Context Relevant, a startup developer of predictive analytics applications, today announced it completed major hires, including two PhDs in data science and a senior marketing leader, to expand the company’s data science leadership and business execution capacity.

“We are fortunate to have one of the best machine learning teams anywhere,” said Stephen Purpura, Context Relevant founder and CEO. “We added two PhDs in data science to our team so we can ship big data applications, delivering the promise of predictive analytics to companies and government agencies.

The new hires include:

• Christopher Ré, Senior Scientist – with the University of Wisconsin and a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award
• Art Munson, Data Scientist – Previously with Cornell University, Microsoft and Sandia National Laboratories
• Craig Fiebig, Vice President, Marketing – Previously with EMC/Mozy, Microsoft and IBM
• Tom Murphy, Vice President, Customer Success – Previously with Apptio, Mercury and Accenture

Demand for data scientists tripled over the past six years as companies pursue the benefits of predictive analytics and big data. Predictive analytics require scientists with extensive training in computer science and statistics. Until now, scientists were required to develop models through trial and error.

“Companies are struggling to recruit teams of data scientists, but we give our customers applications that work right out of the box on top of map reduce engines like Hadoop for specific business needs,” said Purpura. “The challenge isn’t big data or analysis, it’s providing immediate business benefit in a world where data scientists are scarce and tools are limited.”