Napster parent company Rhapsody snagged Angel Gambino as its chief commercial officer. Gambino founded and was CEO of Sensai, which uses AI to help organizations improve social media campaigns.
Gambino’s appointment coincided with the formal launch of “Powered by Napster,” a service that lets companies start their own branded streaming service. The effort has been a successful niche for Napster, which has struggled to compete in the consumer space with larger rivals like Spotify and Apple Music.
“Rhapsody and Napster are pioneers in the music industry that share a legacy of distribution and technology innovation,” said Gambino in a statement. “The company’s commitment to write the next chapter for the audio industry has brought me back to my music roots where I can passionately advocate for partners, creators and consumers.”
Rhapsody also said that John Law had joined as VP, head of product, and would report to Gambino.
—Fresh off a major cash infusion, educational platform DreamBox Learning hired Lance Ludman as its chief financial officer. DreamBox also announced the appointments of Jamie Gier as SVP of marketing and Meghan Browne as SVP of client experience and success.
Ludman was previously CFO of the Enterprise Markets Group for Blackbaud, a cloud software company for philanthropic organizations. He also did development work for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Trade Development Agency.
DreamBox, which makes adaptive learning software for K-8 math students, raised $130 million last summer from social impact VC The Rise Fund.
“Each of these leaders brings impressive backgrounds and proven leadership that will help propel DreamBox into the next phase of growth, bringing our Intelligent Adaptive Learning platform to more districts and more classrooms across North America and beyond,” said Jessie Woolley-Wilson, president and CEO of DreamBox, in a statement.
—On-demand warehousing firm Flexe hired Matt Millen as chief revenue officer. Millen was previously senior VP of revenue at Outreach.io and VP of business sales at T-Mobile prior to that.
“The company’s ambitious vision, impressive growth, and strong culture are just a few attributes that motivated me to join Flexe,” Millen said in a statement. “I look forward to diving into the business and helping our teams seize the market opportunity and accelerate growth within the $1.5 trillion supply chain industry.”
Deloitte recently ranked Flexe the fastest-growing technology company in Washington state and the 18th-fastest nationally. The company maintains a network of 1,000 warehouses, which businesses can connect to through a single platform.
—Elissa Fink has joined cloud storage startup Qumulo’s advisory board. Fink was formerly chief marketing officer at Tableau Software, which she joined in 2007 when the company was in its early years.
“I am thrilled to be joining Qumulo as an advisor at a time when the company has established its leadership in the hybrid file storage market, and so clearly sees the worldwide opportunity ahead,” Fink said in a statement. “I have seen firsthand that companies have huge amounts of data both on premises and in the cloud — and will continue to do so.”
Qumulo’s marketing efforts are headed by Peter Zaballos, who joined as chief marketing officer last year. Fink said she met Qumulo CEO Bill Richter through their mutual involvement with the Washington Technology Industry Association board. (Correction: This item has been updated to accurately reflect who leads marketing at Qumulo).
—Robotics pioneer Yoky Matsuoka joined HP’s board of directors. Matsuoka currently serves as VP at Google Health and was chief technology officer at Nest, the Alphabet-owned maker of smart home devices.
Matsuoka, a MacArthur fellow, was a professor at the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University. At UW, she founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and served as director of the Neurobotics Laboratory with a focus on developing robotic devices.
“[Matsuoka’s] pioneering work in fields such as robotics and artificial intelligence has consistently yielded breakthrough innovation across multiple industries. The breadth and diversity of her experience will be a valuable addition to our board as we continue to execute our strategy for sustainable long-term growth,” HP CEO Dion Weisler said in a statement.
In October, California became the first state to require women on corporate boards, giving public companies until the end of 2019 to meet the minimum requirements. Five of the 11 board directors at HP, which is headquartered in California, are women.
—Dr. Veena Shankaran became the co-director of the healthcare economics and policy group at Fred Hutch. Shankaran’s an expert in how the high cost of cancer affects patients, a field known as financial toxicity research.
Shankaran joined Dr. Scott Ramsey, director of the group called the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research, or HICOR. Dr. Gary Lyman, who previously held the role of co-director, is now senior lead of Health Care Quality and Policy at HICOR.
Shankaran will continue her work as a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
—Entrepreneur and investor Gary Rubens took over as CEO of Athlete Intelligence, a company he owns. Rubens replaces former CEO Jesse Harper, who has moved to the East Coast and remains an advisor to the company.
Athlete Intelligence creates wearable sensors, such as mouthguards, that detect head impacts. The idea is to give coaches and athletes insights in order to stay safe.
“I will be leading the company down a strategic path of growth, innovation and strategic partnerships,” Rubens told GeekWire in an email.
