John O'Rourke

We’ve been tracking a number of key departures, appointments and new hires in the Pacific Northwest tech industry in recent days. Here are a few notable Tech Moves:

Motricity has been in the Tech Moves column a lot lately with changes in the board and in the executive ranks. And this week it has added a new addition to the team, tapping former Intermec and Microsoft veteran John O’Rourke as chief marketing officer. O’Rourke has more than 20 years of marketing experiencing, serving as general manager of Windows Mobile at Microsoft and helping to launch the Xbox gaming console. A University of Washington grad, O’Rourke, who spent the past two years as vice president of global marketing at Intermec, said that he’s excited about Motricity which sits at the “epicenter of mobile merchandising, marketing and advertising.”

Jaime Griesemer, a game designer on the blockbuster hit Halo, has left Bungie to take a new job at Bellevue game studio Sucker Punch Productions. Griesemer tells Joystiq that he was attracted to the smaller studio, noting that “it’s creatively stifling” to be part of larger team with a lot of process. Sucker Punch, founded in 1997 and now working on its next title, is the maker of Sly Cooper and inFamous.

Speaking of game designers, the hiring of Jonathan Tweet at Amazon.com is causing speculation that the Seattle online retailer may be moving deeper into the gaming business, reports Dean Takahasi at VentureBeat. (That would not be surprising given how Amazon has gotten more aggressive in recent months about book publishing). Tweet, who developed  role-playing games such as Ars Magica and Everway, most recently worked at RealNetworks’ GameHouse unit.

Livemocha, fresh off its recent $5 million venture capital round, has tapped Damon Lanphear as vice president of engineering and technology. Livemocha CEO Michael Schutzler described Lanphear as a “technology wizard who knows how to create sophisticated systems that power user-friendly, consumer facing services including video and audio.” The computer science graduate of Hamilton College most recently served as the chief architect for mobile search and analytics startup Medio Systems, and before that worked for RealNetworks. Livemocha recently topped 10 million members in its online language learning service.

Know of a notable tech industry move or hire in the Pacific Northwest? Email tips@geekwire.com 

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