'Mission Is Bigger Than Any One Moment': Astronomer’s New CEO Pete DeJoy On Coldplay Video Fallout

Pete DeJoy, the newly appointed interim CEO of data and AI company Astronomer, has broken his silence following a scandal that led to the resignation of former CEO Andy Byron. In a LinkedIn post on July 21, DeJoy acknowledged the unusual public attention the company has received in the wake of the incident, while reiterating his commitment to leading Astronomer forward with integrity and purpose.

Byron stepped down on July 19, just days after he was captured on a kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert in Boston in an embrace with the company’s HR Chief Kristin Cabot. The footage showed Byron, who is married with children, holding Cabot close before quickly withdrawing when he realised they were caught on camera. The video quickly spread across social media, drawing public scrutiny and internal backlash. Byron’s resignation followed shortly after.

DeJoy, who co-founded Astronomer in 2017 and had been serving as Chief Product Officer since earlier this year, was named interim CEO after Byron’s exit. In his statement, DeJoy admitted the attention had been “surreal” for the team. “The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter,” he wrote.

“While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name,” he added. Despite the unwelcome spotlight, DeJoy expressed confidence in the company’s future and its team.

“We’re here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way. We’re here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data and AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment,” he asserted.

The new CEO reflected on the company’s journey from its early days in Cincinnati, Ohio, to navigating severe challenges such as the collapse of the bank that once held all their funds and scaling operations through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Each time we’ve emerged stronger,” he wrote, describing Astronomer as a company built by people who “live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way.”

Astronomer, according to DeJoy, “was once a mission to help companies with Apache Airflow has turned into so much more.”

“We’re privileged to sit at the centre of our customers’ data and AI strategy, powering data pipelines behind in-game analytics of your favourite sports team, LLM powered chatbots for customer support, training AI for self-driving cars, and every mission-critical process in between,” he wrote, adding, “And our story is very much still being written.”

DeJoy addressed the Astronomer team, thanking them, and promised to continue delivering for both the company’s customers and broader community. “To our team: thank you for your resilience and commitment to building something great. And to our community and customers: thank you for your trust. We won’t let you down,” he wrote.

While the scandal may have dented the company’s public image in the short term, DeJoy's message signals intent to turn the page, and refocus Astronomer on its core mission in the data and AI space.