Austin, Texas — Fourth, a leading provider of workforce and inventory management solutions for the hospitality industry, has named Scott Collison as chief executive officer. A proven builder of enterprise software platforms with more than two decades of experience scaling technology companies, Collison will lead Fourth into its next phase of AI-led product innovation for restaurant operators.
Most recently, he served as CEO of Personify, where he led the company through a period of strong recurring revenue growth and operational improvement, culminating in its successful sale to Momentive in late 2025.
Earlier in his career, Collison held senior leadership roles at Salesforce and VMware and served as CEO of Anaconda, the leading platform for Python data science. He also co-founded Geeknet, the company behind SourceForge and Slashdot, and helped build Signio, whose payments technology was later acquired by VeriSign and ultimately became PayPal’s PayFlow Pro.
“I didn’t take this job because Fourth has potential. I took it because Fourth has proof — a brand and platform that operators genuinely love and a distinct ability to offer customers differentiated, value-additive, AI-led products,” says Collison. “Restaurant margins are tighter than ever, and the operators who win will be the ones using AI to drive the labor and inventory actions which maximize profit at each location.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Scott to Fourth,” says Nathan Pingelton, a managing director at Marlin Equity Partners. “He has spent his career doing exactly what Fourth’s customers need most — transforming innovative technology into outcomes that have real impact for restaurant operators.”
Fourth is a global leader in AI-powered restaurant workforce and inventory solutions, serving over 15,000 customers and 100,000+ locations worldwide. Customers include Chili’s, Whataburger, Dunkin’, Pizza Hut, Texas Roadhouse, Lou Malnati’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Fourth helps operators reduce costs by up to 20%, boost profits by 3% to 5%, and enhance operational efficiency by leveraging automation, AI, insights and real-time data across scheduling, payroll, earned wage access and inventory management. For more information, visit www.fourth.com.
Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with nearly $10 billion in capital commitments specializing in the software, technology and services sectors. Founded in 2005, Marlin has completed over 270 acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, with an additional office in London. For more information, visit www.marlinequity.com.
SOURCE: Fourth