— Seattle-based Hiya, a caller ID startup that spun out of Whitepages in 2016, named Hillery Nye as general counsel and John Novak as SVP of marketing.
Nye served as outside counsel for Microsoft and as founder and principal of Madrona Law Group, providing legal support to Amazon and Paramount Pictures. She is a startup veteran of Zipwhip and Glympse and previously served as an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law.
Novak most recently was VP of product marketing at Bellevue, Wash.-based Apptio for more than 10 years. He previously held marketing and product leadership roles at Microsoft, Mercury and Accenture.
— 3D content platform Unity Technologies appointed Scott Pitasky as chief people officer. Pitasky was most recently vice president of human resources for Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer business.
He was previously EVP and chief partner resources officer at Starbucks and spent 13 years as a human resources leader at Microsoft.
“I am thrilled to join the Unity team. I am already inspired by the commitment to innovation, along with the deep sense of ownership and collaboration,” said Pitasky.
Unity Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. with 43 offices around the globe, including an outpost in Bellevue, Wash.
— Bellevue College selected former Washington State Gov. Gary Locke as its interim president. He will assume his duties on June 15. Based near Seattle in Bellevue, Wash., Bellevue College is the third largest higher learning institution in Washington state.
In addition to serving two terms as governor, Locke was a U.S. ambassador to China and secretary of commerce. He is currently chairman of Locke Global Strategies, a consulting group, and a senior advisor and consultant for law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, specializing in doing business in China and the U.S. He recently joined the board of nonprofit research organization The Allen Institute.
“This is a unique and challenging time for our community and our college. The Board believes Gary Locke is the leader to work with the internal constituencies on campus and lay the foundation for necessary growth,” Bellevue College Board of Trustees Chair Rich Fukutaki said in a statement.
Former Bellevue College President Jerry Weber was relieved of his duties in early March following a decision to alter a mural on campus depicting Japanese internment, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
— Former ReachNow CEO Steve Banfield announced his next venture as CEO and co-founder of Simplata Technologies, a new Madrona Venture Labs spinout that aims to protect sensitive company data in cloud apps. Banfield’s co-founder is Bruce Roberts, who is CTO of the new startup.
Both joined Madrona Venture Labs, a Seattle startup studio, as entrepreneurs-in-residence in late 2019. Roberts was previously CTO of cybersecurity company DomainTools, Rouxbe Online Cooking School and SixthEye, a social network for wine enthusiasts. Banfield was previously an executive at INRIX and Rightside.
— Snohomish, Wash.-based cybersecurity startup Cyemptive Technologies named Bryan Seely as senior security architect. Seely is a public speaker and advisor on cybersecurity and ethical hacking.
Founded by a former NSA and Microsoft executives, last year Cyemptive raised $3.5 million and acquired IT consulting service company Adaptive Technology Group.
— Seattle-based engineering firm First Mode promoted Maggie Scholtz to VP of engineering. Scholtz is a co-founder of the company and most recently a senior mechanical engineer. Scholtz previously worked as a mechanical engineer at Planetary Resources at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
First Mode was founded by Scholtz and other veterans of the Planetary Resources asteroid mining venture. The company has worked on both space exploration and terrestrial projects for clients.
— Aviation Partners, one of the two Seattle companies behind aviation data analytics startup APiJET, named Gary Dunn as its new president following the passing of company founder Joe Clark in March. Dunn joined Aviation Partners, which designs and produces advanced winglet systems, in 1996 and was most recently VP of sales and marketing.
— Terence Reilly was appointed as global president for Seattle-based PMI Worldwide’s Stanley brand, maker of the iconic green thermos. PMI Worldwide also produces all the drinkware sold at Starbucks. Reilly most recently served as SVP and chief marketing officer for footwear brand Crocs.
— Seattle-based business solutions software firm Changepoint hired Ingrid Rood as VP of its North America sales organization. Rood most recently ran her own consulting practice and previously was a senior vice president at enterprise software company K2.
—Vancouver, B.C.-based investment firm Vistara Capital Partners added Neil Kenley as director of investments. Kenley will be based in Toronto and cover eastern Canada and the U.S. for the firm. He most recently led strategy and corporate development for Toronto startup Element AI.
— Christopher Richins, CEO of global space communications provider RBC Signals, has been named to the inaugural cohort of the Karman Fellowship Programme. The fellowship is part of the German-based Karman Project, a non-profit which mission is to “foster independent dialogue between global leaders in tech, science, business, politics and the arts who want to positively impact space.”
