Amber Gunst, interim CEO of the Austin Technology Council, courtesy photo.

The Austin Technology Council on Thursday announced the appointment of Amber Gunst as interim Chief Executive Officer.

Gunst takes the reins from Barbary Brunner who has served as the organization’s CEO for the past two years. Brunner announced last week that she had left to join Phunware, an Austin-based software company, as its Chief Marketing Officer.

“I am honored to continue the great work ATC has done under Barbary’s tenure, and look forward to further increasing ATC’s support for our member companies, along with reinforcing the close relationships we have developed with our community partners,” Gunst said in a news release.

ATC has created programming geared to meet the “goal of growing 10 Austin-based tech companies to their first billion in revenue, and another to 100 companies to $100 million is key to growth in our community. My mission is to keep ATC and our members at the forefront of Austin’s future,” Gunst said.

Gunst, who has more than 20 years of experience in sales and business development, previously worked as the head of sales and membership services at ATC. She previously worked at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, and at a global staffing firm. She also serves as a mentor for the Founder Institute’s global accelerator program.

“We have refined and refocused our offerings to member tech companies, most of whom are established and scaling companies, assisting them as they grow their businesses and expand their markets,” Mark McClain, CEO and Founder of Sailpoint and Chairman of the Board of ATC, said in a news release. “As the voice for this largest segment of the tech community, ATC is committed to helping Austin grow its established tech companies to become next-generation leaders in the market. We are grateful to Barbary for her contributions and wish her well on her new role.”

The ATC, founded in 1992 as the Austin Software Council, operates as an independent nonprofit 501-C6 organization. It also runs the ATC Foundation, a separate 501-C3 organization. The organization has more than 200 companies as members representing 60 percent of the Austin technology workforce.

ATC also retained Prime PR as its public relations firm.

Editor’s note: Jennifer Gooding, principal at Prime PR is a patron of Silicon Hills News.