Simply Measured co-founder and vice president of strategy Adam Schoenfeld is leaving the Seattle-based social media analytics company after nearly seven years to take on a founder role with another early stage startup, GeekWire learned Tuesday.
“I’m super excited to be jumping back into the founding stage of a company,” Schoenfeld said. “I’ll have more to share on the new startup in the coming weeks, but wanted you to know that I’m making the leap again.”
Schoenfeld will remain involved with Simply Measured as an advisor and via the board of directors.
The 2013 GeekWire Awards winner for Startup of the Year, Schoenfeld always expressed confidence that Simply Measured could be Seattle’s next hot startup.
“If we can establish ourselves as a leader, we think we can be the next Zulily, the next Tableau in Seattle. That’s really what we want to do,” Schoenfeld said in 2014 after the company raised $20 million in a Series C funding round.
Schoenfeld’s other startup experience goes back to 2008, when he spent just over 2 years as CEO of Cheddr Media.
— Avalara, Seattle-based makers of sales tax automation software, is expanding operations and strategic initiatives in Brazil, the company announced on Tuesday. Rodrigo Zerlotti has been appointed general manager for Latin America, and Carlos “Kazuo” Tomomitsu is the new general manager for Brazil.
According to a news release, Zerlotti has morte than 25 years of technology and tax experience, including 15 years in Brazil as founder and CEO of SuitePlus, and founder of Rezolve, a cloud technology company. In the United States, he held senior technology roles at University of Texas – Austin, Radian International, and other Austin-based startups.
Tomomitsu has more than 30 years of experience in finance and tax automation, Avalara says. He previously founded his own tax technology company, KeepTrue, and also led the business application division of Sonda IT, one of Brazil’s largest systems integrators. Tomomitsu will direct Avalara Brazil’s product, marketing, sales and support activities.
“Avalara is delighted to grow our presence in Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America and the ninth largest in the world,” Scott McFarlane, Avalara co-founder and CEO said in a news release. “Today’s news affirms our commitment to global expansion into one of the Top 10 economies in the world, and a market with enormous unmet need. We now have an excellent leadership team in place, and we look forward to serving the millions of companies doing business in Brazil by helping them automate the burden of transactional tax compliance.”
— Urban Airship, the Portland-based mobile engagement company, has made two recent executive appointments, naming Scott Allen CFO and Eric Holmen SVP of worldwide sales.
Allen, with 30 years of technology business leadership experience, previously served as CFO of Intermedia. Prior to that, he was vice president and CFO of Citrix Online. He also held a variety of positions in finance at ADP, including overseeing all aspects of its Payment Solutions Division as vice president and general manager.
With more than 20 years of experience in executive marketing and sales leadership roles for technology, martech and mobile companies, Holmen joins Urban Airship after most recently being executive vice president of global sales for Invoca. He had also served as the company’s CMO. Prior to Invoca, Holmen was SVP of global marketing and sales for Silverpop and he has held senior marketing, sales and business development roles at Omnicom, Catalina Marketing and Sears, Roebuck, and Co.
“As we expand our business and continue to see strong global growth, there are many opportunities to extend our worldwide market leadership,” Brett Caine, CEO and president of Urban Airship, said in a news release. “A key element of our future success and global expansion is to have executive leaders of Scott and Eric’s caliber, who’ve time and again proven their ability to rapidly scale company operations and accelerate growth. This will be critical to achieving our plans and quickly seizing future growth opportunities. We’re thrilled to welcome them aboard.”
— WideNet Consulting, the Bellevue, Wash.-based technical staffing company, has added Curt Whitton as COO and Curtis Graves as VP of sales and business development.
Whitton is responsible for “structuring WideNet’s business model to attract new clients, foster in-house talent and expand its solution-based consulting services,” according to a news release from the company. He has 20 yeras of entrepreneurial, business, technology, sales, and consulting experience. Whitton most recently co-founded and led Intrievex, an information and retrieval technology and services company. He has previous experience at IBM, small consulting companies and a leadership position as owner and COO of Codesic Consulting.
IGraves will focus on advancing WideNet’s sales strategy, client-specific objectives and customer relations, WideNet says. He has 15 years of experience in senior IT sales and business development roles. Graves formerly worked as the VP of business development with Mantis Technology Group and he worked with Whitton at Codesic Consulting, supporting the company’s sales and strategic objectives.
“Hiring Curt and Curtis is a huge move for WideNet as we continue to mature and grow,” CEO Kory Avaiusini said. “Having seasoned leaders who are well-known in the local market with impeccable resumes and reputation is extremely important in a relationship-based business.”
