Brad Smith. (Photo courtesy of Nordstrom)

Nordstrom is solidifying its commitment to the digital retail world with a new chair of its board of directors. Brad Smith, the longtime chair and CEO of software company Intuit, will fill the role starting Nov. 1.

His appointment is yet another tie between Nordstrom and the tech world as the Seattle-based retailer works to establish itself as the “best fashion retailer in a digital world.”

Smith, who has served on Nordstrom’s board of directors since 2013, replaces current chair Phil Satre, who will remain on the company’s board of directors.

“Brad’s leadership and extensive experience in the technology industry has proven to be invaluable to Nordstrom,” Satre said in a statement. “As Chairman, we’ll continue to leverage his expertise to support the company as it makes progress against its goal to be the leading fashion retailer in today’s digital world.”

Just a few weeks ago, Nordstrom hired former Tesco and Expedia executive Edmond Mesrobian as its new chief technology officer, aiming to reboot its digital efforts. In March, the company acquired two e-commerce startups.

Matt Francis. (Photo courtesy of FlyHomes)

Matt Francis, formerly the vice president of technology at e-commerce company zulily, has left that role to become the chief technology officer of real estate startup FlyHomes.

Francis, FlyHomes’ first CTO, spent a total of seven years at zulily, leaving for a short spell in 2016 to lead software development at health company Arivale. He rejoined the company as its VP of technology later that year.

“Matt is an exceptional product and engineering leader with a track record of creating innovative ideas and turning them into category defining products,” CEO Stephen Lane said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to have him on the team and am confident his bold thinking and technical leadership will enable us to deliver a significantly better way to help clients buy and sell homes.”

FlyHomes raised $17 million in May, from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and, ironically, Zulily and Blue Nile co-founder Mark Vadon. The company puts up cash to help home buyers in competitive housing markets make their offers more competitive.

Rene Yoakum. (Photo courtesy of Remitly)

—  International money transfer company Remitly added two new leaders to its C-suite: Susanna Morgan, a veteran of companies including Apptio and Concur who will serve as the company’s chief financial officer, and longtime Microsoft executive Rene Yoakum, its first chief customer officer.

“Remitly’s customer-first commitment to helping hardworking immigrants support their families and communities across the world is inspiring,” Yoakum said in a statement. She spent 21 years at Microsoft, leading various efforts in sales, strategy and global customer support.

“As a long-time finance professional, it is an immense opportunity to step up and help a community historically treated unfairly by the industry,” Morgan said. She was the senior vice president at Concur and then Apptio before joining Remitly. “I’m excited to help Remitly in their passionate mission to transform the lives of immigrant communities around the world.”

Mark Keeney. (Photo courtesy of Storm)

Storm, a Seattle startup building a microtasking platform that lets users earn cryptocurrency, has added three new executives.

Mark Keeney, formerly the head of partnerships and affiliates for global growth at eBay, joins the company as head of marketing; Former GawkBox head of product Ian Brillembourg will become head of mobile; And Anurag Patnaik, formerly the CEO of New Delhi-based newspaper collective HT Media, will serve as head of marketplace.

“We’re excited to have Mark, Ian, and Anurag join the Storm team,” CEO and Co-Founder Simon Yu said in a statement. “Their industry expertise will allow the Storm platform to be accessible and easily usable which is one of the biggest gaps in the current blockchain products. Our mission is to allow anyone, anywhere, and anytime to be able to use Storm to earn and with their help we will be able to accomplish our goals.”

Kellie Mays. (Photo via The Laurel Group)

— Real estate tech company JetClosing added former Porch and Google employee Kellie Mays as VP of people. Mays spent four years at Porch, most recently serving as the company’s head of human relations, and was previously an engineering recruiter at Google in the Seattle region.

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