PITTSBURGH, December 10, 2021 — Niche, the leading platform connecting students and families with colleges and schools, today announced the expansion of its executive team with two key hires in newly created positions: Andra Smith as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary and Morry Mitrani as VP of Growth and Lifecycle. The additions come at the end of a year with ambitious hiring goals that the company has now surpassed.
At the onset of 2021, Niche had 156 full-time employees and made hiring a top priority. As of December 2021, the company has 241 full-time employees in 27 states. In a September interview with the Pittsburgh Business Times, Niche Founder and CEO Luke Skurman spoke about the hiring plan. “We have happy users, we have happy clients, we’re a successful Pittsburgh company that’s scaling and growing right now and really hitting the stride,” he said. “And yes, we are hiring aggressively … We anticipate hiring another 100 people over the next year in all facets of the business — engineering, product, design, sales, marketing, all across the board — it’s a really exciting time in the company.”
Andra Smith brings 15 years of experience running legal departments during fast-growth periods and seismic market changes. Prior to Niche, Smith was at KAYAK and OpenTable, and previously led the legal department at TicketNetwork. As Niche’s new General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Smith will drive privacy and compliance initiatives in new markets, oversee corporate governance and internal processes, and institute best-practices for scale. Smith will also serve as lead counsel for all commercial and financial transactions and serve on the board as secretary.
“I’m really looking forward to helping champion Niche’s goals and visions in a socially-responsible, mission-forward way,” said Smith. “I have a passion for building and scaling online marketplaces to better serve the needs of both the clients and users, all while making companies more efficient and people-focused. I’m honored to be part of the force driving Niche forward during this time of remarkable growth.”
Morry Mitrani joins Niche following a successful run at Bumble, where he joined early-stage and led the global user acquisition team through an acquisition by Blackstone and eventual IPO. During his 10 years of experience in digital marketing, Mitrani has worked at other Austin-based companies including Spiceworks and GSD&M. In the new position of VP of Growth and Lifecycle, Mitrani will oversee the Growth, Lifecycle, and Brand Marketing teams and ensure that the company has scalable strategies in place to retain and grow its user base.
“During my time at Bumble, I had the chance to directly impact a mission-led business from early stage to IPO by building out a growth team focused on domestic and international expansion,” said Mitrani. “Now I have the opportunity to do the same kind of work in the education space. I’m so excited to accelerate Niche’s mission to change the way students and schools find each other.”
“I’m incredibly excited to have Andra and Morry onboard at such a pivotal moment for the company,” said Skurman, CEO and Founder of Niche. “Andra brings invaluable legal and corporate expertise that will allow us to scale effectively and adopt best practices in contracts, compliance, user privacy, and more. Morry’s previous successes using newer platforms to engage a similar audience will help expand our reach and build our brand in the next phase of our business. I’m very much looking forward to working closely with each of them.”
About Niche: Niche is where students and parents choose their school. Whether a school is already on their list or the perfect fit they haven’t yet discovered, Niche connects families to the ones that are uniquely right for them. Our enrollment marketing solutions enable our 2,000 partners to build genuine connections that nurture interest into visits, applications and enrollment. By supporting over 50 million students and parents, Niche is changing how schools and colleges connect with families and build their future classes.
Press Contact:
Natalie Tsay
Senior PR Specialist
natalie.tsay@niche.com