Brent Frei, co-founder of Smartsheet, is leaving the board of directors after more than a decade with the company. He is now the CEO of TerraClear, an agriculture technology startup he founded in 2017. Katie Rooney, CFO and COO at Alight Solutions, will be joining the Smartsheet board in his place. Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet, praised Frei for his contributions to the company and his valuable insights as a board member, highlighting his role in shaping the company’s success.
Elena Gomez, another board member at Smartsheet, will also be departing after seven years. She is currently the CFO at Toast and previously held the same position at Zendesk. Rooney, who is joining the board, has an extensive financial background, having worked at Alight Solutions, Aon Hewitt, and Morgan Stanley. The changes to the board come as Smartsheet recently announced surpassing $1 billion in annualized recurring revenue, demonstrating its continued growth and success in the enterprise work management technology market.
In addition to the changes at Smartsheet, there have been several other key personnel changes in the Pacific Northwest tech industry. Pandion, a Seattle e-commerce startup, recently brought on new executives, including a former Amazon logistics leader as COO and other industry veterans to lead various functions within the company. Brent Cervenka, Jeff Petersen, Jay Sackos, and Austin Luhman have joined Pandion in key roles to drive the company’s growth and expansion.
Peat Bakke, a seasoned engineering leader with experience at eBay, Kickstarter, and Peek, has joined Treasury 4, a fintech company based in Spokane, as vice president of engineering. Leah Grogan Sakas, a former executive at Zillow Group and Invitation Homes, has joined Oyster Data, a real estate data startup in Seattle, as executive of product and operations. Microsoft has appointed Sarah Bird as chief product officer of its Responsible AI team, bringing her extensive experience to drive responsible AI initiatives.
Greater Seattle Partners, an initiative focused on attracting investment and quality jobs to the Seattle area, has added two new employees to its team. Yelena Kalashnikova, a former marketing manager at NanoString and Microsoft, has joined as marketing director. Victoria DePalma, a former assistant professor at Coastal Carolina University, has been hired as a research manager. These personnel changes reflect the dynamic nature of the tech industry in the Pacific Northwest and the continued growth and evolution of companies in the region.
