Leland Wilkinson
Leland Wilkinson

—Tableau, the Seattle-based maker of visual analytics software, named Leland Wilkinson as vice president of statistics.

“Lee is one of the most highly regarded minds in the fields of statistics and data visualization,” said Chris Stolte, Chief Development Officer and co-founder of Tableau, in a release. “His work in the academic and business worlds speaks for itself and we are thrilled to have him join our research and development team at Tableau.”

Tableau is betting big on its R&D efforts, spending $90 million on R&D efforts last year. Wilkinson will assist in those efforts, working on scientific visualization, statistical graphics, and predictive analysis. He most recently served as vice president at Skytree Inc., and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds an A.B. from Harvard University, an S.T.B. from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. He is the author of the book The Grammar of Graphics.

Matt Shea
Matt Shea

—WildTangent promoted Matt Shea to CEO, replacing Mike Peronto who is retiring from the Redmond-based gaming technology company. Shea joined WildTangent in 2002, most recently serving as executive vice president. Peronto will remain on the board.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to lead WildTangent and to continue serving our customers and partners,” said Shea in a release. He began his career at Sony Interactive Studios while earning a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of California at San Diego.

Michelle Welch
Michelle Welch

—WatchGuard Technologies, the Seattle-based network security company, promoted Corey Nachreiner to Chief Technology Officer. The company also hired Michelle Welch, former vice president of marketing at SafeNet, to oversee worldwide marketing.

“As I step into my new role as CEO, I’m focused on building a leadership team that will continue to push product excellence, further enhance our service and commitment to our channel partners, while seeking opportunities to expand into new markets,” said Prakash Panjwani, chief executive officer at WatchGuard. “Corey and Michelle share that same vision and bring significant experience in executing on it, allowing us to continue our growth momentum in 2015 and beyond.” Panjwani joined WatchGuard in April 2015, having previously served as CEO of SafeNet.

—Apple design guru Jony Ive has a new title: Chief Design Officer. The Telegraph has an exclusive interview with Ive, and 9to5Mac has the full memo from Tim Cook on the executive changes at Apple.

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