— Palak Goel, a former product manager at Microsoft, has joined Madrona Venture Group as its newest investor.
Goel previously spent nearly three years at Microsoft, most recently working on the company’s Microsoft Turing team. He graduated from Brown University in 2019 with degrees in computer science and economics. Goel is a Bay Area native.
— Ken Chandler, a former Premera Blue Cross executive, was named CEO at Opala, a Seattle health tech startup.
Chandler spent more than two decades at Premera, most recently as senior vice president of national accounts.
Founded in 2020, Opala helps standardized patient data for health plans and providers. The company was previously known as Project Connect.
“I believe that Opala has the potential to significantly change health care by enabling payers and providers access to the health information which will lead to better and more efficient outcomes,” Chandler wrote in a LinkedIn post.
