Rob Eleveld
Rob Eleveld

—WhitePages has hired Rob Eleveld as vice president of sales for the company’s PRO division. Eleveld is the former CEO of Optify, a Seattle marketing software startup that shut its doors last month.

“We’re placing a big bet on WhitePages PRO, and it was crucial that we brought on an expert to identify the right market opportunities and attract customers most likely to benefit from our identity verification solutions,” said Alex Algard, CEO, WhitePages. “Rob is that expert. We look forward to the new revenue opportunities his knowledge and skills will bring to WhitePages.” Prior to Optify, Eleveld served as CEO of Shiftboard.

—Lively, the online music service that allows concertgoers to easily obtain audio and video of live concerts, has hired six new execs as it gears up for big things in 2014. They are: Lee Marshall as chief operating officer, Pete Moran as vice president of global sponsorships, Brad David as vice president of channel development, Zach Varnell as the vice president of audio engineering and production, Dan Horton as senior vice president of product and technical operations and Joshua Batchelder as the vice president of video production.

lively-newhires
Lively’s new hires include (from L to R) Brad David; Dan Horton; Josh Batchelder; Lee Marshall; Pete Moran; and Zach Varnell.

Marshall is the former COO of Sydney-based startup NRS Media, while Moran, an original investor in the company, runs the marketing and brand development firm Rezin Marketing. Horton is the former CTO of Who’s Calling and X5 Solutions, and served as the former COO of Humanity Interactive. David previously worked at Sprint, Quest and Ztango, while Varnell most recently taught the physics of sound and audio recording at the Tacoma School of the Arts. Batchelder joins Lively after a long career as an editor and media producer, most recently working at Peak Creative Media where he worked on production for clients such as Microsoft and T-Mobile.

Previously on GeekWire: Live music app Lively entertains acquisition offers, pushes ahead with new funding

MacDuff
Jeff MacDuff

—Buddy.com co-founder Jeff MacDuff has left the startup to take a new role development manager at Kirkland-based INRIX. “It’s a big team, a big challenge, and a great mission, and I couldn’t be more excited,” said MacDuff in a message on the Seattle Tech Startups email list. MacDuff started Buddy.com with David McLauchan nearly three years ago after he worked at Microsoft for 12 years. MacDuff said he’ll always love Buddy, calling it is “third kid.” He will continue to serve on the board of the company, which continues to hire and is moving to new offices in Seattle.

—The Washington State China Relations Council has named journalist Kristi Heim to the position of Executive Director, following the retirement of Joe Borich earlier this year.  She previously served as vice chair of the organization. “I am thrilled and honored to become the director of the Washington State China Relations Council,” Heim said. “I have come to appreciate the important role the organization has played over its 35-year history, as well as its incredible potential to engage more people in building bridges between our state and China into the future.” Heim is a former reporter at The Seattle Times and The San Jose Mercury News, who most recently co-founded the news service ContextChina.com. (Editor’s note: ContextChina is a news partner with GeekWire).

—More exec departures from BlackBerry as The Wall Street Journal reports that sales vet Rick Costanzo and M&A head Chris Wormald are expected to leave.

—Earlier on GeekWireGoogle hires key Microsoft architect Blaise Agüera y Arcas

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