Satish Thomas, a 20-year veteran of Microsoft who spent 20 years on the Redmond tech large, is taking a brand new job at Google.
“I’m becoming a member of throughout what looks like one of the vital consequential moments in tech historical past — proper within the coronary heart of the AI period,” Thomas wrote on LinkedIn. He didn’t specify what function he’s taking at Google.
Thomas mentioned Microsoft “formed me in methods I by no means imaged.” He started his two-decade run on the firm as an intern. “I’m deeply grateful to the wonderful folks and groups I’ve had the privilege to work with,” he mentioned. “Leaving isn’t simple — however some alternatives are so particular and distinctive that you just simply need to go for them.”
Thomas spent the previous six years as a company vp at Microsoft, the place he led technique, product administration, and engineering execution for Microsoft Cloud for Business. He beforehand held management roles in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft AppSource.
— Raji Rajagopalan has a brand new function at Microsoft: GitHub’s vp of engineering.
Rajagopalan has been with the tech large for greater than 20 years, becoming a member of the corporate as a software program engineer. She’s leaving the Microsoft Foundry Workforce for the brand new function.
“My aim is to assist GitHub proceed to be the place beloved by devs, the place innovation occurs and human-agent workflows thrive, as we transfer into this new period of AI-driven improvement,” Rajagopalan mentioned on LinkedIn.
— Katie Bardaro is senior VP of buyer expertise at Avante, a Seattle startup constructing software program to assist corporations lower HR administration workload and scale back total advantages program prices. It additionally gives an AI assistant designed to offer advantages steerage to workers.
“What drew me right here is the chance to work on the intersection of information, AI, and whole rewards, all whereas serving to corporations and workers navigate one of the vital advanced (and impactful) components of the worker expertise: advantages,” Bardaro mentioned on LinkedIn.
Bardaro was beforehand chief buyer officer at Syndio, an organization that analyzes office pay fairness points and gives methods for fixing disparities. Previous to that she was at Payscale for greater than a decade.
— Vivek Sharma is leaving Stripe for a cryptic new enterprise centered on “AI’s potential to essentially change how folks work.”
Sharma, who has held govt roles at Microsoft and Meta, didn’t present additional particulars concerning the stealthy startup in a LinkedIn publish, however did identify his collaborators:
- Tore Hanssen, who was a founding engineer at Statsig, the Bellevue, Wash.-based startup acquired in September by OpenAI. He beforehand labored at Meta.
- Robert Masson, a senior workers information scientist at Meta’s Seattle workplace, clocking almost 11 years with the corporate earlier than going to Atlassian early final yr.
- Calvin Grunewald, who spent 9 years as a Fb director of engineering, based mostly in Seattle. He was most lately at Stripe.
“Extra particulars coming quickly,” Sharma mentioned of the startup. “However if you wish to be an early adopter or simply need to chat, please attain out!”
— Jeff Carr is now CEO of Atana, a startup constructing office coaching content material that includes behavior-based studying and improvement. Carr joined the Bellevue firm in August as president. He succeeds Atana co-founder and former CEO John Hansen, who will stay as govt chair.
In saying the information, Hansen mentioned that Carr “aligned with Atana’s imaginative and prescient instantly and has been instrumental in bringing us into new alternatives and new strategic relationships in a really brief time period.”
Carr has held a number of CEO roles up to now, together with management of workforce coaching firm Inkling and on the HR firm PeopleFluent.
Atana initially launched in 1993. Hansen, a startup veteran and longtime lecturer on the College of Washington, acquired the enterprise in 2016 and oversaw the enlargement of recent studying content material.
— Longtime Microsoft gaming chief Larry Hyrb shared on LinkedIn that he was laid off from Unity after 18 months on the job.
Hyrb, recognized by his longtime deal with “Main Nelson,” left Microsoft in 2023 after greater than 20 years in company communications, selling the launches of video games and different merchandise. He was the host of one of many firm’s earliest podcasts, Main Nelson Radio, which later grew to become Xbox Podcast.
At Unity, a San Francisco-based gaming firm, Hyrb labored with the Neighborhood and Advocacy Workforce, supporting connections amongst creators, builders and players.
— Serial tech entrepreneur Jay Bartot is now a technical advisor and chief technologist for TheFounderVC, a Seattle-based enterprise capital agency that launched in 2024.
Bartot can be co-founder and CTO of the software program startup AirSignal, an affiliate professor on the UW, and a startup mentor at Inventive Destruction Lab.
Bartot mentioned on LinkedIn that he appears ahead to working with the TheFounderVC crew “to assist distinctive early-stage founders construct the following era of nice Vertical AI corporations and merchandise.”
— Auger, a startup constructing logistics and provide chain software program, named Tucker Reimer as principal of provide chain innovation. Reimer joins the Bellevue startup from the Johnsonville sausage firm the place he served as vp of world planning and analytics.
Dave Clark, the previous Amazon Worldwide Shopper CEO and Flexport CEO, launched Auger in 2024 with $100 million in Collection A funding.
— Lucas Dickey joined Stripe as a product builder centered on Stripe Atlas, a instrument that helps entrepreneurs incorporate their enterprise.
Dickey mentioned on LinkedIn that he has used Atlas 4 instances to begin his personal corporations and aligns with Stripe’s aim of “making the executive layer a breeze — and serving to new corporations begin sturdy from day one.”
His startups embrace Deepcast, a podcast platform, and Fernish, a decor-focused enterprise that was acquired.
