Tech Moves: Qumulo hires cloud CTO; ex-Tableau CMO joins Conversica board; 98point6 adds CTO

— Seattle startup Qumulo named Janine Corey as its cloud chief technology officer. Corey spent the past five years at Amazon Web Services, most recently leading the transformation team for enterprise customers. She previously held IT roles at Tyler Technologies, Novartis-Alcon Labs and Southwest Airlines.

Qumulo does not have an overall CTO. The 8-year-old company reached a $1.2 billion valuation earlier this year after raising $125 million. It helps customers such as Hyundai, Cinesite Studios, Telus, and others store and manage large amounts of file data.

The startup develops virtual assistants for sales, marketing and customer service teams. Conversica raised a $20 million Series D funding round in September led by Hollyport Capital. Total funding to date is $89 million.

“I’ve kept my eye on the way Conversica has assisted the marketing and sales communities through complex digital transformations with an intelligent, augmented workforce, and to say I’ve been impressed is an understatement,” said Fink.

Since retiring from Seattle-based Tableau in 2018, Fink has joined the board of directors at several startups including Qumulo and Pantheon.

— Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson joined the board of Seattle-based customer intelligence startup Amperity. Starbucks was an early adopter of Amperity’s technology. Amperity CEO Kabir Shahani said Johnson joining the company’s board “felt like an obvious and very special fit” given his experience. It’s also a rare move from Johnson, who does not sit on other tech startup boards. Read the full story.

— Technical interview startup Karat appointed Amazon vet and former Expedia executive Werner Koepf as SVP of engineering. The Seattle startup offers clients a community of “Interview Engineers” who use its software to conduct first-round technical interviews.

Koepf was previously VP of engineering at Ticketmaster and led its Seattle engineering center. He most recently led Conversica’s Bellingham and Seattle offices as SVP of engineering.

— Seattle virtual primary care startup 98point6 appointed Fukiko Ogisu as its chief operating officer.

Ogisu was most recently EVP and chief people officer for multinational media company Viacom. She previously spent more than 13 years at Microsoft. She is based in New York City.

98point6 raised $118 million in October to fuel growth of its telemedicine service that has surged as people look for medical advice without going to a physical doctor’s office during the pandemic.

— Hillsboro, Ore.-based Mobile Technologies, Inc. (MTI) hired Craig Parietti as CFO and Tony Woods as VP of human resources. Parietti previously served as VP of finance for HTC America while Woods was at Core-Mark International.

MTI, which provides display technologies for retailers, also promoted Vicki VanValin to VP of global sales and Parbin Chand to VP of production and supply chain. MTI is led by CEO Mary Jesse, a former VRStudios and AT&T executive who originally joined as COO in February.

— Former Amazon smart home executive Charlie Kindel has departed Control4, where he was chief product and technology officer. His departure comes a year after the Salt Lake City company completed its merger with Charlotte, N.C.-based SnapAV. Kindel joined Control4 in 2018 as SVP of products and services.

“The restructuring that led me to exit SnapAV/Control4 gives me time to draft my next chapter,” Kindel wrote in an email to GeekWire.

“I’d love to be able to apply everything I’ve learned at a much smaller company to a space (pun intended) completely different than what I’ve previously focused on,” he added. “I plan on having a great ski season and I won’t make any big decisions for at least a few months.”

Prior to Amazon, Kindel spent more than 20 years in various roles at Microsoft. He is also an advisor for various startups.

— Business texting startup ZipWhip hired Ravi Angadi as chief product officer and promoted Nimrod Vered to chief engineering officer.

Angadi was most recently CEO of Chinese digital signage design firm Lango Tech. He has held product leadership roles at Promethean, Agilysys and Verdiem.

Vered joined Zipwhip as SVP of engineering a year ago. He was previously a group engineering manager at Microsoft.

— German video game developer and publisher Kalypso Media announced Seattle as its new North American headquarters, citing the talent in the region for the decision.

The company hired Jared Nieuwenhuis as marketing director for North America. Nieuwenhuis is also the deputy mayor of Bellevue, Wash. Carol Rogalski also joined Kalypso Media as senior PR lead for the Americas. Rogalski has held PR roles at Zebra Partners, Microsoft, RealNetworks and Hasbro.

— Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture announced its new advisory board. The members are:

• Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security Kari Bingen

• Former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Charles Elachi

• MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department Head Dan Hastings

• Retired USAF Major General Sue Mashiko

• KBR Senior Vice President of Space and Mission Solutions Todd May

• Former President of Primex Technologies Aerospace Division Bill Smith

• University of Texas at El Paso President Heather Wilson

“This Board will help us drive our mission forward, provide us guidance on our key initiatives and serve as strategic advisors to our leadership team,” said Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith.

Other recent Tech Moves from across the Pacific Northwest tech industry: 

• Former Amazon and Microsoft executive Gur Kimchi joined the advisory board of GSI Technology, a California networking and telecommunications circuit manufacturer.
• Marketing verification startup SheerID hired Francois Rychlewski as director of sales for EMEA.
• Former Portland Trail Blazers CIO Chris Dill joined Boston, Mass.-based Armored Things as VP of business development. He is based in Portland, Ore.
• MicroVision, manufacturer of miniature laser display technology, appointed former Ford Motor Company executive Judy Curran to its board.
• Based out of Seattle, Christy Wilson has been hired by Israeli artificial intelligence software company BlackSwan Technologies as SVP of product.

The original article can be found at: GeekWire