— Denise Mamaril is now Starbucks’ vp of cybersecurity; governance, threat and compliance; and worldwide.
She was beforehand at Nordstrom for almost a decade, leaving the position of senior director of safety structure and engineering.
“I’m thrilled to affix a safety group I already know and respect for his or her integrity, deep experience, and talent to get issues accomplished,” Mamaril stated on LinkedIn.
Mamaril additionally labored in management roles at williamsworks, Headsprout, and Kaplan.
Final month Starbucks CTO Deb Corridor Lefevre reportedly resigned amid layoffs and numerous tech-related adjustments on the Seattle-based espresso big.
— Rob Williams, Amazon’s vp of gadget software program and companies and a member CEO Andy Jassy’s senior management group, introduced his retirement and can depart the corporate on the 12 months’s finish. The information comes on the heels of Amazon’s annual gadgets and companies showcase.
“Whereas this determination has been within the works for fairly a while, I needed to see our wonderful 2025 merchandise by to completion, launch Alexa+, and VegaOS — and take part within the enjoyable of Tuesday’s product launch occasion in NYC — earlier than asserting my transition,” Williams stated final week on LinkedIn.
Reuters broke the information, citing an inner memo. Panos Panay, senior vp of gadgets and companies, praised Williams, who has been with the corporate for 12 years.
“Rob has had a big effect on the software program and experiences of almost the entire merchandise we’ve created and shipped,” Panay stated within the memo.
— In different Amazon information, Alice Shobe, the corporate’s international director of group affect, is stepping down from her position after almost 9 years with the Seattle-based tech big. Bettina Stix will succeed Shobe.
Shobe is a longtime chief in inexpensive housing, beforehand working for nonprofits and the Metropolis of Seattle. In her position at Amazon, Shobe addressed housing, schooling for under-served college students, catastrophe reduction and different efforts.
“We introduced Amazon’s innovation and problem-solving strategy to every problem. Right now, our international group of passionate individuals is driving actual change throughout communities worldwide,” Shobe stated on LinkedIn.
Stix has been with Amazon for almost 27 years, becoming a member of the corporate as an editor in Germany. She has been a supervisor within the U.S. and Europe and labored in retail improvement, Prime, product administration and group engagement.
Stix is credited with conceiving the thought for Amazon’s catastrophe reduction program, which faucets the corporate’s experience in logistics and mobilized workers to reply to emergencies across the globe.
— Seattle Youngsters’s introduced the appointment of Dr. Christopher Longhurst as its subsequent CEO, efficient Jan. 5 of subsequent 12 months.
Longhurst joins the hospital from UC San Diego Well being, the place he’s chief scientific and innovation officer and has labored for greater than a decade. He was beforehand at Lucile Packard Youngsters’s Hospital Stanford.
“Dr. Longhurst’s distinctive capacity to merge scientific operations, analysis and digital technique, whereas enhancing affected person security and high quality makes him the suitable chief to information Seattle Youngsters’s into the longer term,” Kurt Shintaffer, chair of the hospital’s board of trustees, stated in a statement.
— Jordan Weitzen is now chief monetary officer for Acumatica, the Bellevue, Wash.-based enterprise software program big that was acquired this 12 months by Vista Fairness Companions. Weitzen was CFO for Pacvue and FabFitFun and held senior finance roles at NBCUniversal and Hulu.
Weitzen succeeds Wayne Kimber, who’s retiring after serving as CFO since 2023.
“Jordan is a confirmed finance chief with a monitor document of constructing trendy, data-driven finance methods in fast-moving environments,” John Case, CEO of Acumatica, stated in a press release. “His breadth of expertise and operational self-discipline will assist Acumatica scale whereas persevering with to ship distinctive worth to our group.”
— Padmashree Koneti is chief product officer for Yoodli, a Seattle startup that makes use of generative AI to research speech and supply suggestions for bettering communication abilities.
Koneti joins the corporate from Salesforce subsidiary Tableau, the place she was senior vp of product administration for the analytics platform and has labored since 2022. Koneti beforehand held senior product management roles at firms together with Limeade, Puppet, eBay, Cisco Methods and others.
“Bringing on a product chief of Padmashree’s caliber is a big validation of each Yoodli’s momentum and our imaginative and prescient for the longer term,” Varun Puri, Yoodli CEO and co-founder, stated by way of e mail.
Yoodli, which raised $13.7 million in Might, just lately employed longtime monetary chief Andy Larson as CFO.
— Todd Humphrey is leaving his position as Seattle Kraken founding govt group member and senior vp of innovation and fan expertise after seven years with the NHL group.
Humphrey simply launched Highmark Sports activities Group, a startup that works with skilled sports activities groups and leagues to bolster their fan engagement.
“I’ll at all times be pleased with what we constructed collectively, and excited to see the place the Kraken go subsequent,” Humphrey wrote on LinkedIn. “As for me, I’m excited to maintain constructing, innovating, and elevating the fan expertise — serving to sports activities groups and leagues attain new heights, in Seattle and past.”
— Seattle-based Cascadia Capital, an funding financial institution serving purchasers globally, named two hires:
- Jonathan Cantwell is head of the agency’s new Know-how Funding Banking group and can serve in its new Silicon Valley workplace. That group is predicted to develop to incorporate roughly 20 bankers and Cantwell will lead their recruitment. Cantwell involves the position from GP Bullhound the place he was accomplice and led the agency’s software program apply.
- Nathan Gordon has joined as a director of the Know-how Funding Banking group and will probably be based mostly in Los Angeles. Gordon joins Cascadia from Sans Meal Bar, a meals firm that he based and was acquired in June.
— The College of Washington Faculty of Drugs named Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Davis as director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Drugs. Davis is a mobile and molecular physiologist who research cardiac wound therapeutic and regeneration. She has been with ISCRM since 2015, serving as interim director since 2024. She can be director of the UW Heart for Cardiovascular Biology.
— Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, a Woodinville, Wash.-based international advertising firm, introduced Kelly Bengston as chief working officer. Bengston held management roles at Starbucks for 15 years and joins Bensussen Deutsch & Associates from CKE Eating places, the dad or mum firm for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, the place she briefly served as chief provide chain officer.
— Kartik Talamadupula joined Oracle as a distinguished architect in AI the place he’ll focus is on constructing scalable foundations for clever programs that may purpose over enterprise information and automate complicated enterprise processes. Talamadupula beforehand led AI efforts at Wand AI and Symbl. Earlier in his profession, Talamadupula labored at IBM for almost a decade.
— Sarah Studer is filling in on the College of Washington’s Buerk Heart for Entrepreneurship as program supervisor for the Ladies’s Entrepreneurial Management program whereas Winona Kantamaneni is on household depart till June. Studer beforehand served as assistant director of the Buerk Heart and was managing director of Impression Hub Seattle.
— Barbara Hulit has deserted retirement for a job as senior managing director of the monetary agency Blackstone. In 2023, Hulit retired from the Everett, Wash.-based manufacturing firm Fortive after almost seven years. Within the new role, she’s going to lead the event of an working system in addition to serving as an working govt within the Blackstone’s industrials area.
