— Karim Meghji is taking over the the role of president and CEO at Code.org, the Seattle-based computer science education nonprofit.
Meghji, the former CTO at Seattle digital remittance company Remitly, joined Code.org in 2022 to serve as chief product officer, leading the organization’s shift toward an AI-centered strategy.
Cameron Wilson, the longtime president at Code.org, is transitioning to an executive advisor role at the organization where he has worked for more than 12 years.
“It’s impossible to overstate Cameron’s impact on Code.org and on the education system,” Code.org founder Hadi Partovi said in a news release on Friday. “He helped build an institution that will continue to serve students for generations, and I am profoundly grateful for his leadership and partnership.”
Code.org was launched in 2013 by brothers Hadi and Ali Partovi with a mission to expand computer science education to K-12 students. Backed by nearly $60 million in funding from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and others, Code.org counts 102 million students and 3 million teachers on its platform today, with 232 million projects created by students around the world.
Code.org says its AI curriculum has already helped more than 6 million students learn foundational concepts around the technology. More than 25 million students have completed activities in its “Hour of AI” campaign.
The company employs 107 people following layoffs in January.
Partovi, who has been operating as chairman of the board for the past two years, will continue in that role.
— Jeff Hebert is a new senior hardware manager at Amazon leading a team working on last-mile delivery innovations.
“Intelligent sensors, human-digital interfaces, and robotics that leverage the latest capabilities of AI, edge processing, and connectivity have immense potential to increase safety and efficiency at the heart of Amazon’s business,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
Hebert spent 15 years at Seattle-based product development firm Synapse and left as president last August. He was most recently at consulting firm Capgemini Invent.
— Former Tableau CEO Ryan Aytay is the new president and chief operating officer of Code Metal, a Boston-based company that builds AI tools that automatically translate and optimize code for different hardware systems.
Aytay announced earlier this month that he was leaving Salesforce after 19 years. He’d been serving since 2023 as the CEO of Tableau, the Seattle-based data visualization company that was acquired by Salesforce in 2019.
“I’m incredibly energized about this next chapter,” Aytay wrote on LinkedIn. “The combination of world-class tech, real customer demand, and team building with urgency and integrity is rare — and I feel lucky to be part of it!”
Code Metal just closed a $125 million Series B funding round at a $1.25 billion valuation.
— Douglas Dawson, a longtime communications leader at Microsoft, is now leading comms for the team focused on Microsoft’s cloud and AI strategy. He previously led Microsoft’s global communications team, and has been with the company for almost 12 years.
— Harshit Shah is the new chief technology officer at LiveView Technologies, a company that develops cloud-connected video surveillance, safety, and remote monitoring solutions. Shah was previously CTO at Kyruus Health. He spent four years as an engineering leader at Amazon Web Services and another 10 at Microsoft as a software and program manager.
— Diana Leo is the new vice president of governmental affairs for the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce.
Leo has an extensive background in politics, policy, and public service. She previously led multi-state advocacy for iCivics, advancing nonpartisan K-12 civic education policies through legislative engagement. She served as grassroots and outreach director for Utah Sen. Mike Lee and held senior leadership appointments in the first Trump administration.
— Andrew Peterson joined the board of directors at Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity company DryRun Security.
Peterson is a Seattle native and entrepreneur-turned-investor who returned to the city to lead Aviso Ventures, a venture capital fund founded in 2023 to back early stage enterprise and infrastructure software startups. He previously co-founded Signal Sciences, a cybersecurity company acquired by Fastly in 2020.
— Vincent Valentino is the new energy economy lead at the Washington State Department of Commerce following more than three years leading green economy initiatives for the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development.
Valentino, who is also vice chair of the board of Washington State Green Bank, said in a post on LinkedIn, that he’s looking forward to “continuing to work to make Washington a national leader in all things clean energy and climate tech!”
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