Lee Rossini. (Limeade Photo)

Wellness technology company Limeade announced this morning that former Microsoft exec Lee Rossini is joining the company’s leadership team as VP of product and marketing.

Rossini previously served as the VP of US product and retail marketing at Microsoft, and held a variety of roles at the Redmond, Wash.,-based technology giant in his fourteen years at the company. While there, he oversaw the launch of Windows 10, Xbox One, and Surface, among others. 

Limeade provides incentive-based tech solutions to help corporations increase wellness among employees, including meeting mental and physical health goals and assisting with common stressors like financial or social wellbeing at work.

Rossini will oversee all marketing, product management, and user experience at Limeade.

“There’s a well-being epidemic out there. People are unhealthy and stressed, which is negatively impacting their performance at work and in life,” Rossini said in a press release. “I love building market defining products with revolutionary experiences. I got to do that with Xbox and other great products – and we will continue to do it at Limeade. I feel uniquely aligned with this company.”

Maria Renz. (Photo via LinkedIn)

Maria Renz, an early Amazon employee and the first woman appointed to the sought-after position of technical advisor to Jeff Bezos, has moved on to another position in the company. 

Renz’s LinkedIn bio now lists her as the vice president of delivery experience for the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, although it gives no details on that position. Recode speculates that she may be involved in Amazon’s efforts to build up its own delivery network to supplement UPS, Fedex and other third-party providers.

Previous advisors to Bezos, also called his “shadows,” include Andy Jassy, now CEO of Amazon AWS, and other high-profile players in the company. Renz was preceded in the position by Jay Marine, now the VP of Prime Video in Europe.

Renz was the first and only woman to be given the position, at a time when Amazon and other tech companies are coming under pressure to diversify their workforces. There is no word from Amazon on who will replace her. 

Jeff Henshaw. (Photo via LinkedIn)

— After a seventeen-year career in video games and digital entertainment, former Xbox manager Jeff Henshaw has taken a new role at the company’s quantum computing group.

Henshaw had served as the group program manager of Xbox incubation for six years before making the switch and is now the company’s group program manager of quantum computing software. In 1999, he helped found the Microsoft team that would go on to build the Xbox franchise. He also took a two-year break from Microsoft to co-found music entertainment startup DeepRockDrive.

In his new role, Henshaw will join the team working to make a universal, next-generation quantum computer that leverages the physics of minuscule quantum particles to perform computations.

“Many aspects of at-scale quantum computing are still theoretical, and what we’re trying to do may take longer than expected, and may not work as we envision. Enormous potential impact is coming from unimaginably small things,” Henshaw wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing his new position.

Walter Palhetas. (Impinj Photo)

— Walter Palhetas, SVP of global sales at RFID-maker Impinj, is stepping down from his role as of February 10. He will continue to assist the company through the transition until April 15.

In the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday, Impinj CEO Chris Diorio said the decision was a mutual one, and was in part so that Palhetas could “focus on personal priorities.”

Impinj COO and President Eric Brodersen will take over as head of the sales department. The company beat earnings expectations for the third time in a row last week, after going public last July.

Google‘s Seattle campus is under new instruction: longtime Google Seattle employee George Sadlier took over leadership of the office last year. The move was initially reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, and a Google spokesperson confirmed it to GeekWire.

Sadlier has been with the company since it opened a Seattle engineering office in 2006. Google has been expanding in Seattle consistently since it first opened up shop, and construction will start this year for a new four-building complex in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

Nativis, a company developing bio-electronic treatments for cancer and other diseases, announced yet another addition to its board of directors this week: healthcare exec and scientist Una Ryan.

Una Ryan. (Nativis Photo)

Ryan’s resume includes over 20 years as a professor of medicine at institutions like Boston College and Washington University, St. Louis. She is also an established entrepreneur, investor, and advisor to healthcare companies and startups.

“I am excited to join the Nativis team, and look forward to helping guide the company through the development of its unique technology platform,” Ryan said in a press release announcing the addition. “Nativis’ ulRFE technology represents an unprecedented opportunity to advance a new wave of treatment for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and other health care indications, and I believe that with the right resources and strategies, the company can position itself for future success.”

— Kent, Wash.,-based Novinium, which supports cable utilities companies, announced the addition of two new hires this week: Michael Pines will join the company as a mechanical engineer and Kevin Laux will serve as a field support engineer.

“We are excited about the new talents joining us at Novinium,” Novinium VP of Research and Development Mark Newton said in a press release. “Michael and Kevin are great additions to our engineering team and will enhance Novinium’s capabilities in engineering on and off the field. Their skills are critical as Novinium continues to create new innovations to support and assist utility customers with infrastructure challenges.”

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