Working Geek

How Yapta CEO James Filsinger maintains culture while growing corporate travel startup

by Lisa Stiffler on November 17, 2019November 17, 2019 at 12:07 pmComment

When James Filsinger took over as president and CEO of Yapta, the Seattle-based online travel company had 15 employees. Seven years later, Yapta has grown more than fourfold, expanding to… Read More

Puppet CEO Yvonne Wassenaar on Portland vs. the Valley, scaling a business, and diversity

by Lisa Stiffler on November 9, 2019November 9, 2019 at 8:45 amComment

Not only has Yvonne Wassenaar worked in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area most of her career, it’s also where she grew up. But recently, she got a… Read More

USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald resists the clickbait in favor of fostering honest debate

by Lisa Stiffler on November 2, 2019November 2, 2019 at 8:30 amComment

When former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer launched USAFacts, a nonpartisan clearinghouse of government data, the site was a great fit for numbers-minded folks like himself who are happy diving deep… Read More

Fuel Talent CEO and employment matchmaker Shauna Swerland wants to know what fuels you

by Lisa Stiffler on October 26, 2019October 25, 2019 at 3:20 pm 3 Comments

Sure, machine learning tools can bring efficiency to companies searching for new employees. But after 25 years helping businesses build their teams and find new talent, Shauna Swerland is confident… Read More

How life lessons learned from baseball help drive Avalara exec Liz Armbruester

by Lisa Stiffler on October 19, 2019October 20, 2019 at 2:34 pmComment

Liz Armbruester clearly remembers her moment of reckoning. She was dropping off the oldest of her two sons for his first day of high school. Her kids, it suddenly felt,… Read More

How does a kid on an Alaskan homestead learn to code in the ’80s? Ask Slalom Build’s Ian Cook

by Lisa Stiffler on October 12, 2019October 15, 2019 at 9:49 am1 Comment

Slalom Build‘s Ian Cook grew up in a house that his family built in Kenai, Alaska, population 7,800. There was no indoor plumbing until he reached fourth grade and no… Read More

How Jarod Greene went from teaching math to running product marketing at Apptio

by Lisa Stiffler on October 5, 2019October 5, 2019 at 7:49 amComment

A gig in a call center might not strike one as a likely launch pad for a successful tech career, but Jarod Greene saw potential. After graduating college with a… Read More

Adaptive Biotechnologies CEO Chad Robins on the power of mom and being a good listener

by Lisa Stiffler on September 28, 2019October 4, 2019 at 11:28 amComment

Adaptive Biotechnologies‘ CEO and co-founder Chad Robins can attribute some of his company’s notable success — see its $300 million IPO in June and the $400 million previously raised —… Read More

CFO-turned-VC Hope Cochran on music degrees, managing chaos and the reality behind her resume

by Lisa Stiffler on September 21, 2019November 4, 2019 at 10:40 amComment

Sure, you can look at Hope Cochran‘s LinkedIn page and follow her path through Stanford University degrees in economics and music, tracing her professional journey through successful startups, multiple gigs… Read More

Erik Chelstad on ‘grinding’ at startups and how avalanche safety led to launching Observa

by Lisa Stiffler on September 7, 2019September 23, 2019 at 12:23 pmComment

Erik Chelstad wants you to pay a little more attention to the person using the bathroom — not literally, but metaphorically. Chelstad is co-founder and chief technology officer of Observa,… Read More

Entrepreneur Arry Yu wants the Pacific Northwest blockchain community to find its voice

by Lisa Stiffler on August 29, 2019August 30, 2019 at 10:41 amComment

For her first 18 years, Arry Yu was selectively mute. Due to a childhood trauma, she spoke very little, but watched the people and interactions around her very much. She… Read More

Lydia Frank taps journalism skills and PayScale’s data resources to tell the wage equity story

by Lisa Stiffler on August 24, 2019August 23, 2019 at 3:21 pmComment

Officially, Lydia Frank is PayScale’s vice president of corporate and product marketing — a promotion that was announced this month. But parts of the job remind Frank of her first… Read More

Accidental techie turned politician, Laura Ruderman weds both careers as CEO of the Tech Alliance

by Lisa Stiffler on August 17, 2019August 16, 2019 at 10:44 amComment

In the 1980s, when Laura Ruderman was a teen in New York City walking to the gym after high school, she would pass a homeless man at the 86th Street… Read More

