Tech Moves: USAFacts picks Microsoft and Amazon vet as CTO Zillow CMO departs and a lot more

Tanuja Korlepra is the new CTO for USAFacts. (Picture via LinkedIn)

Tanuja Korlepra, a former Amazon and Microsoft item management leader, has been named main technology officer of USAFacts, the Bellevue, Clean.-based nonpartisan civic data initiative launched by previous Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Korlepra has over 20 many years of working experience in program engineering. She is concerned with World Fund for Gals and the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology. In her new job, Korlepra oversees a team of 15, and will lead the creation of techniques to analyze and ingest data.

USAFacts is a non-earnings launched in 2017, committed to using know-how to make nonpartisan details additional obtainable to the US community and travel factual discussion. USAFacts received the 2020 Webby Award for Authorities & Civil Innovation.

“USAFacts is empowering Us citizens with nonpartisan and impartial points, which I think is very meaningful in informing simple fact-primarily based, info-driven debates,” Korlepra said.

Aimee Johnson. (Zillow Picture)

— Zillow Main Advertising Officer Aimee Johnson is leaving the business after three years to spend time with her spouse and children and re-appraise her next profession go. Prior to Zillow, Johnson served in various leadership and government roles at Starbucks for 14 decades. Zillow laid off a quarter of its team in late 2021 right after shutting down its homebuying division.

“What’s subsequent? Most promptly, taking private time after 25+ several years of work to re-energize, vacation, and commit quality spouse and children, close friend, and me time,” Johnson wrote on a LinkedIn submit. “Then, onto my next adventure since, as Arianna Huffington said, this is not the wonderful resignation, it’s the great re-analysis.”

“We want to thank Aimee for her many contributions to Zillow which have considerably strengthened our brand name and situation in the market,” a Zillow spokesperson mentioned. “We wish her each achievements as she embarks on her upcoming chapter.”

Yves Leurquin is the new CEO of Redmond, Clean.-dependent vaccine organization Inventprise.

Yves Leurquin (Inventprise Picture)

Leurquin was earlier an government in Takeda and Janssen’s vaccine courses. He usually takes more than from preceding CEO and Inventprise founder Subhash Kapre. Kapre is now govt chairman. Leurquin is retaining his seat on Inventprise’s board, which added two new customers: Stewart Parker, previous CEO of Seattle’s Infectious Disease Analysis Institute (now the Access to Wellbeing Institute) and Donna Ambrosino, who has held many biopharma leadership positions, together with as CEO of nonprofit vaccine producer MassBiologics.

Inventprise not long ago also obtained $30 million from the Invoice & Melinda Gates Foundation, the first tranche of up to $90 million pledged to assistance clinical development of the company’s vaccine candidate for pediatric pneumococcal disease.
— Michael Cooley, previous basic manager for enterprise IoT at Kajeet, was appointed as president for KONTXT, messaging and telecom at RealNetworks.

Mike Cooley (RealNetworks Picture)

Cooley has additional than 20 decades in ecommerce leadership expertise at Fortune 500 corporations these types of as Sprint and Deloitte and startups. He will be signing up for in a new function to control KONTXT, a software package remedy that utilizes machine learning-dependent normal language processing to detect and block fraudulent textual content, images, and mobile phone phone calls.

RealNetworks is a Seattle-centered technologies firm that takes advantage of AI and laptop eyesight to deliver a variety of media and telecommunications remedies. RealNetworks had a 2021 income of $58.2 million with 14% progress in its AI-centered enterprise, KONTXT.

“In just a couple of shorter many years, KONTXT has grow to be a person of the most broadly applied NLP platforms in the U.S. Telecom market, blocking tens of millions of pernicious spam and phishing text messages every day,” reported Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO at RealNetworks, in a information launch announcing Cooley’s appointment.

Other personnel modifications across the Pacific Northwest tech market:

  • Phil Greenberg, a Fred Hutch investigator, was elected president of the American Association for Cancer Investigation. Greenberg will provide in this position starting in April.
  • Jeff Ross, layout manager at NetherRealm Studios (part of WB Games), joined Crystal Dynamics, a Bellevue, Clean.-based mostly sport firm, as style and design director.
  • Karen Akinsanya, Schrödinger President of R&D for Therapeutics, joined Seattle-based mostly Nautilus Biotechnology‘s board of directors.
  • Maddie Clayton, former computer software engineer at Microsoft and Meta, is becoming a member of Proxi, a Bellevue, Clean.-primarily based map program, as director of engineering.
  • Laurel Buckner, beforehand managing director at Seattle-primarily based enterprise-financial debt and fairness firm, WestRiver Group, joined Riverstone Holdings, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based asset management firm.
  • Mark Vasconi, director of regulatory products and services at Washington Utilities and Transportation Fee, was appointed to provide as the director of Washington Point out Broadband Office

GeekWire reporter Charlotte Schubert contributed to this tale.

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