Oracle Corp.
Centro has raised $52.5 million since 2010.