— Kurt DelBene‘s second stint at Microsoft will end later this year.
The former Microsoft Office president, whose recent role has included leading the company’s pandemic response, will retire at the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year in June, the company confirmed this week.
DelBene was originally at Microsoft for more than two decades, leaving the company amid a reorganization announced in 2013. He went on to work as a senior advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, appointed by then-President Obama to address problems with the Healthcare.gov web portal. He was also a venture partner at Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group.
He then returned to Microsoft in 2015 to lead corporate strategy and coordinate engineering functions across the company, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
DelBene’s duties will be divided among existing Microsoft executives, reports Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet. DelBene is the husband of U.S. Rep Suzan DelBene, a former Microsoft exec herself.
— Caller ID startup Hiya promoted Kush Parikh from COO to president. He was previously chief business officer at traffic tech company INRIX and the president and CEO of PayByPhone Technologies. Parikh joined Hiya in 2019.
“If my first 18 months are any indicator of our future, our opportunities to transform the voice call are virtually limitless. Hiya is a true hidden gem here in Seattle, and I look forward to leading the company in this new capacity,” said Parikh.
— Seattle startup veteran Brad Hefta-Gaub is now VP of product engineering, clinic and efficiency at healthcare startup 98point6. He was previously CTO at startups High Fidelity and Korrio. He co-founded media startup Konamoxt and also held executive engineering roles at Revenue Science and RealNetworks.
— Starbucks COO and Amazon board member Roz Brewer will be new new CEO of drugstore giant Walgreens. She was previously president and CEO at Walmart-owned Sam’s Club. Read the story.
— Suzi LeVine, a tech veteran and current commissioner of Washington state’s Employment Security Department, is leaving that role to take a position with President Joe Biden’s administration. Details about LeVine’s new role, which will be effective Feb. 1, were not shared. Read the story.
Other recent Tech Moves from across the Pacific Northwest:
- Former Integris CTO and co-founder Uma Raghavan joined the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) Incubator as an entrepreneur in residence.
- Boise, Idaho-based AI startup Natural Intelligence Systems promoted Senior Research Scientist Aimee Lougeé to VP of data science and analytics.
- Fuse Venture Partners, a spinout of Seattle-area venture capital firm Ignition Partners, hired former Smartsheet Analyst Relations Specialist Sara Lindquist as the fund’s first associate.
