F5 Networks announced in July that its longtime chief operations officer Edward Julian Eames is retiring at the end of the fiscal year. Tuesday, we learned about one of the people who will be replacing him: former Oracle and IBM executive Steve McMillan.
According to an SEC filing by the company, McMillan will take over as the company’s EVP of global services on Oct. 9. Eames’ last day on the job is Nov. 9. F5 hasn’t yet announced a new COO.
McMillan joined Oracle in 2012 and most recently served as the company’s SVP of customer success and managed cloud services. He previously spent almost 20 years with IBM, most recently serving as the company’s VP of large financial services institution.
— Blue Origin, the private space exploration company founded by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, officially has a CEO: Former Honeywell executive Bob Smith.
Smith was quietly appointed in September and hasn’t taken much of a public profile. He will speak on a panel at the National Space Council Meeting on Oct. 5, one of his first public appearances in his role as Blue Origin CEO.
Prior to joining Blue Origin, Smith spent 13 years at aerospace company Honeywell, most recently serving as the president of mechanical systems and components. He formerly served as the executive director of the United Space Alliance.
Smith joins Bezos and Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson as top figures at the organization. The company didn’t have a CEO by name until Smith’s appointment.
— Online diamond jeweler Blue Nile announced the addition of several new faces this week. On the technology front, tech veteran and former Expedia exec David Fleischman has joined the company as its chief product officer.
He previously spent six years at Expedia, most recently serving as the company’s VP of global product, and formerly served as a group program manager for Microsoft working on digital media. He also held roles at Apple and Nokia.
He is joined on Blue Nile’s leadership board by retail vet Erin Daley, who joined the company as its chief marketing officer. Daley was previously SVP and CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics and formerly served as the VP of marketing for supplement company Schiff Nutrition.
The company also announced that 15-year Blue Nile vet Jon Sainsbury has been promoted to serve as its Chief Strategy Officer and President of International. He was previously the company’s chief revenue officer.
“Erin and David both have excellent track records of innovation and growth, and Jon has been instrumental in making Blue Nile the company it is today – a more brilliant way to buy diamonds,” CEO Jason Goldberger said in a press release. “We’re excited for the deep experience in online retail and consumer engagement that Erin and David bring, and that Jon will continue to play a key role in the next phase of the company. It’s an exciting time for Blue Nile.”
The company also announced that former Tiffany & Co. CEO Frédéric Cumenal has joined its board of directors.
“It has been fascinating to watch Blue Nile’s evolution, and the way the company has brought value and transparency to jewelry purchasing, while delivering a high-value consumer experience,” Cumenal said in a release. “I have a great deal of respect for the company and its business model. I look forward to helping guide Blue Nile’s growth strategy and position the business for long-term success.”
— Impel NeuroPharma, a Seattle-based biotechnology company developing a new drug delivery system, announced Tuesday that industry vet Jon Congleton has been appointed as the company’s new CEO.
Congleton takes the reins from Impel co-founder John Hoekman, who had been acting as interim CEO for over a year. Hoekman will continue to serve as the company’s EVP and chief scientific officer and serve on its board of directors.
Congleton joins the company from Nivalis Therapeutics, where he served as CEO for two years and oversaw the company’s IPO. He left the company in January, shortly before it completed an acquisition by Seattle-based Alpine Immune Sciences in July.
He previously spent 13 years in leadership roles at Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceuticals, most recently serving as the SVP of its global medicines group.
“Impel’s unique Precision Olfactory Delivery or POD nasal delivery platform addresses an underutilized route of administration for therapeutics and can represent a significant breakthrough in drug delivery of both small molecules and biologics,” Congleton said in a press release. “I am very excited to join the Impel team to help further develop the value of its deep pipeline to benefit CNS patients who are vastly underserved with current therapies.”
Impel raised $36 million in December to fuel development of POD — which can circumvent the blood-brain barrier — and accompanying drugs that treat central nervous system disorders, including chronic migraines and Parkinson’s disease.
— BitTitan — a fast-growing cloud migration services provider based in Kirkland, Wash. — announced Tuesday that entrepreneur David Geevaratne has joined the company as its director of sales.
Geevaratne is best known as the co-founder, president and longtime chief sales officer of Washington, D.C., based New Signature. The company is a cloud-first Microsoft solution provider and Geevaratne joins BitTitan with an extensive knowledge of Microsoft’s ecosystem.
At BitTitan, Geevaratne will lead global sales and market strategies for MSPComplete, the company’s IT services automation platform. He will split his time between BitTitan’s headquarters in Kirkland and Washington, D.C.
“BitTitan continues to lead the charge towards automating managed services delivery, improving business operations through digital IT transformation, and helping companies successfully utilize and manage the cloud,” Geevaratne said in a press release. “I am very impressed with MSPComplete and think it will disrupt the IT services industry as we know it – there’s simply nothing in the market like it. Joining BitTitan at such an exciting time gives me the opportunity to be part of this journey.”
— Cable and internet provider Comcast announced Tuesday the appointment of Marianne Bichsel as VP of external affairs for the company’s Washington State region.
Before joining Comcast, Bichsel was the founder and president of her own public affairs consultant, Bichsel Public Affairs. She previously managed communications for foster care nonprofit Casey Family Programs and served as the communications director for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.
In her new role, Bichsel will oversee community investment, government affairs and external communications functions for the Comcast’s Washington State region.
— Corporate retail giant CBRE announced that it has promoted John Parsons to be a first vice president in charge of the national data center practice for its Valuation & Advisory Services division.
Parsons will now oversee the CBRE division that helps customers manage the real estate aspects of their data centers. He is based in Seattle. He first joined CBRE in 2011, and previously worked as a senior appraiser for Australian property services company LandMark White.
“CBRE has built the largest commercial real estate valuation service in the Americas with deep experience in the core property types: office, retail, industrial and multifamily,” Thomas McDonnell, president of CBRE’s Valuation & Advisory Services division, said in a press release. “Recently, we have strengthened specialty property types such as data centers, healthcare, and seniors housing.”
Data centers often require very specific constructions and features, a challenge for leading cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, both based in the Seattle area.
