Lila Tretikov, the former deputy chief technology officer at Microsoft, has joined SIlicon Valley investment firm NEA as partner and its new head of AI strategy.
Tretikov, who previously led the Wikimedia Foundation as CEO, will help NEA and its portfolio companies harness the power of AI.
“NEA sees AI as a singular, nonlinear shift that will reshape every industry, reimagine our everyday lives, and open doors to massive breakthroughs in currently unsolved areas such as biology, medicine, climate, robotics,” Tretikov said in a statement. “This secular moment belongs to founders and the passion, capabilities, and grit they bring to solving the world’s most pressing problems.”
Tretikov joined Microsoft in 2018 as a corporate vice president for AI and mixed reality. She became deputy CTO in 2020.
Tretikov currently sits on the board of Volvo, Capgemini, Xylem, and Onfido.
Founded in 1977, NEA has more than $25 billion in assets under management. The firm has invested in Seattle-area startups including enterprise software company Pulumi; developer tool company Union.AI; agtech company Aigen; and others.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
- Sergey Plotnikov joined Seattle-based business research startup Wokelo AI as vice president of sales. Plotnikov previously spent a decade at PitchBook and is a partner at Untapped Capital.
- Kristin Brown joined health tech company Kyruus as senior engineering manager. Brown, based in Portland, Ore., was most recently an engineering manager at Fountain. Seattle tech vet Harshit Shah recently joined Boston-based Kyruus as CTO.
