Derek Andersen. (Expedia Photo)
— Expedia Group named Derek Andersen as its new chief financial officer starting May 11. He succeeds Scott Schenkel, who is stepping down after more than two years in the role.
The Seattle-based travel giant hired Andersen from Snap, the company behind Snapchat, where he served as CFO for more than seven years. Before that, was Amazon’s vice president of finance, overseeing its global suite of video businesses, including Prime Video and Amazon Studios.
Andersen said he’s looking forward to returning to Seattle to join Expedia.
“The company has built strong assets, from its technology and consumer brands to one of the largest B2B businesses in the industry and is well positioned to shape the future of travel,” he said in a statement.
In announcing the news, Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin praised Andersen’s fit for the CFO role and thanked Schenkel, who previously served as CFO and interim CEO at eBay, for his impact.
Peter Hamilton. (LinkedIn Photo)
— Peter Hamilton has left Roku, where he served as head of ad innovation for the streaming platform for more than four years. The Seattle-based executive was previously CEO of Tune, a mobile marketing startup, for more than a decade.
“I came to Roku to see what it feels like to turn on innovation at massive scale, and I left better understanding the village of people that make it all possible,” he said in a LinkedIn post.
Hamilton added that he’ll once again step into a CEO role, but did not say at which company.
Ann Johnson. (LinkedIn Photo)
— Ann Johnson is leaving Microsoft after more than a decade, most recently serving as corporate vice president and executive security advisor. On May 4, the Seattle-based leader will become executive VP of Security (Identity & Fraud) Services at Mastercard.
In a Q&A posted by Mastercard, Johnson described her work in cybersecurity as “purpose-driven” and said she was eager to join the company. In her new role, she’ll work to help secure commerce and financial transactions — “such an important part of the ecosystem,” she said.
— Microsoft’s Annie Pearl has a new role as CVP of the Copilot product for Microsoft AI. Pearl previously led product, engineering and design for Azure Experiences and has been with the company for more than three years. She is based in San Francisco.
— After more than 20 years with Amazon, Vidya Shastri left the company as a director of software development and is taking a career break. Shastri departed last year, but this week shared a lengthy post on Substack reflecting on his decades at the tech giant.
Shastri said on LinkedIn that he had two mantras at Amazon: people first, then product, and nothing matters more than trust. “It’s the ‘virtuous cycle of trust’ that makes teams and organizations great, even in this era of downsizing and AI,” he said.
— Judd Lee is now chief financial officer for Safe Software, a Surrey, B.C., data software company. Lee joins from BrightEdge, and was previously CFO at Seattle’s RealNetworks, Parallels and SignalSense. Safe Software also named Vanessa Ribreau as chief people officer.
— Jake Oster, Amazon’s former director of energy, environment and sustainability policy, is now VP of sustainability policy and community relations for Oracle.
“At Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, each AI data center is designed with the surrounding community’s future in mind and we are making investments in job creation, water infrastructure, and new sources of energy generation,” he said on LinkedIn, adding that he will remain in Seattle.
— Gen. James Rainey, a retired four-star general from the U.S. Army, was welcomed as an advisor to Overland AI. The Seattle-based startup in February raised $100 million to meet demand for its autonomous ground vehicles used by the U.S. military.
— Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is joining the board of directors for Gopuff, a Philadelphia-based delivery app offering snacks and everyday essentials.
— Jonathan Bricker, a Fred Hutch Cancer Center public health scientist, was awarded the institution’s Endowed Chair in Cancer Prevention. Bricker has helped develop tools to reduce cancer risk, including the AI-powered QuitBot app.
— Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced leadership changes:
- William “Bill” Pike is now deputy director for science and technology, previously having served as chief science and technology officer for PNNL’s National Security Directorate.
- Angela Becker-Dippmann is associate laboratory director for the Energy and Environment Directorate, having previously worked as director of EED’s Program Development Office.
- Amy Schmidt is executive director and chief HR officer, transitioning from the role of head of talent management.
And in case you missed it, GeekWire reported some big tech moves earlier this week.
— Amazon made two notable promotions:
- AWS infrastructure chief Prasad Kalyanaraman joined the company’s S-team leadership group.
- Cloud computing and AI services leader Dave Brown was promoted to senior vice president.
— LinkedIn announced two promotions as well:
- Daniel Shapero, the company’s chief operating officer since 2021, is now CEO.
- Mohak Shroff, LinkedIn’s longtime engineering leader, has taken the new role of president of platforms and digital work.
