— The University of Washington’s Clean Energy Institute named Kevin Klustner as executive director of the Center for Advanced Materials and Clean Energy Technologies (CAMCET). Klustner was most recently CEO of industrial energy efficiency platform Powerit Solutions, which is owned by Customized Energy Solutions. He also served as CEO of energy efficiency software startup Verdiem.
“UW is a powerhouse in advanced materials and clean energy research and development,” Klustner said in a statement. “CAMCET will connect these UW researchers with local and global industry and nonprofit partners to bring critical clean technologies to the world.”
UW received $20 million last year to establish CAMCET, which will act as the home of clean energy and advanced materials research, a testing facility, classrooms and events. CAMCET will be located on UW’s West Campus, south of the planned U-District Link Light Rail Station.
— Longtime Expedia exec Megan Kiester has joined Nordstrom as a vice president of technology.
Kiester was at Expedia for more than 16 years, most recently as vice president of technology and product, where she worked on tools to help the company recruit, manage and retain employees.
Nordstrom recently reorganized its digital division and announced that a pair of Nordstrom technology executives were leaving the company.
The company confirmed that JoAnne Kennedy, whose title is also vice president of technology, remains at Nordstrom in her role.
— Former Microsoft executive Paula Paravecchio signed on with workforce management startup Shyft Technologies as vice president of sales. Paravecchio was most recently senior industry director for retail, CPG, and hospitality at Microsoft.
“With the market opportunity for frontline workers forecasted at 2.5 billion, I’m thrilled to join the market leader for mobile-first workforce management and help scale Shyft’s sales programs,” Paravecchio said in a statement.
Seattle-based Shyft raised $6.5 million this past fall in a round led by Ignition Partners and Madrona Venture Group.
— DreamBox Learning hired Alicia Shankland as senior vice president of people. Shankland comes to Bellevue, Wash.-based DreamBox from transportation analytics company INRIX, where she was chief people officer. She also led human resources at Razorfish.
“I look forward to building on DreamBox’s mission-oriented and innovative culture, and I am excited to have the opportunity to inspire the industry’s top talent to join in as we reinvent education together,” Shankland said in a statement.
Last week, DreamBox CEO Jessie Woolley-Wilson won “Big Tech CEO of the Year” at the 2019 GeekWire Awards.
— Deep-sea submersibles maker OceanGate hired Dan Scoville as director of systems integration and marine operations. Scoville was at Oceaneering International for the past decade, where he served as global manager of subsea inspection and global service line manager drill support.
“To date, much of my subsea exploration has been accomplished through the lens of an ROV camera. This next chapter of my career combines my professional skillset with my passion for exploration and discovery where I will have an opportunity to personally explore and observe the deep ocean,” Scoville said in a statement.
Everett, Wash.-based OceanGate recently set a deep-diving record when a crew of four rode inside the company’s Titan submersible to the Titanic-level depth of 3,760 meters (12,336 feet) in the Bahamas.
— After twelve years with Bellevue, Wash.-based Intellectual Ventures as an inventor, Pablos Holman is moving on.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built and accomplished. I can’t wait for you all to see what I will do next!” Holman wrote on LinkedIn.
— Portland, Ore.-based Lumen Learning hired Michael Van Kleeck as vice president of engineering. Van Kleeck’s last gig was at Mozilla, where he was an enterprise solutions architect.
“Lumen’s rapid growth in terms of students and faculty requires a technology organization that can keep pace with this momentum and the breadth of users we’re serving now and in the future,” Van Kleeck said in a statement. “We have a huge opportunity to create technology that reflects the diversity of the students and faculty who learn and teach with the tools we create, and that starts with the engineering team.”
The educational technology company makes courses primarily for community colleges and universities. Lumen raised $5 million late last year to grow its platform.
— San Francisco-based code analysis startup Semmle landed Fermín Serna as its first chief security officer, a position that is based in Seattle. Serna was most recently Google’s head of product security. He also worked at Microsoft and co-founded Next Generation Security S.L.
“The elephant in the room is open source security,” Serna said in a statement. “Open source plays a critical role in product innovation, but it also presents unique vulnerabilities that CISOs are only just beginning to understand. I am impressed by Semmle’s unique approach to tackling this problem, and look forward to having a more significant impact on the future of product security.”
Semmle, which was started by Oxford researchers, took in a $21 million Series B round last year.