Feeling down on Seattle? Brian McGowan wants to fix that as CEO of Greater Seattle Partners

by Lisa Stiffler on August 10, 2019August 10, 2019 at 1:19 pmComment

Brian McGowan would like to remind you why Seattle is awesome. Of course there’s the natural beauty, the jagged Olympic and Cascade mountains, the shifting blue-hues of Puget Sound, the… Read More

Video

How the specter of irrelevancy helped Microsoft Corporate VP Julia Liuson drive massive change

by Lisa Stiffler on August 4, 2019August 4, 2019 at 3:27 am1 Comment

Yes, Satya Nadella is the visionary Microsoft CEO who five years ago began implementing a massive shift in operations that contributed to making the software and cloud giant the world’s… Read More

Leafly CTO Paul Barry on the fast growing cannabis industry and how to talk to kids about pot

by Lisa Stiffler on July 27, 2019July 27, 2019 at 9:59 amComment

Leafly is a leading source of information on cannabis products, explaining everything from the type of high experienced from Blue Dream versus Bruce Banner strains of marijuana, to testing the… Read More

When life presents game-changing opportunities, go with the pivot, says ModusBox CTO Kent Brown

by Lisa Stiffler on July 13, 2019July 13, 2019 at 1:01 pmComment

Kent Brown has learned to embrace the pivot. Five years ago, when his twin boys turned 18 and Brown became an empty-nester, he jumped from being an employee of Microsoft… Read More

Anika Lehde sees promise in the ‘future of work,’ loves bus rides and needs 2 hours of fun daily

by Lisa Stiffler on July 6, 2019July 8, 2019 at 12:17 pmComment

Anika Lehde loves to ride the bus, and she doesn’t care who knows it. Lehde commutes between home in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood and the city’s downtown Pioneer Square where… Read More

ACLU’s Shankar Narayan brings transparency to tech — with help from poetry and a giant dog

by Lisa Stiffler on June 29, 2019July 1, 2019 at 6:43 amComment

After Shankar Narayan graduated from Yale with a law degree, he needed a job that would help pay off his sizable student loans and provide a green card. It was… Read More

Tech and product chief Katharine Nester on the power of promoting engineers from within

by Lisa Stiffler on June 22, 2019June 21, 2019 at 2:06 pmComment

For companies that are struggling to fill tech roles, Katharine Nester, chief product and technology officer for Ruby Receptionists, has some advice: Look internally for your talent. It’s a strategy… Read More

DocuSign exec Loren Alhadeff says this unique trait is key to the company’s success

by Lisa Stiffler on June 15, 2019June 14, 2019 at 5:43 pmComment

Some companies point to cutting-edge innovations for their success while others boast their customer-centric strategies. Chief Revenue Officer Loren Alhadeff says that DocuSign has its own special superpower. “The unique… Read More

Maveron partner Elise Hebb offers tips on running meetings and where she gets her best ideas

by Lisa Stiffler on June 8, 2019June 8, 2019 at 8:53 amComment

Having now raised more than $1.1 billion for venture capital investments over the course of her career, Elise Hebb remembers when she first caught the VC bug. It was the… Read More

How Rob Girling, designer of the infamous Clippy, became a leader in ethical tech

by Lisa Stiffler on June 1, 2019June 2, 2019 at 7:28 amComment

For those who remember Clippy — Microsoft Office’s animated paperclip assistant — would you have liked him better as a typewriter? What about a stapler? Back in the mid-1990s, Rob… Read More

Working Geek: How a Marine Corps credo drives Audian CEO Brandon Bazemore

by Lisa Stiffler on May 25, 2019May 28, 2019 at 10:46 amComment

Brandon Bazemore joined the U.S. Marine Corps while in high school for two reasons: to pay for college and because they offered him the chance to learn more about engineering… Read More

From curbing malaria to better food carts, Xinova’s David Kraft believes in innovation

by Lisa Stiffler on May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 at 11:34 amComment

David Kraft is downright giddy for innovation. “I’m often naive enough to think there is no problem that can’t be solved,” Kraft said. And admittedly it would be a problem… Read More

