Tinder CEO Sean Rad. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch
Tinder CEO Sean Rad. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch

Founder Sean Rad is returning to his role as CEO of Tinder, replacing current CEO Chris Payne, a Microsoft and eBay veteran. Rad left the company amid a sexual-harassment lawsuit and the company board wanted to replace him with someone with more executive experience.

However, Payne was the wrong choice for the dating app maker. “It became clear after a few months that it wasn’t going to become a long-term fit,” board member Matt Cohler told Re/code.

Payne took the helm five months after Tinder started looking for a new leader. Rad didn’t completely step away from the company though; he remained as president and head of product and marketing for Tinder.

Payne’s next steps haven’t been announced. He previously worked at eBay for six years and spent 13 years at Microsoft, where he led the company’s search efforts.

REI LOGOJulie Averill has been named chief information officer at Seattle outdoor retailer REI. Averill served as vice president of information technology for the co-op for the last year.

According to a press release, Averill will oversee REI’s business intelligence, strategic merchandising, retail technology, digital experiences and IT infrastructure. The 25-year tech veteran previously served as Nordstrom’s vice president of technology.

Jeff Navach
MediaAlpha’s Vice President of Marketing Jeff Navach

MediaAlpha hired Jeff Navach as vice president of marketing this week. He’ll lead marketing and communication activities for the programmatic advertising technology company, which is based in Redmond and is looking to expand.

“Jeff’s experience will be a tremendous asset to us as our business continues to evolve and expand,” said CEO Steve Yi in a press release. “We’re growing rapidly and extending into new verticals. As such, we need to build greater awareness of our products, deepen our engagement with customers and aggressively build our brand.”

Before starting his new position, Navach was vice president of professional services and customer success at Valkre Solutions. He’s also spent time as director of corporate development for Oversee.net, managing M&A and strategic planning.

Zillow's Chief Economist Svenja Gudell
Zillow’s Chief Economist Svenja Gudell

Zillow promoted Svenja Gudell to chief economist, while former chief economist Stan Humphries moves up to Zillow Group’s chief analytics officer and chief economist. Gudell joined Zillow in 2011, previously working as the company’s senior director of economic research. Now, she will lead the company’s housing and economic research, producing monthly reports for 450 markets across the country.

Humphries will focus on the group’s financial planning, corporate strategy, research and analytics. Humphries has been with Zillow since launch and created the company’s Zestimate system.

Last week, the company announced two executive promotionsKathleen Phillips was named chief financial officer and Amy Bohutinsky now serves as the company’s chief operating officer. She previously served as chief marketing officer.

Shmuel Tennenhaus. Photo via LinkedIn
Shmuel Tennenhaus. Photo via LinkedIn

Cannabis-focused social network MassRoots named Shmuel Tennenhaus to its board of advisors. Tennenhaus previously served as marketing vice president for Seattle game maker Big Fish before it was purchased by Churchill Downs last year. He left that position in March.

“I look forward to utilizing my experience to help scale MassRoots to millions of users and build MassRoots for Business into a top-notch mobile monetization machine,” Tennenhaus said in a press release.

Denver-based MassRoots has 450,000 users, including both cannabis consumers and industry insiders. Tennenhaus will help the company in monetizing those users.

John DiLullo
F5 Executive Vice President John DiLullo

F5 Networks hired John DiLullo as executive vice president of global sales. DiLullo previously worked at HP’s Aruba Networks, where he ran worldwide sales and services.

“Our biggest growth opportunities are still ahead of us,” F5 CEO Manny Rivelo said. “We are excited to have someone with John’s experience in market expansion, channel management, and global networking sales join the team.”

Before his time at Aruba, DiLullo was general manager of the Americas at Avaya Communications and spent seven years at Cisco Systems, serving time as vice president of channels.

DocuSign CFO Michael Sheridan
DocuSign CFO Michael Sheridan

DocuSign hired former FireEye CFO Michael Sheridan as chief financial officer, the company announced recently. Former DocuSign CFO Mike Dinsdale will become the electronic signature company’s chief growth officer.

“Mike Dinsdale has rewritten the playbook on integrating equity financing strategy with that of overall corporate strategy to position DocuSign as the clear market leader,” CEO Keith Krach said in a press release. He added that Sheridan “has a remarkable track record of building high growth companies in some of the most important areas of tech.”

Sheridan served as FireEye CEO since 2011 and previously worked at Mimosa Systems, IGN Entertainment and Facebook. With DocuSign, he will provide financial leadership and growth.

Dinsdale has been with DocuSign since 2010 after stints as CFO of both Lithium Technologies and Velocity11. He’ll lead corporate development, mergers and acquisitions and investment partnerships in his new role. The company has offices in Seattle and San Francisco.

Acucela Executive Vice President Of Translational Medicine Lukas Scheibler
Acucela Executive Vice President Of Translational Medicine Lukas Scheibler

—Vision-focused biotech firm Acucela hired Lukas Scheibler as executive vice president of translational medicine. Scheibler has worked in medical research and development for 13 years, most recently at eye-care treatment developer Alcon, a division of Novartis.

In his new position, Scheibler will oversee the transition between pre-clinical research and clinical development of new drugs.

“Dr. Scheibler is one of the world’s leading experts in the research and development of treatments and cures for ophthalmic diseases,” CEO Ryo Kubota said in a statement. “He brings an international and industry-leading pedigree that we welcome as Acucela works toward its goal of becoming an international leader in the treatment of debilitating eye diseases.”

Scheibler joined Novartis in 2002 as manager of global drug regulatory affairs. He moved to Alcon in 2008, overseeing acquisitions and research. He starts his new position with Acucela next week.

Dan Hendrick
Appnique data scientist Dan Hendrick

Appnique’s newest data scientist is Dan Hendrick. He comes from Nuance, where he worked with its voice ads department, using voice recognition and natural language input in mobile ads. He’s also worked in research and development for AOL, Microsoft, Medio System and various startups.

Intelligent Product Solutions brought on Gianfranco Bonanome as director of systems solutions. Bonanome is moving from the company’s New York headquarters, where he worked for three years. In his new position, he will on-board new clients and manage product development.

“Gian brings his deep experience and problem-solving approach to product design, providing clients with cost-effective and innovative solutions,” IPS president Mitchell Maiman said in a press release.

Bonanome has worked for IBM’s Global Services division, overseeing enterprise solutions, and BAE Systems, where he led teams working on the F-16 and F/A-18 fighter jets.

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