Tech Moves: Dating giants add Seattle tech vets to boards; SeekOut and Slalom name new leaders
Tech Moves covers notable hires, promotions and personnel changes in the Pacific NW tech community. Submissions: tips@geekwire.com
Bala Vishwanath. (LinkedIn Photo)
— Bala Vishwanath is now chief marketing officer for SeekOut, a Bellevue, Wash., startup that sells recruiting software.
Vishwanath, a computer and electrical engineer by training, has a held variety of leadership roles, including CMO for CoreStack; head of marketing at Edifecs and Roundglass Living; and CEO of Nimbic. He is also the author of 'First70: The B2B Go-to-Market Advantage.'
Founded in 2017, SeekOut's software is used by more than 1,000 companies to help with recruiting. It pulls data on millions of potential candidates from a myriad of sources, including GitHub and published papers.
'My mission is simple: help every talent leader understand the incredible opportunities this transformation creates and how they can lead the way in their industry,' Vishwanath said on LinkedIn.
SeekOut reached a billion-dollar valuation in 2022 but later went through layoffs in recent years as tech companies navigated the economic downturn
— Chad Cohen, Zillow's former chief financial officer, joined the board of directors for Grindr and will also serve as chair of the audit committee for the social media and dating company, which bills itself as the 'global gayborhood in your pocket.'
Cohen is also CEO and founding partner of Seattle's Scala Advisors. He was previously CFO for Adaptive Biotechnologies and held executive titles for Capella Space, a satellite-based earth observation company.
'[Cohen's] broad experience and deep expertise in helping grow successful public companies will be an invaluable asset to Grindr,' said CEO George Arison, in a statement.
— Another longtime Seattle tech vet, former Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens, recently joined the board of another dating giant: Match Group. Cavens was CTO at Blue Nile before leading online retailer Zulily for more than eight years. He's also on the board of Vouched, Brooks Running, Rad Power Bikes and Tapestry.
In February, former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff was named CEO of Dallas-based Match Group, which oversees a portfolio of leading dating apps including Match.com, Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and Pairs.
Don Rogers. (LinkedIn Photo)
— Business and tech consulting company Slalom appointed Don Rogers to lead its manufacturing industry practice, which includes working with customers to develop strategies for improving manufacturing safety, efficiency and product quality.
The Seattle company provides tech-related services to clients including Allstate, Hyatt, Microsoft, REI and others. It has 53 offices in 12 countries. Rogers, who is based in St. Louis, Miss., joins Slalom from the technology integration company World Wide Technology, where he founded and led its manufacturing industry practice.
Garth Fort. (LinkedIn Photo)
— Garth Fort has joined LogicMonitor as chief product officer. Fort was at Microsoft for more than two decades, ending in 2017. More recent past roles include general manager for Amazon Web Services; CPO at Splunk, which was acquired by Cisco; and he co-founded Fort5, which provided strategic advice to technology companies.
LogicMonitor, which was last valued at more than $2.4 billion, provides technology for data center operations.
'The team is building something powerful at the intersection of agentic AI and IT observability,' Fort said on LinkedIn, 'and I'm thrilled to help lead that charge.'
— Dave Goto is now chief marketing officer for Ozlo, an audio technology and manufacturing company selling 'sleepbuds' to aid with sleep. Goto, who is based in Seattle, previously worked at Oura, lululemon and Red Bull.
— Seattle data storage company Qumulo announced that Kelly Battles and Bob Gleichauf have joined its board of directors. Battles has served as chief financial officer for multiple companies, including Quora and Bracket Computing. Gleichauf was chief technologist for In-Q-Tel and CTO of the Security Business Group at Cisco, among other roles.
— Kestra Medical Technologies elected Conor Hanley to its board. The Kirkland, Wash., company sells wearable devices to detect and respond to sudden cardiac arrest. It went public in March. Hanley is CEO of FIRE1 (Foundry Innovation & Research 1), which is developing technology that monitors for heart failure.
— Tyler Phillipi, former chief product officer for Seattle-area EV startup FlexCharging, is now CEO of OptiGrid. The company is building battery-integrated DC fast chargers, which allows for energy to be stored onsite, reducing the need for electrical grid upgrades.
FlexCharging was acquired by Accurant International and now operates as FlexEnergi.
— Lainie del Rosario has been promoted to the role of chief information officer for Sound Physicians. Del Rosario has been with the Federal Way, Wash., healthcare company for more than 16 years. Sound Physicians is a medical group including physicians, nurses and other providers practicing in more than 400 hospitals nationwide.
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