— Agility Robotics named Michael Beer as its chief monetary officer. Present CFO and chief working officer Jennifer Hunter will transition to serving completely as COO.
“Michael brings excellent public firm finance and capital markets expertise, whereas Jennifer, along with her prior expertise as a publicly traded COO, will focus completely on scaling our operational excellence and manufacturing capabilities,” stated CEO Peggy Johnson, in a press release.
The Salem, Ore.-based startup, whose two-legged Digit robots have been examined inside Amazon warehouses, is about to change into the primary publicly traded U.S. firm devoted solely to humanoid robots, the corporate introduced final month.
Beer joins Agility Robotics from the California vitality storage firm Vitality Vault, the place he was CFO for 2 years. Previous roles embody enterprise accomplice at Vest Coast Capital and CFO at FreeWire Applied sciences.
— Seattle-area tech veteran Matt Fisher has taken the function of CTO for London-based Efekta Training. The corporate is growing an agentic instructing and studying platform.
“I’ve spent my profession constructing applied sciences that assist folks be taught, join and obtain extra. What attracted me to Efekta is its clear imaginative and prescient for utilizing AI to boost studying, help academics and
make high-quality training accessible to extra folks all over the world,” Fisher stated.
Final August, Fisher joined immersive media startup Adventr as a late-stage co-founder. Previous to that, he was co-founder and CTO at Daydream, a startup that raised a $50 million seed spherical final yr to shake up the way in which folks discover and purchase clothes on-line. Different previous roles embody management at Amazon, Microsoft, Nordstrom and Auth0.
— There’s one other identify so as to add to the raft of exits from Microsoft‘s safety management.
Rahul Prakash, head of product for Microsoft Safety Copilot, shared that he’s leaving his function after almost a decade with the corporate.
“As any Identification skilled will let you know, the world of [Identity Access Management] is way extra intricate than folks understand, and it’s being rewritten for the world of AI brokers. At Microsoft, I’ve had the privilege of going deep into this area…” Prakash stated on LinkedIn.
On Monday, GeekWire reported that Rudra “Rudy” Mitra, who spent greater than 27 years at Microsoft, was becoming a member of Amazon Internet Providers as vice chairman of safety providers. Different latest departures embody Krishna Kumar Parthasarathy, who resigned at after almost three a long time.
— Nancy Lipson has joined Zap Vitality as chief authorized officer. The Everett, Wash.-based firm is in pursuit of fusion vitality, and lately expanded its scope to incorporate subsequent technology nuclear fission.
Lipson was beforehand govt vice chairman and CLO for the gold mining large Newmont Company, departing after 18 years in 2023.
“Nancy’s deep experience in areas of company technique, governance, compliance, and sustainability can be key property as Zap pursues its built-in method to superior nuclear,” Zap posted on LinkedIn.
— Jyoti Shukla was named chief product and know-how officer at KEXP, a nonprofit radio station serving Seattle and the Bay Space. The station consists of group and efficiency areas, and options wide-ranging music genres.
“There’s loads of significant work forward, and I’m excited to continue learning, constructing, and partnering with a tremendous staff as we form what’s subsequent,” Shukla stated on LinkedIn.
Previous to taking the function, Shukla served on KEXP’s board of administrators and was senior vice chairman of product design at SiriusXM. She has additionally labored in tech management roles at Nordstrom and Starbucks, and began her profession at Microsoft.
— ZEV Co-op, a Washington-based nonprofit EV carshare cooperative, introduced Ry Armstrong as its new govt director. Armstrong was beforehand at Sustainable Seattle, the place they served as co-director.
— Tirzah VanDamme has joined Gagen MacDonald as senior director of AI and digital transformation. She brings greater than 20 years of expertise and was most lately at Microsoft.
— The Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) introduced the election 4 new board members. They’re:
- Amanda Boyd, govt director of Native American Applications and Professor within the Elson S. Floyd Faculty of Medication at Washington State Universit
- Mary Czerwinski, former analysis supervisor at Microsoft Analysis
- John Stein, former science and analysis director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Middle
- Judith Wasserheit, professor emerita of International Well being, Medication, and Epidemiology on the College of Washington
WSAS additionally elected 30 new members, who will help the group in offering scientific and technical info to state policymakers.
They embody 26 scientists and engineers elected by their WSAS friends and 4 members lately elected to the Nationwide Academies of Science, Engineering, or Medication or awarded the Nobel Prize and who reside or work in Washington state.
The members embody 11 UW professors and eight from WSU, 5 researchers from Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory, three from Fred Hutch Most cancers Middle, and three at personal firms, with some individuals holding roles at a number of establishments.
