Chris Picardo has joined Madrona Venture Group as the firm’s newest senior associate, GeekWire has learned.
Picardo, a Seattle native, most recently served as director of finance and business intelligence at New York startup Rockets of Awesome and was formerly a private equity associate at the Invus Group, supporting very early-stage portfolio companies. He also served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Seattle before moving to New York.
“I’m thrilled to join Madrona and dive back into the Seattle ecosystem – there are so many passionate entrepreneurs with great ideas here and it’s energizing to be right in the middle of everything,” Picardo told GeekWire in an email. “I’m really excited about intelligent applications, e-commerce and digital to physical experiences, and ML/AI in vertical markets where tech can provide innovative and large scale solutions.”
— Language analytics startup Textio announced three moves on its leadership team Wednesday.
Longtime Head of Business Carolyn Duffy will now serve as the company’s first CFO; Former Apptentive Head of Marketing Emily Carrion was hired as the company’s new VP of Marketing; and Charna Parkey was promoted to be the company’s VP of customer success.
Duffy joined Textio as its head of marketing in 2014 and formerly held roles as a product manager at Microsoft and as an early employee and principal at venture capital firm Ignition Parnters. Prior to joining Textio, she worked as a consultant for three years.
Carrion joins Textio from artificial intelligence AnswerIQ where she was VP of marketing. She formerly served as the head of marketing for Apptentive, which powers mobile experiences for companies including eBay and Zillow.
Parkey first joined Textio in 2015 and served as a senior engineer and director of customer success before becoming VP of customer success.
— Expedia has added a new member to its board: Courtnee Chun, the VP of investor relations at Liberty Media. Chun replaces Liberty Media chairman John Malone, longtime business partner of Expedia Chairman Barry Diller. The change was noted in an SEC filing and Expedia confirmed Chun’s appointment to GeekWire
Malone has served on Expedia’s board since 2005, except for a few months during 2012 when he resigned after a power struggle with Diller.
Chun was appointed to the board by the Malone-controlled Liberty Expedia Holdings, an Expedia stockholder that is allotted three appointments on Expedia’s board. Chun was formerly the VP of opportunity development at Level 3 Communications (now CenturyLink) and previously served as the CFO of IP communications company New Global Telecom.
An interesting note: Chun’s addition means four of the last five additions to Expedia’s board have been women, the most recent being Chelsea Clinton, who joined the board in May.
In an email to GeekWire, an Expedia spokesperson highlighted Chun’s “considerable qualifications and the contribution and insight we believe she will bring to our Board.” The spokesperson also said the company welcomes “the diversity of thought and experience that each of our board members brings to the table, and Ms. Chun is no exception.”
— John Gabbert, founder and CEO of business information database PitchBook, has been named the Edward V. Fritzky Endowed Chair in Leadership at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
During the 2017-2018 school year, Gabbert will serve as a resource to Foster School faculty and students by giving guest lectures, mentoring and offering specialized business coaching. Gabbert founded PitchBook in 2007 and has served as CEO for the past 10 years, continuing to lead the company after its $235 million acquisition by Morning Star in 2016.
“John is a dynamic and well-respected business leader and an admired UW Foster alumnus who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to complement our ever-changing business curriculum,” Jim Jiambalvo, dean of the Foster School, said in a press release. “He’s brought energy, passion and commitment that inspires our students and engages our programs in focusing on what’s next in business education.””
