Seattle biotech startup Nohla Therapeutics has an ambitious goal: Make umbilical stem cell transplants, currently a rare procedure, the new frontline treatment for leukemia. The company will have a new hand in its mission in the form of biotech executive Sarah Noonberg, who just joined Nohla as its new chief medical officer.
In her new role, Noonberg will be in charge of medical and clinical strategy, including development and regulatory matters. That role will be increasingly important as Nohla continues to develop its drugs through clinical trials and prepares to launch them to the market.
Noonberg has over 14 years of experience in clinical development, and is a licensed physician and scientist. Prior to Nohla, Noonberg was the chief medical officer at biotech company Prothena and global head of clinical development at biotech company BioMarin. She is also on the board of directors at Protagonist Therapeutics.
“Sarah’s broad expertise and proven track record in global clinical development will be invaluable to Nohla as we continue to advance our pipeline of universal, off-the-shelf cell therapy products toward commercialization,” Nohla president and CEO Katie Fanning said in a press release.
Nohla recently raised $11 million in a series B funding round that reached $56 million. The company’s flagship product is called dilanubicel, and is in its second of three clinical trials. It uses an umbilical cord blood transplant, with tech similar to a bone marrow transplant, to treat leukemia.
— Apptio, the Bellevue, Wash.-based software company that helps businesses track IT spending, announced both an addition and a departure from its board of directors. Former Cisco executive Rebecca Jacoby will be joining the board and Ravi Mohan, the managing director of venture firm Shasta Ventures, has resigned.
Jacoby was the senior vice president of operations at Cisco until she retired in January. Jacoby joined the San Jose, Calif.-based technology conglomerate in 1995. Since, she’s held multiple roles, including a stint as the company’s CIO. Apptio also said that Jacoby will join the company’s audit committee.
“Rebecca is a strategic leader and technology visionary, as well as an early Apptio customer, deeply respected by CIOs around the world,” Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta said in a press release. “Her expertise lies in the unique combination of operations and technology with a strong growth mindset – an invaluable addition to our Board.”
Mohan tendered his resignation from the board on July 27. He is a managing director at early stage venture capital firm Shasta Ventures, which has invested in Apptio. Mohan was on Apptio’s board since 2010.
Apptio acquired Digital Fuel, a company that also tracks cloud spending for companies, in February for $42.5 million, the company’s largest acquisition to date.
— Maven, the Seattle-based digital media company, announced Scott Kennedy as the manager of its sports division. Maven is a digital publishing, advertising, and distribution platform, and announced its expansion into team sports media in June.
Kennedy has been a presence in sports media for 20 years, including 16 years at Scout.com, which was acquired by Fox and later CBS. Most recently, Kennedy was a strategic consultant for Cox Media Group.
“Scott is a significant player in the digital sports space,” Maven CEO James Heckman said in a press release. “He knows as much about our business as anyone in the industry — leading at every level, from publishing, scouting, video production and general management of our entire network at Scout. His range of experience in our exact business model and impressive record make him one-of-a-kind in this industry.”
Kennedy’s time at Scout gives him prior experience working with Heckman and Maven COO Bill Sornsin, who co-founded the site.
— Bellevue, Wash.-based Icertis, which makes cloud-based contract tracking and management software, hired its first chief evangelist. Madhu Khatri will “drive market understanding” of the industry and promote Icertis at industry events and conferences.
Khatri was the associate general counsel for Microsoft prior to joining Icertis. She also led legal and corporate affairs for Microsoft’s India division. Before Microsoft, Khatri was a general counsel at Bengaluru, India-based IT company Wipro Technologies.
“Companies looking to digitally transform their global contracting footprint need a sage guide who has faced the challenges they are tackling,” Icertis CEO and co-founder Samir Bodas, said in a press release. “Madhu’s experience working in the legal departments of innovative global brands and unique perspective on the intersection of technology and legal operations will bring great value to our customers as we continue to rapidly expand and become the contract management platform of the world.”
Icertis has been expanding its executive team. In the past month, the company has brought on Neal Singh as COO and Todd Smith as general counsel.
— Former Microsoft product marketing manager Laura Jones has a new role at Google, where she now does product marketing for Chrome.
At Microsoft, Jones worked on the company’s search business.
Jones started at Microsoft in 2015, and has since worked in PR and marketing for a variety of different products, including Cortana, search, and browser. Prior to Microsoft, Jones was the head of PR for e-commerce company zulily.
— Seattle-based international law firm Perkins Coie has hired Andrew Moriarity as a partner in the labor and employment division. Moriarity was a senior corporate counsel at Amazon, working in the labor and employment division for almost 5 years. He was previously at Perkins Coie from 1998 to 2013.
