Tech Moves: Microsoft AI adds CVP; WatchGuard CEO steps down; Amazon vet joins Hims & Hers
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Mark D'Arcy. (Photo via LinkedIn)
Former Meta and Time Warner exec Mark D'Arcy is joining Microsoft as a corporate vice president working on the tech giant's consumer AI products.
D'Arcy is the new global creative director for Microsoft AI, reporting to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.
D'Arcy spent more than a decade at Meta in creative and marketing leadership roles. He was at Time Warner for nearly seven years as chief creative officer and later president.
The Information first reported D'Arcy's new role, which Microsoft confirmed to GeekWire.
D'Arcy will work with engineering, design, and advertising teams to help boost marketing strategy for Microsoft's generative AI Copilot assistant that is embedded within various applications such as Word and Bing. Copilot competes with several chatbots from companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, and others.
Last month Microsoft unveiled a series of updates to Copilot, including a new personalized memory feature designed to recall details from a user's life across conversations.
Suleyman joined Microsoft last year after co-founding Inflection AI and previously leading applied AI at DeepMind.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
Prakash Panjwani. (LinkedIn Photo)
— WatchGuard Technologies CEO Prakash Panjwani is leaving his post and will transition to serving on the cybersecurity company's board of directors and as a strategic advisor. Vats Srivatsan, an operating partner at Vector Capital, will become interim CEO as WatchGuard looks for a permanent replacement.
During his decade at Seattle-based WatchGuard, Panjwani oversaw six strategic acquisitions, mostly recently the purchase of ActZero in January. The company more than tripled its annual recurring revenue under his leadership and also tripled its global employee headcount.
'Few leaders leave the kind of legacy he has — shaping not only the company's strategy, but also producing consistent strong performance and operational excellence,' said Alex Slusky, founding partner and managing director of Vector Capital, WatchGuard's majority owner, in a statement.
Nader Kabbani. (Hims & Hers Photo)
— Longtime Amazon Vice President Nader Kabbani is now chief operations officer Hims & Hers, a telehealth company that sells direct-to-consumer treatments for conditions such as erectile dysfunction and hair loss.
At Amazon, Kabbani most recently held leadership roles in health-related initiatives including managing the company's vaccination task force — which helped employees receive COVID-19 shots — Amazon Pharmacy, and PillPack. His more than 18-year tenure at the Seattle company also included VP positions with last mile, logistics and Kindle operations.
— And another Amazonian has taken a new role: Parisa Sadrzadeh, former VP of the company's worldwide delivery service partner program, is now a vice president of DoorDash. Sadrzadeh was at Amazon for nearly 12 years, then moved to Bellevue, Wash.-based Flexport to serve as executive VP.
'I've spent the past decade building technology to empower small businesses globally, and this next chapter of my journey builds off of that experience by moving into physical commerce — a critical area I'm super excited about innovating in for both merchants and the consumers they serve,' Sadrzadeh said on LinkedIn.
Gulliver Swenson. (Photo via LinkedIn)
— Boundless, a Seattle company with tools for simplifying the immigration process, added two leaders:
Gulliver Swenson joins Boundless as VP of people and general counsel. Swenson was previously at Assurance IQ for more than six years and helped lead the company through its acquisition by Prudential. Swenson began his career in a general law practice at Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland.
joins Boundless as VP of people and general counsel. Swenson was previously at Assurance IQ for more than six years and helped lead the company through its acquisition by Prudential. Swenson began his career in a general law practice at Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland. Rachel Pepple is now VP of marketing at Boundless. Pepple, who also holds a law degree, comes to the role from Carbon Direct, a startup helping companies manage their climate impacts. Prior to that position, Pepple was a marketing lead at the cybersecurity company ExtraHop for seven years, during which time the business was acquired for $900 million.
— Raymond 'R.J.' Ford left his role as general manager for Zillow Group. 'After 15 unforgettable years, I'm closing my Zillow laptop one last time and I'm grateful, humbled, and incredibly proud,' he said on LinkedIn.
Ford joined the Seattle real estate company in 2009 and has most recently been Zillow's GM of agent software and advertising for more than nine years. Over his tenure, Ford received five 'leader of the year' awards from his team. He did not disclose what he will be doing next.
— Kyle Widrick is now a venture partner at the consumer-oriented investment firm Maveron. The firm, which got its start in Seattle and has offices in San Francisco, has been growing its presence in New York City, which is where Widrick is based.
Widrick is 'a serial entrepreneur, a prolific angel investor and has a particular superpower in investing at the frontier of wellness,' said Maveron partner Jason Stoffer in announcing the news.
— Gensler, an architecture, design firm and planning firm, appointed Bert deViterbo as managing director of its Seattle office. DeViterbo has been with the company for 14 years and recently relocated from San Francisco.
'Seattle is at an inflection point coming out of the pandemic and I'm optimistic about the future of the city,' deViterbo said in a statement. 'I believe that design has a powerful role to play in shaping the future of Seattle's sports, tech, sciences and higher education sectors, driving collective cultural and economic growth for the region.'
— BuyWander added Brent Hendricks as head of operations. Hendricks founded Global Neighborhood, a nonprofit thrift and vintage store that provides workforce training for refugees, which he oversaw for nearly 20 years.
Spokane, Wash.-based BuyWander uses AI and other tech to scan, sort and identify thousands of new and like-new products and sell them through an online auction marketplace. Shoppers collect their merchandise with curbside pickup, and warehouses also serve as bin stores where customers can dig for deals. The startup recently raised $2 million.
— Seattle attorney Jennifer Dumas joined Apollo.io as senior lead council. Dumas was previously general counsel for the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) and an adjust professor at Seattle University's School of Law. Apollo is a Phoenix based advertising company.
— Chuck Cory, a tech and investment banking leader with a 33-year run at Morgan Stanley, joined the board of directors of Weave.AI. Cory is also an angel investor in Weave, a Seattle company providing AI services to financial institutions and global corporations to help them manage emerging risks, competitive shifts, complex regulations and new business opportunities.
— Teradata hired John Ederer of Medina, Wash., as chief financial officer. Ederer was most recently CFO for Model N and K2 Software. San Diego-based Teradata is a cloud analytics and data platform for AI.
— Justin Donaldson is chief data scientist for Curvo, a startup is developing technology to improve healthcare supply chains. Donaldson was previously a co-founder of hushh.ai, a Kirkland, Wash., startup applying AI to in-house data analysis, and worked in the Seattle area as a data scientist/engineer at Salesforce for nearly a decade.
— Trellis Health, a startup co-located in Seattle and San Francisco, formed a medical advisory board. The company is building an online platform for individuals to manage their health data. The board appointees are:
— Seattle-area leader Sean Kell joined the board of directors and investor group at Recovery.com. The company provides online resources about treatment for addiction and mental health. Kell is CEO of MD², the Bellevue-based concierge medical group. His past titles include chief executive of the retail diamond company Blue Nile and A Place for Mom, as well as leadership roles at Expedia and Starbucks.
— Seattle's Circulate added Matt Kaeberlein to its scientific advisory board. The startup launched last year and is developing technologies and treatments that aim to reverse aging and improve health. Kaeberlein is a UW affiliate professor of oral health and CEO of the biotech startup Optispan.
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