Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners has appointed Hilary Mason as data scientist in residence.
She will serve as an advisor to the firm’s portfolio companies and assist with evaluating new technologies and investment opportunities.
"Hilary’s data science expertise coupled with her interest in mentoring entrepreneurs makes her the perfect addition to our team," says Ping Li, Accel partner. "As one of the prominent thought leaders from NYs vibrant tech scene, we’re excited to work with her as we add more data driven software start ups to our portfolio."
Mason (pictured) will be working from Accel’s New York office. She served as Bitly’s chief scientist since 2009 and has been an advisor for Accel Partner’s Big Data Fund since it launched in 2011. Mason specialises in building systems that help analyse data and extract insights from the social web in real time.
"I’m really excited to work with the team at Accel because they have a deep understanding of and appreciation for data products, and the many ways that these new technologies will shape our future," says Mason. “I was impressed with Accel’s early investments in companies like Cloudera and Nimble Storage, that have defined the data technologies that we rely on today. I look forward to working on a team that seeks to identify and support interesting startups that will redefine how we think about data."
Mason is deeply rooted in the New York technology scene and has been an active member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Technology and Innovation Advisory Council since 2011. The advisory council is tasked with findings ways that government can help tech companies and start-ups grow and scale in NY. Additionally, she serves as an advisor to several NY startups including knod.es, collective, MortarData as well as DataKind, a non-profit that brings together leading data scientists with high impact social organisations. She has served as a mentor to Betaspring, the Providence Rhode Island-based start up accelerator, and TechStars New York.
In 2010, Mason co-founded HackNY, a non-profit dedicated to creating a path for talented students to join New York’s creative technical community through events, education, and prestigious fellowships. Prior to that she designed statistical models of careers from a resume dataset, for Path101.
