 "Andy Byron, who is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, was spotted with Cabot on the jumbotron. Image: X")
A video of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, sharing a romantic moment during a recent Coldplay concert has gone viral on social media.
Byron, who is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, was spotted with Cabot on the jumbotron. The two were seen holding each other closely. As the camera zoomed in on them, they turned away and tried to cover their faces.
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What seemed like a private moment quickly became a major controversy when Coldplay frontman Chris Martin brought out the popular ‘kiss cam’ to entertain the crowd.
Netizens have labelled it the ‘internet’s biggest scandal’.
But who is Andy Byron? And what exactly happened at the concert?
Here’s a look at the full story and how the incident unfolded:
Who is Andy Byron?
Andy Byron has been the CEO of Astronomer since July 2023.
Astronomer is a data software company valued at over $1.3 billion. It focuses on data orchestration tools and serves a wide range of clients, including banks and media firms. The company holds a strong reputation in the tech world.
Under Byron, the company has grown quickly. In just over a year, it recorded 100 per cent year-on-year growth in annual recurring revenue, net dollar retention above 130 per cent, and completed over 2.6 billion successful task runs on its Astro platform in FY2025.
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More ShortsNotably, Byron is a graduate of Providence College and lives in New York with his wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, and their two children.
He is known among colleagues for being focused and strategic. He was brought on board to lead the company’s next phase of growth, especially in open-source technology.
Earlier, he worked as President of Lacework from 2019 to 2022, and later served briefly as an advisor.
His LinkedIn profile also shows previous roles as Chief Revenue Officer at Cybereason from 2017 to 2019, along with positions at Vericenter and BMC Software.
What happened at Coldplay concert?
A video from the concert showed the Astronomer CEO and his Chief People Officer in a brief hug on the jumbotron, which led to both quickly pulling away and walking off, fuelling speculation online about cheating.
At first, Chris Martin believed the camera had picked up a touching moment. “Look at these two,” he said.
The woman covered her face as she walked away, while the man ducked out of sight. Their reactions seemed to confuse Martin.
“Oh, what?” he said on stage, as heard in the viral video. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
The clip went viral on Thursday. As the video circulated, internet users soon identified Megan Kerrigan Byron as Andy Byron’s wife.
Online commenters said Kerrigan should laugh her way to the bank.
“Andy Byron’s wife has now dropped her married name on Facebook and left comments open on her Facebook!” one X user wrote.
Notably, Kerrigan deleted her Facebook page on Thursday. Before doing so, screenshots showed she had removed the ‘Byron’ from her name. She also took down her Instagram account.
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Meanwhile, Kristin Cabot recently finalised her divorce from Kenneth Thornby. They filed for divorce in 2018, and it was completed in 2022, according to Massachusetts court records.
The two share at least one child. As per The New York Post, Thornby was ordered to pay a lump sum child support payment to Cabot.
Who is Megan Kerrigan Byron?
Byron is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, and the couple lives in New York.
As per several reports, Megan works as an educator at Bancroft School. She holds the role of Associate Director of Lower School & The Hope Graham Program Admission, which supports students with language-based learning differences.
Megan has largely stayed out of the public eye along with her children. However, the recent controversy involving her husband has led to a flood of messages on her Facebook page.
It also appears that Megan has removed ‘Byron’ from her name on social media, leading many to speculate that there may be problems at home after the Coldplay concert video went viral.
Who is Kristin Cabot?
Kristin Cabot is the Chief People Officer at Astronomer, the company that runs Astro, a platform focused on data orchestration and observability using Apache Airflow.
She assumed the role in November 2024.
“I like to classify my role in the realm of People Strategy,” she said in an interview with Techrseries on January 13. “Magic happens when you align the people strategy to the business strategy and sync the two.”
Before joining Astronomer, she held positions at ObserveIT, Neo4j, and Proofpoint.
Is Andy Byron a ’toxic’ boss?
The incident has led to chatter among Andy Byron’s former colleagues, with many believing he finally got what he deserved, according to a source who once reported directly to him.
“The text groups and chains of former employees are like… everybody’s laughing their a** off and enjoying the hell out of what happened and him getting exposed,” the source told The New York Post.
The source also claimed that Byron was known in the workplace as a forceful, sales-driven executive who could be “toxic” in his approach.