Zipwhip, the Seattle-based maker of the landline and internet texting service, added two new executives to its leadership team — including Bob Chamberlain, a longtime tech executive and seasoned finance leader who will serve as the company’s CFO.
Chamberlain is a well-known and experienced Seattle tech leader. He served as the CFO at PopCap Games and Big Fish Games during both of those companies’ recent acquisitions and also held senior financial leadership at Getty Images, F5 Networks and WatchGuard Technologies, among others.
Entrepreneur and human resources executive Kirsten Spoljaric is joining Zipwhip as its senior vice president of people. Spoljaric was the co-founder and human resources head for startup Masherly, which was acquired by Intel in 2013. She then spent nearly three years as a people and operations director at Intel.
Both of the roles are new for Zipwhip.
“We’re thrilled to have Bob and Kirsten join us at Zipwhip to help lead the way for the next phase of our business,” Zipwhip Co-founder and CEO John Lauer said in a press release. “As we look ahead to 2019, this dynamic pair has exactly the kind of operational vision needed to guide the organization and support the continued innovation happening at Zipwhip. I’m inspired to work alongside these smart, hardworking individuals who are committed to advancing texting technology to improve business-to-consumer engagement.”
— Seattle-based mobile data company NetMotion Software is expanding to Canada. The company announced Wednesday that it is opening a new Canadian headquarters in Victoria, B.C., led by the company’s newly-hired vice president of global marketing, Joel Windels.
Windels and five other NetMotion employees will operate out of the new office. It is the company’s third international outpost, with two existing offices in Tokyo, Japan and Bracknell, England. NetMotion’s software lets customers track data from corporate smartphones and provides analysis and insight based on the data.
Windels was most recently the VP of global marketing for San Francisco-based enterprise mobile security company Wandera and was previously the VP of inbound marketing for Brandwatch. Earlier in his career, he was a games journalist and editor, writing for a variety of news sites.
“Joel is a seasoned marketing leader with an impressive track record of success in global channel development and inbound marketing,” NetMotion CEO Christopher Kenessey said in a press release. “His background in enterprise mobility will be instrumental to help us grow our market share and business in North America and abroad. Adding Joel to our leadership team, coupled with the opening of our new office in Victoria, truly enhances our ability to build global awareness and market share.”
— RFID technology company Impinj tapped former Microsoft and Drugstore.com executive Bob Hargadon as its new senior vice president of people and culture.
Hargadon was most recently the senior vice president of global human resources for medical device maker Alere. He previously spent four years as the VP of human resources for Drugstore.com and also spent a year as the general manager of Microsoft’s corps learning and development program.
“Bob has hit the ground running to build on our awesome culture,” Impinj Founder and CEO Chris Diorio said in a press release. The company makes RFID technology that can track items in the physical world. “I look forward to Bob’s leadership in advancing employee programs that focus on excellence, transparency, recognition, inclusion and individual accountability.”
