Racquel Russell. (Bird Photo)

— Zillow’s VP of Partner Success Racquel Russell joined the board of micro-mobility company Bird, known for its scooter sharing platform.

“As a city dweller with a strong public policy background, I know how communities can benefit from having diverse ways to commute and cover first and last-mile transportation needs,” said Russell.

Russell joined Zillow in 2015, originally as VP of government relations and public affairs. She was previously a deputy assistant to President Barack Obama and an advisor to Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware.

— Microsoft’s M12 venture fund chief Nagraj Kashyap departed to join SoftBank’s Vision Fund as managing partner. Kashyap joined Microsoft in 2016 after spending 12 years leading Qualcomm Ventures. Read the story.

Rebecca Lovell.

— Seattle-based Denali Financial Consulting appointed former Create33 executive director Rebecca Lovell as its new CEO.

Lovell left Create33 in December. Madrona Venture Group recently put the Seattle-based “founder center” on pause due to changes caused by the pandemic.

“Having supported (and led) startups for the last 15 years, I know how important it is for founding teams to focus on their core vision, and the mental shelf space it takes to attend to everything else,” Lovell told GeekWire in an email. “I’m excited to help deliver the expertise that startups need to scale, starting with mission-critical financial services.”

Founded in 2008 by Chris Dishman and Jaennae Dinius, Denali was acquired by Bellevue, Wash.-based private equity firm TA Group Holdings earlier this month. Denali has 20 employees and 100 clients.

[Editor’s Note: GeekWire is a Denali client.]

— Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is now the chair of the Senate Committee on commerce, science and transportation. Issues related to aviation, space, communications, technology and innovation fall under the jurisdiction of the 28-member committee and its six subcommittees. She is the first woman to chair the committee and the first senator from Washington state to hold the post since Warren Magnuson in 1978.

— Kirkland, Wash.-based cybersecurity giant Tanium appointed Matt Thompson to its board of directors. Thompson was most recently EVP of worldwide field operations at Adobe.

“Having worked closely throughout my career with c-suite executives, I’ve seen firsthand the evolving complexity that an expanding IT landscape presents,” said Thompson.

Other recent appointments to Tanium’s board include former Ford Motor Company CEO Mark Fields and Accenture Executive Chairman David Rowland.

Since relocating its headquarters from the San Francisco Bay Area last year, Tanium raised $150 million and is now one of the most valuable privately-held technology companies in the Seattle area. It ranks No. 7 on the GeekWire 200, our list of top privately-held Pacific Northwest startups.

Curtis Brown. (Polyverse Photo)

— Seattle-area cybersecurity startup Polyverse hired Curtis Brown as chief product officer. Brown was most recently chief content and technology officer for commercial data and analytics company Dun & Bradstreet.

He was previously EVP and global chief technology officer for AOL and CTO for educational service companies Kaplan Test Prep, McGraw-Hill and The Princeton Review.

Founded in 2015, Polyverse sells its software to government organizations, defense companies, healthcare companies and financial organizations. The Bellevue, Wash.-based startup raised $22 million in two funding rounds last year.

Steve Weikal joined the advisory board at CityBldr, a Seattle real estate startup. Weikal is the head of industry relations at the MIT Center for Real Estate.

CityBldr makes software that helps property owners and real estate developers identify and analyze properties to determine their highest and best use. The company has raised $6 million to date.

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