Michael Cockrill, Washington state’s chief information officer and director of the WaTech agency, is leaving the role after nearly five years as one of the state’s top tech administrators.
He will take a new position at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Science, a Seattle-based nonprofit biomedical research organization.
During his tenure, Cockrill oversaw the creation of the state’s Office of Cybersecurity, helped establish the Office of Privacy and Data protection and worked to attract more talent to the state’s IT and tech services.
He also oversaw WaTech, the consolidated state technology agency, which provides state agencies with technology products and services ranging from communications to registering domains.
WaTech came under fire earlier this week when an audit of the agency found it wasn’t meeting the needs of most state agencies. Government Technology reports that the timing of the audit was just a coincidence and Cockrill had notified the governor he would step down a month ago.
“I’ve been honored to spend the past four and a half years working with a highly talented team to help reinvent how technology can be used to deliver critical state services,” Cockrill said in a press release. “I leave with new appreciation of public service and with sincere gratitude for the people who wake up every morning and make the choice to serve.”
Cockrill’s stint in government stands out from the rest of his career: He spent nine years as a group program manager at Microsoft during the ’90s and later went on to found and lead a number of tech startups, including PhotoRocket and Atlas Networks. His position at Altius is his first foray into biomedical research.
— Financial tech startup Remitly announced a new office in Nicaragua this week and also added a new VP of global business development: Eugenio Nigro.
Nigro joins the company from Pay Pal-owned Xoom, an international money transfer service, where he led business development for Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean. Prior to Pay Pal’s acquisition of Xoom, he served as the company’s VP of business development in Latin America.
Similar to Xoom, Remitly offers international money transfers to countries in Asia and Central and South America. The company’s new office in Managua, Nicaragua, will open with 75 employees focused on customer service and risk operations for the company’s Latin American customer base. The company also has offices in London, England, and Manilla, Philippines.
“Remitly’s incredible commitment to helping hard-working immigrants send money across the world sets the company apart,” Nigro said in a press release. “That human-centric approach is essential when creating technology-driven solutions in our ever-changing, globally-connected world. This product provides not only ease and savings, but also confidence to both those sending money and those receiving it.”
— Financial and investment services firm Coldstream Wealth Management announced the addition of several new team members this week, including Dan Kingston, the former head of portfolio management at Vulcan Capital.
Kingston and former Washington State Treasurer Jim McIntire are the first two outside advisors to join Coldstream’s advisory group. Coldstream Chief Investment Officer Howard Coleman makes up the third member of the advisory group.
The firm also announced the addition of Tom Knollmann as the company’s business development officer, who joins Coldstream from BMO Harris Bank.
“Coldstream has consistently nurtured deep relationships with influential and experienced industry experts to ensure we are diligently delivering comprehensive, thoughtful, and trustworthy services to our clients,” Coldstream Managing Shareholder Kevin Fitzwilson said in a press release. “The recent additions of Jim, Dan, and Tom to the Coldstream family affirm our commitment to enhancing the lives of our clients by providing the peace of mind that comes from trustworthy insight, passion, and action.”
Kingston is currently a partner at Frontbridge Capital, which he co-founded.
— Lighthouse eDiscovery, the Seattle-based legal consulting and e-discovery company, announced the addition of two new executives: David Binder joins the company as its chief financial officer and Stacy Ybarra will serve as its VP of marketing.
Lighthouse merged with San Francisco-based Discovia in May, which it said makes it the largest e-discovery company in the industry. The company’s tools help lawyers quickly sift through a huge amount of complex information.
Binder joins Lighthouse from Blue Nile, where he spent more than six years as the CFO. He was previously the CFO of Infospace (now Blucora) and has held financial leadership roles at Drugstore.com, Edge2net, HomeGrocer.com and AT&T Wireless.
“David brings a considerable depth of experience to his role at Lighthouse, specifically, his proven ability to build world-class finance and accounting teams and provide financial and strategic guidance for scaling global organizations,” Lighthouse CEO Brian McManus said in a press release. McManus and Binder previously worked together when they were both on the executive board at Infospace.
“David will be a valuable asset to our executive leadership team as we continue to grow our employee base, expand our global reach and develop innovative new technology and services to meet our clients’ needs in this rapidly changing industry,” McManus said.
Ybarra is also a vet of Infospace — she spent the last 12 years there, most recently serving as the VP of investor relations and corporate communications. She oversaw the company’s internal and external communications, brand and corporate giving functions.
“We are delighted to welcome Stacy to Lighthouse and look forward to capitalizing on her experience as we complete the integration with Discovia and ramp up our own marketing efforts,” Lighthouse SVP of sales and marketing Michael Miller said in a press release.
— Anthony Di Iorio, a longtime cryptocurrency and blockchain entrepreneur most famous for co-founding cryptocurrency firm Etherium, has joined the advisory board of Seattle-based esports betting company Unikrn, specifically advising the company’s UnikoinGold cryptocurrency team.
Di Iorio also took part in the company’s Initial Coin Offering this week, when Unikorn sold $25 million worth of its UnikoinGold cryptocurrency. The company is aiming to make UnikoinGold the standard for all esports transactions, it said in a press release.
Di Iorio’s team will help Unikrn integrate with JAXX, a blockchain wallet system that he founded last year. Di Iorio currently serves as the CEO of JAXX, Toronto-based innovation hub Decentral and interactive media dashboard Decentral.tv, all of which he founded or co-founded.
“I don’t normally jump in as an investor or advisor in any company unless I feel like I see real potential and the opportunity to add significant value,” Di Iorio said in a press release. “The token market is fraught with challenges; however, the future of this space is incredible. When my team saw Unikrn and their traction in esports, their team, and their history with Unikoin, I realized that this is a deal I can get behind. My team will help bring UnikoinGold integration into the JAXX wallet, and I’m excited to work for other opportunities to work with the Unikrn team to make UnikoinGold a standard in all esports.”
— Professor Lisa Zurk has been appointed as the new executive director of the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at the University of Washington (UW) and will take on a professorship at the UW’s electrical engineering department.
Zurk joins the UW from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where she oversaw the allocation of research investments. Her most recent academic position was at Portland State University, where she was a professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-directed the Northwest Electromagnetic and Acoustics Research Laboratory.The APL does a good deal of federally funded work for the U.S. Navy and other
The APL does a good deal of federally funded work for the U.S. Navy and other agencies, and was originally founded by the Navy 75 years ago. Zurk, also a UW alum, is the first woman to serve as the lab’s executive director. She replaces Jeff Simmen, who has led the lab since 2003.
“I am tremendously excited to be returning to APL and UW to grow and strengthen the critical science and engineering expertise these talented individuals provide for our nation and our community,” Zurk said in a press release.
— Timeshare Exit Team, a Lynnwood, Wash.,-based company that helps consumers navigate the timeshare market, announced the addition of Daniel Green as its chief revenue officer.
Green joins the company from the Shari Levitin Group, a consultancy group with a focus on real estate and hospitality companies where he also served as CRO. He has held a variety of positions in the vacation management industry, most recently serving as the VP of sales and operations at Somerpointe Resorts.
