Pirasenna Thiyagarajan, the new chief technology and product officer at Flexe, has a strong background in tech roles at Bay Area startups and Amazon Lab216. Flexe, a Seattle-based warehousing logistics and shipping startup, recently reached “unicorn” status with a $1 billion valuation in 2022 but had subsequent rounds of layoffs. Thiyagarajan is passionate about challenging the status quo and understanding customer needs, which will help lead Flexe into a new era as a leader in flexible warehousing infrastructure. The company’s former CTO, David Glick, left his role in January 2023.
Gaelle Mercenne recently joined Talus Bioscience as the head of biology. The Seattle-based startup received $11.2 million in funding to advance its drug discovery program for hard-to-treat diseases. Mercenne’s experience includes roles at Sumitomo Pharma America and Recursion Pharmaceuticals. In her new position at Talus, she will oversee preclinical development and lead studies on potential drug targets for diseases such as cancer, inflammatory conditions, cardiometabolic disorders, and rare diseases.
David McGrath has been appointed as the new vice president of sales at Vouched, a Seattle startup providing AI-powered identity verification for healthcare, banking, and financial services. McGrath’s previous experience includes working as a sales executive at Human API, a healthtech startup that was later acquired by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Vouched recently named Peter Horadan as CEO.
Microsoft veteran David Willis has been named chairman of the board of directors for Zensai, an AI-powered employee engagement and performance management platform. Zensai, with offices internationally, integrates closely with Microsoft 365 and Teams. Willis spent nearly 30 years at Microsoft in various vice president roles. As board chairman, he will oversee the company’s growth as it aims to revolutionize human resources.
Mark Nelson, a venture partner at Madrona, joined the board of directors at Spotnana, a New York City startup focused on business travel planning. Nelson previously served as president and CEO at Tableau and CTO at Concur. His experience in software development, particularly in the travel industry, will be valuable to Spotnana. Madrona managing director Soma Somasegar also joined the board of directors at Observe, a San Mateo startup focused on machine-generated data storage, management, and analysis.
Matt Medlin, a lecturer in the University of Washington’s Master of Science Entrepreneurship program, works for Clark Nuber, a Bellevue accounting firm. He helps startups with CPA services and is a member of various venture capital groups. The Washington Research Foundation announced its seventh cohort of WRF Venture Analysts, including individuals specializing in biomedical informatics, immunology, cell therapies, battery technologies, and more to assist with grant making and investment activities.