Video

Working Geek: AWS Director Maureen Lonergan is a risk taker who finds courage in purpose

by Lisa Stiffler on May 4, 2019May 14, 2019 at 1:04 pmComment

One might wonder if there’s any risk big enough to really frighten Maureen Lonergan. How about ducking out of the workforce to take two “gap years” in her career —… Read More

Working Geek: Banzai CEO Joe Davy on how to take the hard knocks and come out stronger

by Lisa Stiffler on April 27, 2019April 27, 2019 at 5:06 pmComment

When he was still a very young man — like not even old enough to drink legally — Joe Davy was on an accelerated path of career discovery that can… Read More

Working Geek: Will Daugherty embraces risk and experimentation in Pacific Science Center reboot

by Lisa Stiffler on April 13, 2019April 12, 2019 at 4:11 pmComment

Will Daugherty was ready to start his next chapter. He’d built expertise and years of diverse experiences at companies and boards including Amazon, Expedia, McKinsey, the University of Washington, the… Read More

Working Geek: Amazon’s Nancy Wang helps women PMs make themselves heard via her nonprofit

by Lisa Stiffler on April 7, 2019April 5, 2019 at 11:26 amComment

While the number of women working in tech jobs in the U.S. has doubled over the past 20 years, they’re still significantly outnumbered by men in the field. Only 24… Read More

Video

Working Geek: David Aronchick’s new Microsoft job packs everything cool into one role

by Lisa Stiffler on March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 at 9:03 am 3 Comments

When David Aronchick returned to Microsoft last fall, I suspect that many folks there did a little happy dance. A Dartmouth grad with undergrad degrees in psychology and chemistry, Aronchick… Read More

How Yapta CEO James Filsinger maintains culture while growing corporate travel startup

Puppet CEO Yvonne Wassenaar on Portland vs. the Valley, scaling a business, and diversity

USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald resists the clickbait in favor of fostering honest debate

Fuel Talent CEO and employment matchmaker Shauna Swerland wants to know what fuels you

How life lessons learned from baseball help drive Avalara exec Liz Armbruester

How does a kid on an Alaskan homestead learn to code in the ’80s? Ask Slalom Build’s Ian Cook

How Jarod Greene went from teaching math to running product marketing at Apptio

Adaptive Biotechnologies CEO Chad Robins on the power of mom and being a good listener

CFO-turned-VC Hope Cochran on music degrees, managing chaos and the reality behind her resume

Erik Chelstad on ‘grinding’ at startups and how avalanche safety led to launching Observa

Entrepreneur Arry Yu wants the Pacific Northwest blockchain community to find its voice

Lydia Frank taps journalism skills and PayScale’s data resources to tell the wage equity story

Accidental techie turned politician, Laura Ruderman weds both careers as CEO of the Tech Alliance

Feeling down on Seattle? Brian McGowan wants to fix that as CEO of Greater Seattle Partners

How the specter of irrelevancy helped Microsoft Corporate VP Julia Liuson drive massive change

Leafly CTO Paul Barry on the fast growing cannabis industry and how to talk to kids about pot

When life presents game-changing opportunities, go with the pivot, says ModusBox CTO Kent Brown

Anika Lehde sees promise in the ‘future of work,’ loves bus rides and needs 2 hours of fun daily

ACLU’s Shankar Narayan brings transparency to tech — with help from poetry and a giant dog

Tech and product chief Katharine Nester on the power of promoting engineers from within

DocuSign exec Loren Alhadeff says this unique trait is key to the company’s success

Maveron partner Elise Hebb offers tips on running meetings and where she gets her best ideas

How Rob Girling, designer of the infamous Clippy, became a leader in ethical tech

Working Geek: How a Marine Corps credo drives Audian CEO Brandon Bazemore

From curbing malaria to better food carts, Xinova’s David Kraft believes in innovation

Working Geek: AWS Director Maureen Lonergan is a risk taker who finds courage in purpose

Working Geek: Banzai CEO Joe Davy on how to take the hard knocks and come out stronger

Working Geek: Will Daugherty embraces risk and experimentation in Pacific Science Center reboot

Working Geek: Amazon’s Nancy Wang helps women PMs make themselves heard via her nonprofit

HRTech Breakfast for HR/TA/PeopleOps

Access Seattle

Coffee with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Presented by Coffee with Co-Founders and WeWork Labs