— Magic Leap continues to hire from the Seattle region. Anuj Gosalia, a veteran of Microsoft, Facebook and Google, joined the company as its chief software and cloud officer.
This is the third recent executive hire from the Seattle area by the augmented reality company based in Plantation, Fla.
Gosalia spent the past four years as senior director of engineer at Google. He was previously director of engineering for Oculus at Facebook and spent almost two decades at Microsoft as a development manager.
“I am honored to join the leadership team at Magic Leap to be a part of redefining how enterprises engage with augmented reality technologies,” said Gosalia.
Based in Sammamish, Wash., Gosalia will work with recently appointed CTO Paul Greco and fellow Microsoft veteran Tracey Trewin, who joined Magic Leap last month as chief product officer. Former Microsoft leader Peggy Johnson became Magic Leap’s CEO in August.
Last year, heavily-funded Magic Leap closed its Seattle office amid layoffs and was sued by the landlord for unpaid rent.
— GameStop added three Amazon and Zulily veterans as executives:
- Chief Growth Officer Elliott Wilke, most recently the director of Amazon Fresh stores and a former brand manager at Procter & Gamble.
- COO Jenna Owners, most recently director and general manager of distribution and multi-channel fulfillment at Amazon.
- VP of Supply Chain Systems Ken Suzuki, who previously led Zulily’s supply chain technology team.
Former Zulily and Amazon Web Services engineering leader Matt Francis joined the electronics retailer as CTO in February.
— Redmond, Wash.-based Tagboard, hot on the heels of landing a 4-year deal with the MLB, announced Nathan Peterson as its new president and a slew of promotions expanding the startup’s executive team.
Peterson originally joined Tagboard in 2017 as SVP of revenue and partnerships. He is a startup advisor and the former director of marketing at marijuana investment firm Privateer Holdings.
In addition to Peterson, the recently promoted team members include:
- Chief Product Officer Tyler Singletary
- SVP of Creative Services Christine Chalk
- SVP of Finance Lynn Maikke
- SVP of Sales David Minetti
- VP of Culture Stephanie Smith
The 10-year old company originally provided a platform for brands to aggregate social media posts. Its products have expanded to a cloud-based digital production platform which has seen increased demand during the pandemic.
— Vancouver, Wash.-based Perfect Company appointed four new members to its advisory board. The restaurant tech startup also raised more cash as part of a previously reported Series A funding round.
The new advisory board members include:
- Anand Gala, founder and managing partner of Gala Capital Partners.
- Jim Balis, Sizzling Platter CEO and a managing director for investment firm CapitalSpring.
- Jim Collins, a restaurateur and former technology executive.
- Steve Heeley, former CEO of plant-based restaurant chain Veggie Grill.
— Suzi LeVine is now the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
The role of assistant secretary for the ETA is currently vacant; LeVine is currently the acting assistant secretary for the subagency. If she is selected to lead the ETA permanently, the Senate will need to confirm the appointment.
She departed from the Washington state unemployment agency earlier this year for what was at the time an unannounced role in the Biden administration. A Seattle tech veteran with prior government experience, LeVine was appointed to head the state’s unemployment agency by Gov. Jay Inslee in July 2018.
Bloomberg noted that some Republican members of Congress are raising concerns with LeVine, who oversaw Washington’s unemployment agency when it suffered delays and glitches in paying claims to jobless workers last year. It was also plagued by a $600 million fraud scheme which targeted the state’s unemployment benefits.
— Launchtrip, a Vancouver, B.C. travel startup, established a board of advisors with experience in the tech and travel industry. The 3-year old startup also announced it closed a $3.8 million seed round led by Axis Capital. The new board of advisors includes:
- Taleeb Noormohamed, CEO of Jane.com, a daily deals marketplace for small businesses.
- Michael Drever, former CEO of Expedia Cruises.
- Kathleen Reaume, investor at Vistara Capital Partners.
- Terry McBride, CEO of YYoga and Nettwerk Music Group.
- Mark Spencer, SVP of commercial operations for Jane.com and former director of business development for Tripping and HomeAway.
The company, founded by Canadian entrepreneur Julian Ing, will use the funding to launch its new app which provides a platform for groups to plan and book travel. Ing is optimistic about the future of travel after the pandemic.
“Consumers want travel to come back just as badly as the hospitality space,” he said.
— Executive search firm Parker Remick announced Hartleigh Caine, a current board member, is joining its leadership team as interim managing partner. She previously served as vice president of TOTE Maritime Alaska.
Headquartered in Seattle, the firm also announced former Convoy senior manager Amy Lewis as a new partner. Lewis led executive recruiting at the trucking startup and previously was a recruiter at Amazon. Another new addition, Alex Porte, is based in Chicago and joins the business development team.
