— Expedia Group appointed Bill Watkins as senior vice president and general manager of global advertising within its marketing organization. He will focus on helping outside advertisers across Expedia’s portfolio of sites engage with consumers planning travel.
Watkins and his team will connect advertisers “more directly with our marketing, audience insights, and loyalty capabilities to help us deliver even more effective, measurable solutions,” said Jochen Koedijk, Expedia’s chief marketing officer.
Chicago-based Watkins joins from Pinterest, where he spent 12 years and most recently served as chief revenue officer.
— Johannes Gehrke, a Microsoft technical fellow in AI infrastructure, is leaving the company after 14 years to join Uber. Gehrke recalled interviewing with Satya Nadella, now the company’s CEO, before joining for what he thought would be a two-year sabbatical from Cornell University. Instead, it became “one of the defining chapters of my career,” he said.
Leaving the company is “bittersweet,” Gehrke added, but in a LinkedIn post Tuesday he shared his excitement about becoming a technical fellow for the transportation company.
“What drew me to Uber is the rare opportunity to bring AI to a global platform that already touches everyday life at extraordinary scale,” he said.
Gehrke began his Microsoft tenure working on Office Graph, a platform that has since evolved to help power AI tools across Microsoft 365. He also helped incorporate AI into Teams, led Microsoft Research Redmond and most recently worked in its CoreAI division, which focuses on Copilot and other AI technologies.
— Tracy Galloway, chief operating officer for Microsoft Americas, is retiring after 10 years with the company. She joined as regional VP of commercial business for the Great Lakes region and was previously with HP for more than 16 years.
On LinkedIn she thanked colleagues and partners “who trusted me with big challenges and stood alongside me through moments of growth, change, and reinvention.” Galloway, who is based in Breckenridge, Colo., said she plans to spend more time with family and pursue travel, golf and boating.
— Val Miftakhov, founder and CEO of sustainable aviation company ZeroAvia, has stepped down “to pursue new opportunities,” according to the company. He will remain on its board of directors.
Miftakhov launched ZeroAvia more than eight years ago in California, but the company is now operating in the United Kingdom and its R&D and manufacturing facilities in Everett, Wash. An aviation publication reported multiple rounds of layoffs starting last year, while another source said its Q400 test facility in Everett has shuttered.
Christine Ourmieres-Widener, the board’s executive chair, has been overseeing day-to-day operations in recent months and will continue in that role until a permanent CEO is selected. The board thanked Miftakhov for his leadership, adding that it was “grateful that he will continue to lend his insight and support as a director.”
— After more than 23 years at Amazon, Robin Sweers has resigned to become “retired-ish.” Sweers is departing as senior program manager for device advertising, having also worked on teams within the Amazon AppStore. She began her career at the Seattle tech giant as a college technical recruiter.
“I am so grateful for the experiences I had, lessons I learned and wonderful people I met. I don’t exactly know what comes next, but I’m certainly looking forward to figuring it out!” she said on LinkedIn.
— Amy Miller has joined Portal Space Systems, a Bothell, Wash.-based space and defense manufacturing company, as its first head of Talent & People Operations. Miller comes from Amazon, where she was recruiting manager for its Leo satellite business, and has also held roles at Google and Meta.
Portal praised her “more than two decades building technical and manufacturing teams across aerospace, AI, advanced manufacturing, and large-scale technology organizations,” and noted that she has become “widely known on LinkedIn as one of the most transparent, direct, and genuinely human voices in recruiting.”
— “New chapter, new challenge, new city.” That’s how Britt Provost is describing her move to Los Angeles. The HR veteran is joining Sunbit as senior VP of human resources after 20 years in the Seattle tech industry.
Sunbit is a financial services tech company that lets customers split large bills — auto repairs, dental work, veterinary visits — into smaller installment payments. Provost’s career includes HR roles at Cascade AI, Siteimprove, Accolade, Apptio, Avanade and Microsoft.
— Stanley Janicki has been named chief financial officer of Janicki Industries, an aerospace and defense manufacturer based in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. He was previously chief commercial officer at Sedron Technologies, a spinout of Janicki that provides water treatment solutions for sewage facilities and dairies. Sedron was acquired in April.
— Maggie Lehr was promoted to director of Revenue Products & Experimentation at Alaska Airlines, moving up from product team manager for revenue products. She has been with the airline for more than six years.
— Daryl Maeda was named the next Katherine and John Simpson Endowed Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington. His tenure begins July 13, pending approval from the Board of Regents. He joins from the University of Colorado Boulder.
— Seattle-based executive Brook West has joined employee healthcare platform When as its first chief revenue officer. The Chicago startup helps workers navigate health insurance and other benefits challenges during job transitions and major life changes. West was previously president of Verifiable, with past leadership roles at 98point6, Carrum Health and Valant.
— Will Daugherty, the outgoing Pacific Science Center president and CEO, officially passed the PacSci baton on Monday to successor Kevin Malgesini after more than a decade leading the Seattle-based educational nonprofit.
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