Tech Moves: Smartsheet, Qumulo, Zipwhip add board directors; Bardy hires a new president; Maven co-founder steps down; and more

— Seattle data storage startup Qumulo added Elissa Fink to its board of directors. Fink previously served as chief marketing officer at Tableau Software for 11 years.

Qumulo in July raised a $125 million funding round that propelled its valuation to more than $1.2 billion, making it one of a handful of “unicorn” billion-dollar startups in the Seattle region. The company, founded in 2012, handles more than 150 billion files for customers such as Hyundai, Cinesite Studios, Telus, and others.

“Qumulo’s forward-thinking strategy and disruptive file data technology will help customers thrive in the digital era,” Fink said in a statement. “It’s an exciting time to join the company’s board.”

Fink retired in 2018. Salesforce acquired Tableau last year for $15.7 billion.

Fink is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Washington’s business school. She joined the board of website operations platform Pantheon earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to have a world-class technology marketing leader like Elissa join our board of directors,” Qumulo CEO Bill Richter said in a statement. “Her experience building legendary brands like Tableau, which disrupted an entire industry and became synonymous with data, is nothing short of impressive.”

— Bill Sornsin has stepped down as chief operating officer of Maven, the Seattle-based media company that publishes Sports Illustrated. Sornsin co-founded the company in 2016. He previously worked at Microsoft and co-founded Rivals.com and Scout.com with Maven co-founder James Heckman, who stepped down as CEO last month.

Publicly-traded Maven made the announcement of Sornsin’s departure in a SEC filing. His departure is part of a “realignment” at the company.

“Bill has put in a tremendous amount of work in getting Maven off the ground, has had a significant impact on our operations, and leaves the company poised for the future in the many aspects he oversaw,” Maven CEO Ross Levinsohn wrote in an email to employees.

Zappos new CEO Kedar Deshpande. (Zappos Photo)

— Zappos longtime CEO Tony Hsieh stepped down from the Amazon-owned retailer last month. He is succeeded by former COO Kedar Deshpande.

Hsieh led Zappos since its launch in 1999 and oversaw the company’s 2009 sale to Amazon. Deshpande has worked for the Las Vegas, Nev.-based company since 2011, holding a number of roles in product management, marketing and technology. He was appointed as COO in September.

— Seattle-based heart monitor maker Bardy Diagnostics named Kevin Hykes as president and CEO. Hykes will also join the company’s board of directors and takes over from founder and chairman Gust Bardy.

“I am looking forward to transitioning into my new role as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer and turning day-to-day management of the company over to Kevin,” said Bardy.

Hykes spent more than 15 years at global medical device company Medtronic. He previously served as president and CEO at Cameron Health, where he worked alongside Bardy, Relievant Medical Systems, and Metavention.

— Collaborative work management platform Smartsheet added Rowan Trollope to its board of directors. He is currently the CEO of contact center software provider Five9.

Trollope spent more than two decades at Symantec and was an SVP at Cisco Systems as part of the collaboration technology group.

Smartsheet reported revenue of $91.2 million, up 41%, and a non-GAAP net loss of $0.06 per share in its most recent financial results. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company also recently announced its acquisition of Denver, Colo.-based startup Brandfolder.

— Seattle-based business texting startup Zipwhip added Carol Meyers to its board. Meyers was most recently the chief marketing officer of Rapid7, a Boston, Mass.-based cybersecurity company. She also served as CMO for LogMeIn and Unica.

— Smart commute startup Luum hired Maria Berardo as its first head of people and operations. Berardo has held human resources leadership roles at Redmond, Wash.-based CloudMoyo, Kaiser Permanente, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft.

Luum offers a platform for employers to manage commute programs for employees and is working with the city of Bellevue, Wash. on an autonomous vehicle corridor.

— LeadsRX, a Portland, Ore.-based marketing technology company, appointed David Canelis as vice president of customer success and a member of its executive team. Canelis has been a client and professional services executive at software companies including Spirion, Avoka and Seattle-based Tableau.

View original article here Source