SAN FRANCISCO AND WATERLOO, June 24, 2021 – TextNow, the leading mobile app offering free cellular and WiFi-enabled phone service, today announced that Kelsi Cochran has joined the company as Vice President, People. Kelsi brings more than a decade of human resources and people management experience to TextNow, where she will oversee culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, compensation and benefits, and employee development, engagement, and retention as the business scales.
Kelsi is joining TextNow to scale and modernize the company’s culture of innovation and inclusion with an emphasis on expanded training and development programs and opportunities for employee growth. Her first initiative as VP, People is the implementation of Summer Fridays. Every second Friday from July 9th through Labor Day, the entire company will close to give employees time off to disconnect, recharge their mental health, and spend time with friends and family without worrying about what is happening at work.
“It’s difficult to fully disconnect from work when you’re worried about the emails and messages that will be waiting when you return,” said Kelsi Cochran, VP of People at TextNow. “By closing completely, our employees can put down their phones to enjoy the things they love without the fear of missing something important. After a challenging 18 months, we want to ensure that our employees have the time they need to rest and recharge.”
Coming out of the pandemic, TextNow is continuing to invest in the long-term growth of its people. In response to COVID-19, the company has provided increased health and wellness support to staff working remotely, expanded the flexibility of work arrangements with its new Work Best philosophy, revamped its leadership training and development program, and engaged with outside consultants to advance TextNow’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. TextNow has hired more than 90 employees since the pandemic began and plans to continue to hire aggressively to keep up with customer demand.
Kelsi has more than a decade of experience in human resources at start up and growth-stage companies. Prior to TextNow, Kelsi led the people operations function at automotive software provider Mobile Tech RX. She was also the head of people at Everlywell, overseeing a doubling in headcount, and at Personify, where she guided the team through several international mergers and acquisitions.
About TextNow
Founded in 2009, TextNow is the largest provider of free phone service in the U.S. With offices in San Francisco, Waterloo, and Portland, the TextNow app has been downloaded more than 200 million times globally, helping millions of people stay connected with a free phone number and ad-supported calling and texting over WiFi and a nationwide LTE network. For more information visit https://www.textnow.com/.
Media Contact:
Nick de Pass