— George “Skip” Battle, the previous CEO of AskJeeves, has resigned from Expedia Group’s board of administrators. He initially joined the journey firm’s board in 2005.
Battle is a longtime board member at Netflix, LinkedIn and OpenTable. He’s a senior fellow on the Aspen Institute and an advisor at worldwide enterprise capital agency World Ventures.
AskJeeves was acquired in 2005 by IAC, the web media firm run by Barry Diller, who can also be chairman of Seattle-based Expedia Group.
Battle’s departure was not attributable to any disagreement with the corporate or on any matter associated to its operations, insurance policies, or practices, Expedia said in a SEC filing.
Expedia has been crushed by the pandemic as journey restrictions sluggish its enterprise. The corporate posted income of $four.2 billion for first 9 months of 2020, down from $9.three billion in 2019. Its internet loss for the primary 9 months of this yr was $2.2 billion.
— Trip rental platform Vacasa appointed Jamie Cohen as its new CFO.
Primarily based in Denver, Colo., Cohen was most lately CFO for ANGI Homeservices, a digital market created when house enchancment directories Angie’s Checklist and HomeAdvisor merged in 2017. ANGI Homeservices now operates 12 manufacturers.
Vacasa, headquartered in Portland, Ore., manages greater than 26,000 trip properties in 31 U.S. states and 18 nations. Vacasa raised a $108 million Sequence D spherical in June. The corporate is ranked No. 2 on the GeekWire 200, an index of Pacific Northwest startups
“The holiday rental trade is operationally heavy at its core, and know-how can play an enormous position in unlocking a greater shopper expertise—one thing Vacasa has excelled at over time and can proceed to spend money on,” stated Cohen.
— Jennifer Ceran, former CFO at Smartsheet who retired final yr, has joined the board of Kirkland, Wash. startup Wyze Labs.
Since retiring, Ceran additionally joined the board of San Francisco’s NerdWallet and Bellevue, Wash.-based Auth0. Previous to becoming a member of collaboration work administration Smartsheet in 2016, Ceran held government roles at Field and eBay.
Final yr was a busy yr for sensible house know-how maker Wyze Labs. The three-year previous startup launched a flood of recent merchandise and raised a $10 million Sequence A spherical in July.
— Id authentication startup Auth0, which raised a $120 million Sequence F spherical in July, added three new board members:
• Former Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chief Gross sales and Advertising Officer Sue Barsamian
• Former SendGrid CEO Sameer Dholakia
• Former MuleSoft CEO Simon Parmett
Barsamian, Dholakia and Parmett are all primarily based within the San Francisco Bay Space. Ceran, the previous Smartsheet CFO, additionally joined the board final yr.
— Techstars introduced Maëlle Gavet as its new CEO. She succeeds co-founder David Brown, who will stay on the board of the worldwide community for entrepreneurs. Techstars additionally encompasses a enterprise capital fund and startup studio mannequin. Primarily based in New York Metropolis, Gavet was most lately COO at actual property startup Compass.
Techstars Seattle, which hosts a 3 month accelerator program, graduated its 11th cohort this yr and is led by Managing Director Isaac Kato.
— Madrona Enterprise Group named principals Anu Sharma and Daniel Li as companions. They’ll now supply and lead offers independently for the Seattle enterprise agency.
“As a longstanding group member, Dan’s power for working with entrepreneurs and supporting the Seattle ecosystem has expanded Madrona’s position within the broader neighborhood, whereas including to our rising portfolio of corporations,” stated Tim Porter, Madrona Enterprise Group Managing Director. “Anu’s deep technical experience in cloud and infrastructure mixed along with her ardour for sharing it has already contributed vastly to Madrona’s funding thesis and our work with new and current corporations.”
Sharma joined Madrona final yr from Amazon Net Providers. Li initially joined the agency in 2015 as an affiliate and was beforehand a guide with the Boston Consulting Group.
— Redmond, Wash.-based Pushpay named Molly Matthews as its new CEO. The corporate provides cellular platforms for non secular, training and nonprofit organizations.
Matthews has been with the corporate since 2016 and was most lately its chief buyer officer. She replaces interim CEO Bruce Gordon, who will stay on Pushpay’s board of administrators.
— Cybersecurity startup CI Safety employed Steve Sedlock as chief income officer and promoted Kristoffer Turner to VP of safety operations for its Important Perception Safety Program. The 9-year previous firm gives safety know-how and analysts, with a concentrate on healthcare, monetary and authorities organizations.
Sedlock was most lately chief development officer at EPSi and spent greater than a decade at Mediware Data Programs. Each present software program for the healthcare trade. Turner joined CI Safety in 2017, initially as an info safety analyst.
Different latest Tech Strikes from throughout the Pacific Northwest:
- Whitepages spinout Ekata, which sells enterprise identification verification merchandise, employed Samantha Rist as VP of individuals.
- Seattle startup Joe Espresso, a cellular order and rewards app for impartial espresso retailers, appointed former Lyft Regional Director for the Southeast Sam Bond as its COO.
- San Francisco biotech startup Earli added Juno Therapeutics founding scientist Phil Greenberg and former Fred Hutch President Lee Hartwell, who obtained a Nobel Prize in 2001, to its scientific advisory board.
- Joan Palmiter Bajorek joined New York-based conversational AI startup NLX as head of consumer analysis.
- Pitchbook’s former Director of Enterprise Improvement Cindy Zu is now the director of companion and ecosystem and gross sales enablement startup Highspot.
- Wes Pringle will likely be resigning from Everett, Wash.-based industrial large Fortive, the place he’s SVP of the corporate’s Clever Working Options platform.
- Brian Buckley rejoins regulation agency Fenwick & West’s Seattle workplace after 4 years at Amazon, most lately as basic counsel for litigation and regulatory affairs.
