As spring dawns on the Pacific Northwest and Puget Sound gets reacquainted with the strange and foreign notions of “sunshine” and “being outside,” executives are settling in behind new desks at tech companies across Seattle. Many of the nine executives profiled here have worked at some of the Seattle region’s most recognizable companies, while others have come in fresh from elsewhere.
All have big jobs ahead of them, and plenty of growth to get excited about at these seven locally-based companies.
Who: Anna Griffin
New job: Chief Marketing Officer
Resume: Griffin previously worked as SVP of corporate marketing at CA Technologies in New York City, and before that she was vice president of global marketing at IT provider Juniper Networks.
Details: Having spent more than 20 years in senior marketing roles, Griffin will take the helm of Smartsheet’s global marketing operations. The Bellevue workflow management company went public last year. Griffin also has experience leading advertising agencies, having led campaigns and product launches for Apple, Sony, Bank of America and more.
Quotable quote: “I’ve been blessed throughout my career to work for companies at defining moments in their histories, which is why the opportunity to lead marketing at Smartsheet was so compelling,” Griffin said in a statement. “I’m excited to be a part of a company where marketing can help shape the future of the business and capitalize on a massive opportunity to create and lead a category.”
Who: Hernan Alvarez
New job: Vice President of Product
Resume: Alvarez led product at Blue Box Cloud through its acquisition by IBM.
Details: In addition to his time at Blue Box Cloud and IBM, Alvarez has worked in technical roles at Hewlett-Packard, WhitePages.com and a series of tech startups. Now, he takes over the development of Algorithmia’s artificial intelligence layer, which organizations from the United Nations to Fortune 500 companies are using to deploy AI solutions at scale.
Quotable quote: “Hernan’s demonstrated creativity, tenacious personal drive, and ability to build high-performing teams is precisely what we wanted to scale Algorithmia’s AI Layer,” CEO Diego Oppenheimer said in a statement. “Grounded by a depth of technical and business experience, his ability to unite technical and business teams and deliver what is needed by customers will help take Algorithmia to the next level.”
Who: Lynn Girotto
New job: Chief Marketing Officer
Resume: Girotto comes to the role after almost four years as SVP of Marketing for Tableau Software.
Details: Girotto will be customer data startup Amperity’s first ever CMO. In addition to her experience leading “global demand generation” marketing efforts for Tableau, Girotto led tech marketing teams at Getty Images, Starbucks and Microsoft’s Bing. The company has tasked her with creating and executing strategies designed to rapidly increase awareness around Amperity’s big data-driven marketing solution.
Quotable quote: “Our industry is filled with data-driven companies, but occasionally you encounter one with the vision, the talent and the unique technology to transform the way the world’s largest brands do business — that’s Amperity,” Girotto said in a statement. “The fact that Amperity’s platform has been around for just 18 months and has been able to attract brands like GAP, Lucky Brand, TGI Fridays, Alaska Airlines, Wynn and more says everything you need to know.”
Who: Michael Erisman
New job: Chief People Officer
Resume: Most recently, Erisman was VP and General Manager of Global HR at DocuSign
Details: Erisman takes over employee onboarding, compensation, benefits, learning and development, diversity and inclusion and overall employee experience after extensive experience leading HR teams in Seattle tech. His career includes periods directing HR at Parallels and Microsoft, where he led HR efforts for the company’s more than 8,000 marketers, spread across 80 countries. That globe-spanning experience will come in handy with fintech startup Pushpay, which has teams both in Redmond and Auckland, New Zealand.
Quotable quote: “Michael is a highly experienced business leader with a proven track record of building successful human resources teams and developing global people strategies worldwide,” Pushpay CEO and co-founder Chris Heaslip said in a statement. “His extensive experience in guiding people-centered business initiatives and proven ability to attract, retain and engage top talent will be instrumental for our growth plans.”
Who: David Glick and Deirdre Runnette
New jobs: Chief Technology Officer and Chief People Officer and General Counsel, respectively
Resumes: Glick previously worked at Amazon for over 12 years, while Runnette has worked in legal teams for Zulily, T-Mobile and several law firms.
Details: With plenty of experience heading up fulfillment and logistics tech teams at Amazon — including a stint as VP of Amazon Fulfillment Technologies — Glick is well-positioned to take over as chief techie for on-demand warehousing and fulfillment startup Flexe. Runnette brings over two decades of experience building compliance, HR and legal programs for a range of Pacific Northwest tech companies and legal firms, and will oversee Flexe’s legal operations, hiring and professional development initiatives.
Quotable quote: “Logistics technology is in my DNA,” Glick said in a statement. “For two decades, I had a front row seat to the rise of e-commerce and the massive changes it spurred in warehousing and fulfillment. I joined Flexe because the on-demand warehousing category they’re pioneering will transform global logistics in the same way Amazon transformed global commerce.”
“I’ve always been attracted to the vibrance and innovation within the Seattle technology community,” Runnette added. “I look forward to continuing my career at Flexe…The team’s energy is palpable.”
Who: Pearl Chan and Judith McGarry
New jobs: Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively
Resumes: Chan previously headed finance at NetMotion Software, while McGarry was a VP of marketing and communications at Donuts Inc.
Details: Cloud-based image editing and design platform PicMonkey announced two new executives this week. In addition to her stint at NetMotion Software, Chan has held the role of CFO at multiple Seattle tech firms, including Pioneer Square Labs, Sirqul and Redapt. Before joining Donuts, McGarry was a VP of corporate communications for Avalara and founded a consulting group where she held marketing or strategic advisory roles with Shutterfly, The Cobalt Group and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, among others.
Quotable quotes: “I’m delighted to join the PicMonkey team,” Chan said in a statement. “I’ve spent most of my career igniting growth in tech companies. I believe PicMonkey has all the key fundamentals in place to extend our leadership position.”
“PicMonkey is a home run in the making, which is why I am thrilled to lead marketing efforts,” McGarry added. “We have a large and growing base of subscribers, a terrific product and a talented team.”
Who: Justin Sollenne
New Job: Chief Financial Officer
Resume: Sollenne previously worked as CFO for Sentek Global.
Details: Software giant NetMotion has been celebrating of late, breaking all its revenue records in 2018. The company hired Sollenne away from San Diego-based Department of Defense contractor Sentek Global, which specializes in cybersecurity for the navy. Before that, Sollenne led finance teams for iboss, a cybersecurity company.
Quotable quote: “It’s rare to see a technology company with an established history of almost two decades experience this kind of growth,” NetMotion CEO Christopher Kenessey said in a statement. “There’s a real sense of momentum everywhere you look, and I couldn’t be more proud to see how we’ve improved and developed not just from a product perspective, but from a people perspective too. I’m feeling bullish that 2019 is going to be even better for us and for our customers.”
