You’ve probably seen the clip. It was everywhere for a minute—that grainy, high-energy Jumbotron footage from a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in July 2025. One second, Chris Martin is serenading 60,000 fans; the next, the "Kiss Cam" lands on a couple who look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else.
That man was Andy Byron, the high-flying CEO of the data orchestration giant Astronomer.
But he wasn't there with his wife.
He was with Kristin Cabot, the company’s Chief People Officer. The fallout was swift, brutal, and very, very public. Honestly, it’s one of those "only in the 2020s" stories where a private moment becomes a corporate crisis in less than twenty-four hours. If you're looking for the truth about who Andy Byron is, who he's married to, and where that chaotic story stands now, here is the full breakdown.
The Viral Moment That Broke the Internet
It’s July 16, 2025. Coldplay is mid-set in Boston. The Kiss Cam starts its usual rounds, looking for cute couples or awkward teenagers. It settles on a man in a casual shirt and a woman who looks equally relaxed—until they realize they’re on the big screen.
Andy Byron’s reaction was immediate. He ducked. He literally tried to disappear into the crowd. Kristin Cabot covered her face. Chris Martin, being the cheeky frontman he is, quipped into the mic: "Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy."
The crowd laughed. The internet didn't just laugh; it went into full-blown detective mode. Within hours, users on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok had matched their faces to their LinkedIn profiles. This wasn't just any couple. This was the CEO of a $1.3 billion unicorn and his head of HR.
Who is Andy Byron? (He's Not an Astronomer)
First things first: despite the company name, Andy Byron is not an astronomer. He doesn't spend his nights looking through telescopes. He's a career tech executive who led a company called Astronomer, which helps businesses manage complex data pipelines using a tool called Apache Airflow.
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Byron’s path to the top wasn't the typical Silicon Valley "coding in a garage" story. He’s actually a liberal arts guy.
- College Years: He attended Providence College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Rhode Island.
- Pro Baseball: Believe it or not, he was a serious athlete. He was a pitcher and actually got picked up by a minor league team in 1997.
- Tech Rise: After sports, he pivoted to software sales. He did stints at companies like BladeLogic, Fuze (where he was President), and Cybereason before taking the helm at Astronomer in July 2023.
He was the "growth guy." The one brought in to scale the company toward an IPO. In May 2025, just months before the scandal, he’d helped the company secure $93 million in new funding. He was on top of the world.
The Marriage: Who is Megan Kerrigan Byron?
The most heartbreaking part of the "ColdplayGate" scandal was the impact on Byron’s family. Andy Byron is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron.
Megan isn't a tech mogul. She’s an educator. Specifically, she has worked as an Associate Director at the Bancroft School in Massachusetts, focusing on kids with language-based learning differences. By all accounts from people who know them, she’s been the backbone of the family while Andy climbed the corporate ladder.
They have two children.
When the video went viral, Megan's Facebook page—which was previously just a normal collection of family photos and "cheers" to her husband—was flooded with comments. Some were cruel, but many were supportive.
She did what most people would do when their world catches fire: she retreated. She deleted her Instagram and changed her Facebook name to just "Meg Kerrigan," dropping the "Byron" entirely. For months, everyone assumed the marriage was dead.
The Fallout: Resignations and Investigations
The business world doesn't play around with "Chief People Officers" and CEOs being caught together on a Kiss Cam. It’s a massive conflict of interest and a HR nightmare.
On July 18, 2025, the Board of Directors at Astronomer issued a statement. They didn't name names at first, but they said they were launching a formal investigation. By July 19, Andy Byron had officially resigned.
He didn't just lose his job. He lost his reputation in the tightly-knit world of New York and Boston tech. Kristin Cabot also stepped down. Pete DeJoy, the company's co-founder, had to step in as interim CEO to keep the $1.3 billion ship from sinking under the weight of the gossip.
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Are They Still Together? (The 2026 Update)
So, here is the part that has everyone talking again. While 2025 was the year of the "Great Collapse," 2026 has brought some surprising news.
Despite the name-dropping on social media and the public humiliation, Andy and Megan Byron appear to be working on it. Recent sightings have shown the couple together at their property in Kennebunk, Maine. Paparazzi photos (mostly from the Daily Mail and similar outlets) captured them sharing a sunset picnic on the beach. Most notably? They were both wearing their wedding rings.
It seems the "thaw" is real. While Kristin Cabot reportedly moved forward with a divorce from her own husband, Andrew Cabot, the Byrons seem to be choosing a different, quieter path of reconciliation.
Actionable Takeaways from the Byron Scandal
What can we actually learn from this, besides "don't go to a Coldplay concert with your HR head"?
- Digital Footprints are Permanent: In 2026, there is no such thing as a "private" public outing. If you are in a stadium with 60,000 people, assume a camera is on you.
- Corporate Governance Matters: The reason Byron had to resign wasn't just "cheating." It was the power dynamic. A CEO and a Chief People Officer (HR) involved together creates a legal liability for the entire company.
- Crisis Management 101: If you find yourself in a scandal, the "Megan Byron" approach is usually best. Delete social media, stay quiet, and handle your private life behind closed doors. Publicly fighting back often just feeds the algorithm.
The Andy Byron story is a weirdly modern tragedy about how fast a decade of hard work can be undone by a single, 15-second video clip. Whether he ever returns to a CEO role remains to be seen, but for now, it looks like he’s focusing on the one thing that matters more than a $1.3 billion valuation: his family.
To stay updated on high-profile corporate leadership changes, you can follow the official Astronomer company newsroom or major business outlets like the Wall Street Journal, which continue to track the aftermath of the 2025 tech leadership shakeups.