Bhrighu Sareen was named president of product & engineering at sales enablement software startup Highspot.
Sareen previously spent 17 years at Microsoft, most recently as corporate VP of Microsoft Teams. He also held several other leadership roles, including chief of staff for Bing and general manager of MSN International.
Highspot raised $248 million at a $3.5 billion valuation in January. Its enterprise software product aims to help make salespeople more efficient, equipping them with technology to improve how they have conversations with prospective buyers, among other features. Highspot reported growth over the pandemic as more deals shifted to video calls versus a conference room or restaurant. Customers include giants such as DocuSign, Workday, Siemens, Adobe, and others.
“Today, sales enablement and Highspot are at the intersection of big, difficult issues facing every business, including driving sales productivity amidst tough macroeconomic conditions and the many complexities of hybrid work,” Sareen wrote in a blog post.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech landscape:
- Google executive Allan Thygesen was appointed CEO of San Francisco-based DocuSign, which has a significant workforce in Seattle, following the departure of previous CEO Dan Springer this summer. DocuSign said Wednesday it would cut 9% of its workforce.
- Healthcare software maker Edifecs hired David Peterson as senior VP of marketing and Milla Rahmani as general counsel.
- Enterprise resource planning company Acumatica hired Microsoft veteran Jim Desler as VP of communications. Desler spent 17 years at Microsoft, most recently as cybersecurity communications director.
- U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Roger Nyhus, founder of communications firm Nyhus, as ambassador to Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Nyhus hosted a fundraiser for Biden in 2019 and recently sold the firm to Spokane-based DH.
- Ian Knox, who previously led the mobile product team at real estate brokerage Compass, is now chief product officer at SimplePractice, a Los Angeles-based health and wellness software company. Knox will be based in Seattle.
