— Denise Mamaril is now Starbucks’ vice president of cybersecurity; governance, risk and compliance; and international.
She was previously at Nordstrom for nearly a decade, leaving the role of senior director of security architecture and engineering.
“I’m thrilled to join a security team I already know and respect for their integrity, deep expertise, and ability to get things done,” Mamaril said on LinkedIn.
Mamaril also worked in leadership roles at williamsworks, Headsprout, and Kaplan.
Last month Starbucks CTO Deb Hall Lefevre reportedly resigned amid layoffs and various tech-related changes at the Seattle-based coffee giant.
— Rob Williams, Amazon’s vice president of device software and services and a member CEO Andy Jassy’s senior leadership team, announced his retirement and will leave the company at the year’s end. The news comes on the heels of Amazon’s annual devices and services showcase.
“While this decision has been in the works for quite some time, I wanted to see our amazing 2025 products through to completion, launch Alexa+, and VegaOS — and participate in the fun of Tuesday’s product launch event in NYC — before announcing my transition,” Williams said last week on LinkedIn.
Reuters broke the news, citing an internal memo. Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services, praised Williams, who has been with the company for 12 years.
“Rob has had a big impact on the software and experiences of nearly all of the products we’ve created and shipped,” Panay said in the memo.
— In other Amazon news, Alice Shobe, the company’s global director of community impact, is stepping down from her role after nearly nine years with the Seattle-based tech giant. Bettina Stix will succeed Shobe.
Shobe is a longtime leader in affordable housing, previously working for nonprofits and the City of Seattle. In her role at Amazon, Shobe addressed housing, education for under-served students, disaster relief and other efforts.
“We brought Amazon’s innovation and problem-solving approach to each challenge. Today, our global team of passionate people is driving real change across communities worldwide,” Shobe said on LinkedIn.
Stix has been with Amazon for nearly 27 years, joining the company as an editor in Germany. She has been a manager in the U.S. and Europe and worked in retail development, Prime, product management and community engagement.
Stix is credited with conceiving the idea for Amazon’s disaster relief program, which taps the company’s expertise in logistics and mobilized employees to respond to emergencies around the globe.
— Seattle Children’s announced the appointment of Dr. Christopher Longhurst as its next CEO, effective Jan. 5 of next year.
Longhurst joins the hospital from UC San Diego Health, where he is chief clinical and innovation officer and has worked for more than a decade. He was previously at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
“Dr. Longhurst’s unique ability to merge clinical operations, research and digital strategy, while enhancing patient safety and quality makes him the right leader to guide Seattle Children’s into the future,” Kurt Shintaffer, chair of the hospital’s board of trustees, said in a statement.
— Jordan Weitzen is now chief financial officer for Acumatica, the Bellevue, Wash.-based enterprise software giant that was acquired this year by Vista Equity Partners. Weitzen was CFO for Pacvue and FabFitFun and held senior finance roles at NBCUniversal and Hulu.
Weitzen succeeds Wayne Kimber, who is retiring after serving as CFO since 2023.
“Jordan is a proven finance leader with a track record of building modern, data-driven finance strategies in fast-moving environments,” John Case, CEO of Acumatica, said in a statement. “His breadth of experience and operational discipline will help Acumatica scale while continuing to deliver exceptional value to our community.”
— Padmashree Koneti is chief product officer for Yoodli, a Seattle startup that uses generative AI to analyze speech and offer tips for improving communication skills.
Koneti joins the company from Salesforce subsidiary Tableau, where she was senior vice president of product management for the analytics platform and has worked since 2022. Koneti previously held senior product leadership roles at companies including Limeade, Puppet, eBay, Cisco Systems and others.
“Bringing on a product leader of Padmashree’s caliber is a huge validation of both Yoodli’s momentum and our vision for the future,” Varun Puri, Yoodli CEO and co-founder, said via email.
Yoodli, which raised $13.7 million in May, recently hired longtime financial leader Andy Larson as CFO.
— Todd Humphrey is leaving his role as Seattle Kraken founding executive team member and senior vice president of innovation and fan experience after seven years with the NHL team.
Humphrey just launched Highmark Sports Group, a startup that works with professional sports teams and leagues to bolster their fan engagement.
“I’ll always be proud of what we built together, and excited to see where the Kraken go next,” Humphrey wrote on LinkedIn. “As for me, I’m excited to keep building, innovating, and elevating the fan experience — helping sports teams and leagues reach new heights, in Seattle and beyond.”
— Seattle-based Cascadia Capital, an investment bank serving clients globally, named two hires:
- Jonathan Cantwell is head of the firm’s new Technology Investment Banking group and will serve in its new Silicon Valley office. That team is expected to expand to include roughly 20 bankers and Cantwell will lead their recruitment. Cantwell comes to the role from GP Bullhound where he was partner and led the firm’s software practice.
- Nathan Gordon has joined as a director of the Technology Investment Banking group and will be based in Los Angeles. Gordon joins Cascadia from Sans Meal Bar, a food company that he founded and was acquired in June.
— The University of Washington School of Medicine named Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Davis as director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Davis is a cellular and molecular physiologist who studies cardiac wound healing and regeneration. She has been with ISCRM since 2015, serving as interim director since 2024. She is also director of the UW Center for Cardiovascular Biology.
— Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, a Woodinville, Wash.-based global marketing company, announced Kelly Bengston as chief operating officer. Bengston held leadership roles at Starbucks for 15 years and joins Bensussen Deutsch & Associates from CKE Restaurants, the parent company for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, where she briefly served as chief supply chain officer.
— Kartik Talamadupula joined Oracle as a distinguished architect in AI where he will focus is on building scalable foundations for intelligent systems that can reason over enterprise data and automate complex business processes. Talamadupula previously led AI efforts at Wand AI and Symbl. Earlier in his career, Talamadupula worked at IBM for nearly a decade.
— Sarah Studer is filling in at the University of Washington’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship as program manager for the Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program while Winona Kantamaneni is on family leave until June. Studer previously served as assistant director of the Buerk Center and was managing director of Impact Hub Seattle.
— Barbara Hulit has abandoned retirement for a role as senior managing director of the financial firm Blackstone. In 2023, Hulit retired from the Everett, Wash.-based manufacturing company Fortive after nearly seven years. In the new role, she will lead the development of an operating system as well as serving as an operating executive in the Blackstone’s industrials space.
