— PitchBook, the Seattle startup that collects data on venture capital and private equity financings, has hired Rod Diefendorf as the company’s chief operating officer, it was announced this morning.
Diefendorf will help develop strategy, scale the business, increase efficiency across the organization and drive the company in its continued growth, PitchBook said in a news release. The company called his appointment a testament to broader hiring plans, as it aims to expand headcount to over 600 employees this year.
In January, the 9-year-old company, with offices in Seattle, New York and London, announced $10 million in financing to bring its valuation to $160 million.
Diefendorf has spent more than 23 years driving growth and increasing shareholder value at startups and large corporations in the technology space. Most recently, Diefendorf developed and led a division of Seattle-based Marchex before selling it to GoDaddy for more than $40 million. Previously, he held various leadership roles at companies like InfoSpace, Idearc Media and Go2Net, Inc.
“Rod has a proven track record of identifying new opportunities, developing operational strategies and executing,” said founder and CEO John Gabbert. “At PitchBook, we’re always looking for better, more efficient ways to operate so we can continue to maximize our potential. We’re excited to bring Rod’s rich experience in corporate development, sales and marketing, private equity and early-stage startups to help PitchBook achieve scalability and, most importantly, better serve our customers.”
Diefendorf said he looks forward to making a mark at the company.
“PitchBook is a rapidly growing company with great people and a passion for serving its customers that’s truly contagious,” Diefendorf said. “I look forward to finding ways to improve what’s already a remarkable, high-performing company, and help cement its position as a leader in the space.”
— ExtraHop, the Seattle-based IT operations analytics company, has added two tech industry veterans to expand its product and corporate leadership teams.
John Leon joins the company as vice president of Business Development. Prior to joining ExtraHop, he was the director of business development and alliances for Puppet Labs. He also served as the senior alliance manager and regional OEM alliance manager at VMware and held product and alliance management roles at Intel and Hewlett-Packard.
“I’ve worked with and for many disruptive companies, and I know a game-changing product when I see it,” Leon said in a news release. “For customers, the ExtraHop platform offers an unprecedented degree of visibility and control. For alliance partners it means seamless deployment and ongoing customer success. I look forward to deepening relationships with our existing technology partners and forging new ones that accelerate IT innovation.”
Paul Sanford will lead ExtraHop’s Product Management team as a senior director. A founding member of the Seattle engineering campus of Splunk, Sanford was also a senior product manager at Microsoft, director of product management for Avalara, and a post-sales manager at InStranet Inc. (acquired by Salesforce).
“ExtraHop is championing wire data analytics to solve many of the issues IT organizations experience daily with expediency and ease,” Sanford said. “The company’s technology fundamentally changes how businesses approach IT, and I’m looking forward to furthering our customers’ successes.”
The appointments of Leon and Sanford closely follow other high-profile additions to the ExtraHop team, including Mark Anderson, executive vice president of World Wide Field Operations for Palo Alto Networks, who joined the ExtraHop Board of Directors in March.
— Vulcan Inc. has hired Chris Orndorff as chief investment officer, effective June 20.
Orndorff brings 30 years of investment management and leadership experience to the role in which he will be responsible for identifying investment opportunities and optimizing returns for Vulcan Capital – company founder Paul Allen’s multi-billion-dollar investment arm.
“I am very pleased to have Chris Orndorff join our team as our chief investment officer,” Allen said in a news release. “He brings an extensive track record of building and managing successful investment businesses and teams, and further adds to the strength of our leadership group.”
Prior to Vulcan, Orndorff was senior portfolio manager for Western Asset Management where he oversaw multi-sector, unconstrained and absolute return portfolios. He was also a member of the board of directors for Mercer Advisors, where he advised on business, investment as well as marketing and sales strategy.
“I am thrilled to join Vulcan and contribute to Paul Allen’s wide-ranging business and philanthropic investments,” Orndorff said. “This is an exciting time to invest, and Vulcan offers unique and unrivaled investments that make a difference in local and global communities.”
— Focal PLLC, the Seattle law practice with a focus toward technology businesses and intellectual property, has hired Barbara Rhoads-Weaver as an attorney.
Since 2009, Rhoads-Weaver has operated the solo practice Sustainable Law out of Vashon Island, Wash. Before Sustainable, she worked in the litigation group at Bullivant Houser Bailey.
After graduating from Seattle University in 2003, Rhoads-Weaver clerked for Justice Tom Chambers at the Washington Supreme Court. She is a 2015 and 2016 Super Lawyer, a former WSBA Governor, an officer and director of the GLBT Bar Association, and the author of the Washington Civil Procedure Deskbook, Vol. I, Ch. 8 and 9, 2006 Supplements.
— PR Talent, the public relations specialist executive search firm, is opening a Seattle office and has chosen Dan Lee, who has more than 16 years of agency experience in the market, to lead the expansion.
Lee spent 13 years with Weber Shandwick’s Seattle office and as vice president of media relations he specialized in creating compelling client stories and leading the firm’s spokesperson training program coaching executives at Bank of America, General Motors and Microsoft on message delivery and becoming brand storytellers.
“Dan is the perfect guy for this role. He has deep connections with communications talent throughout the Northwest and his extensive PR agency experience means he intuitively understands what clients want in a candidate and then knows where to go to find the perfect match,” PR Talent President Jim Delulio said in a news release.
“Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, B.C. are all growing markets that are in need of communications talent and an on-the-ground recruiter that specializes in this area,” Delulio added. “Major corporations like Amazon, Nike and Starbucks — and the PR agencies that support them — continue to demand traditional as well as digital communications talent. Our mission is to identify the rock stars to handle those needs.”
