Aaron Khoo has joined Redmond online presentation startup 9Slides as director of engineering. Khoo is the former CTO at PaidPunch, and before that held numerous engineering roles at Microsoft, primarily working on Xbox. Khoo holds a PhD in computer science from Northwestern University. “Aaron brings in vast experience working with large companies like Microsoft where he managed technical teams and projects as well as experience building things from scratch in the startup world,” said 9Slides founder Ruchit Garg.
Seattle startup nFluence Media has named Eric Benazech to the position of chief revenue officer. “With a proven technology, and first clients already signed up to the Autograph platform, it was an easy decision for me to join nFluence,” said Benazech, who previously worked at Aimia Inc.
Chris Blessington is moving on from EMC Isilon to take a new job as senior director of marketing at ExtraHop Networks, the fast-growing Seattle startup that’s attracted a number of ex-Isilon workers. Blessington, who worked at Isilon for seven years through the ups and downs, said his heart was pulling him back to the startup scene. He’ll be working directly with Erik Giesa, the former F5 Networks exec who joined ExtraHop last summer. Isilon co-founder Sujal Patel joined the board of ExtraHop last year, as did former Isilon sales exec Eric Scollard. “The place feels exactly the same as when I joined Isilon a little over 7 years ago,” said Blessington, who will start at the company on May 20th.
François Stieger has joined the advisory board of Seattle government data analytics startup Socrata. In the role, Stieger, a former executive with VeriSign, Oracle and BroadVision, will help grow Socrata’s presence internationally. “Open data is a global initiative,” said CEO Kevin Merritt. “We’re expanding globally to meet this demand, and having a strong presence on virtually every continent is a must for us. We’re fortunate to have one of the most accomplished, skilled and experienced business leaders helping us formulate and execute our international expansion strategy.”
Demand Energy Networks, a Liberty Lake company which is developing technologies to monitor, store, and manage energy flow at the edge of the power grid, has named Gregg Patterson as President and CEO. Patterson most recently served as president of the Renewable Energy business at Advanced Energy. Before that, he served as CEO of PV Powered and worked as vice president and general manager in Hewlett Packard’s printers and digital media division. Founder and former CEO Dave Curry will move to the chairman role. “I am excited about Demand Energy’s big data platform and the traction we are getting across a growing range of markets, customers and use cases,” said Patterson in a release.
Rohit Mathur has shut down YAssume and begun work on a new India-based startup by the name of MakeMyDabba.com, a Web site that allows people to list and sell home food to others in their neighborhood. Mathur, the former executive director of TiE Seattle and former regional director of MindTree, is now based in San Francisco. Mathur said they decided to shut down YAsumme after LinkedIn created a similar product. MakeMyDabba.com recently launched in Hyderabad, India — the city where a number of tech companies, including Microsoft, have large operations. “We already have hundreds of delighted customers — including many Microsoft, Oracle, Accenture, Deloitte and Dell employees — who are satisfying their hunger for home food through our services,” he said.
Optify, a Seattle company developing digital marketing software, has promoted Chris Hundley to the position of chief technology officer. He’s one of the company original employees, with CEO Rob Eleveld, Optify calling him “a true technologist and a proven strategist and leader.” Prior to Optify, he worked as engineering director for Visible Technologies.
Mixpo, a Seattle cloud-based video marketing service, has named Salim Hemdani to the newly-created position of vice president of software development. “Salim will play a key role in driving rich cross-screen solutions for agencies and publishers, based on the latest software technologies, digital experiences, and client needs,” said CEO Anupam Gupta. Hemdani is the former CTO at Avalara, and before that worked at Razorfish. He holds an executive MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business
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