Crosscut, the five-year-old online news publication for the Pacific Northwest, has named former Microsoft corporate communications manager Greg Shaw as CEO and publisher. A former journalist who started his career at the Cherokee Advocate, Shaw has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2004. He replaces Crosscut founder David Brewster who plans to step down from the editor-in-chief role in September. Brewster will continue to write for the site, and serve on the nonprofit’s board. The news site plans to hire an editor in the coming weeks who will report to Shaw.
Shaw and Brewster have known each other for eight years, working together on science lectures at Seattle’s Town Hall. “He has very high standards for journalism, an appetite for smart new projects and ton of entrepreneurial energy,” said Brewster.
Shaw added: “I have wanted for some time to get back to my roots and my first love, journalism. I am excited by the challenge of helping make Crosscut one of the finest examples in the nation of this new form of public-interest, local online journalism.”
Redfin has promoted Bridget Frey to the position of vice president of engineering, reporting to CTO Sasha Aickin. She previously served as director of data and analytics engineering. She oversees the online real estate company’s commerce, marketplaces, data, network & systems and quality assurance teams.
Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton has been named to the board of Clearwire, the latest change in the board room for the Bellevue wireless broadband provider. “Slade’s decades of experience in business, law and government will bring to Clearwire important leadership in matters of corporate governance, strategy and general business development,” said Clearwire executive chairman John Stanton. “I believe he will be a key voice in helping to guide discussions on the future of our company at this critical time in our history.” A consultant to the law firm K&L Gates, Gorton currently serves on the board of Microvision. He represented Washington in the U.S. Senate for 18 years. Clearwire’s stock was up nearly seven percent today, but the company is down 66 percent in the past year. It has hit some rough patches over the years, with a shakeup of its executive team and board as well as ongoing financing woes to support its network. In other words, Gorton and the rest of the board will have a tough road ahead.
Portland startup Chirpify, which has developed a payment system for concert tickets and other items on Twitter, has tapped Rory Felton as vice president of business development. Felton, who started a record company (The Militia Group) at the age of 18, said that Chirpify is turning e-commerce on its head. “It transforms Twitter from a broadcast platform into a transactional one,” he said in a blog post. Earlier this month, the company named former American Express manager Raymond Chan as vice president of corporate development. Chirpify raised $1.3 million from BuddyTV CEO Andy Liu; Geoff Entress; former Facebook executive Rudy Gadre; HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes; Voyager Capital and others earlier this year.
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