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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →This is a historical roundup of leadership changes reported by GeekWire on April 6, 2020—not a guide to who holds these roles today. The headline moves were an announced Foursquare-Factual merger with David Shim slated to lead the combined company, and former Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann joining Pfizer’s board. The roundup also covered appointments and departures across travel, finance, technology, education, government and architecture.
Foursquare and Factual announced a merger, with David Shim set to lead
In April 2020, location-technology companies Foursquare and Factual announced that they would merge under the Foursquare brand. The announced plan put David Shim, then Foursquare’s CEO, in charge of the combined company. Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley and Factual founder and CEO Gil Elbaz were expected to remain involved on its executive team and board. The announcement described the leadership plan; it does not establish the transaction’s legal structure or the long-term fate of every product or team.
The combination brought together Foursquare’s location technology, places database, developer and business products with Factual’s location-data and enterprise capabilities. Shim had relevant experience from both sides of Foursquare’s growth: he founded location-analytics company Placed, which Snap acquired in 2017, and then joined Foursquare after it acquired Placed from Snap in 2019. He became Foursquare president and later CEO that year. GeekWire covered that earlier transition in its December 2019 report.
The April plan did not last as a permanent leadership arrangement. On November 9, 2020, GeekWire reported that Shim was stepping down as Foursquare CEO after roughly a year, with board member Gary Little expected to take over in 2021. That later report is important context for reading the original announcement as a moment in time, not a current job description: GeekWire’s November 2020 update.
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Sue Desmond-Hellmann joined Pfizer’s board
Pfizer appointed Sue Desmond-Hellmann to its board of directors. A physician and scientist, she had recently left her role as CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after more than five years. Her earlier leadership roles included serving as chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, and president of product development at Genentech; she also had board experience at Procter & Gamble and Facebook.
The appointment brought experience spanning philanthropy, medical research, biotechnology and corporate governance to Pfizer’s board. In a statement quoted by GeekWire, Desmond-Hellmann said on April 2, 2020, that she was pleased to join during a period requiring scientific and medical innovation. The timing was notable: the appointment came during the early COVID-19 period, when pharmaceutical companies were under intense public attention. It was a board appointment, not an announcement that she would lead Pfizer’s vaccine development or a specific COVID-19 program.
Other major corporate leadership changes
Microsoft hired Rubén Caballero
Rubén Caballero, a longtime Apple engineering executive associated with wireless efforts, joined Microsoft as a corporate vice president in its Mixed Reality & AI Division. GeekWire attributed the report to Bloomberg and Caballero’s LinkedIn information; it did not present the hire as a Microsoft press release. The roundup did not identify a particular product or project he would lead.
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Egencia changed presidents as travel faced disruption
Rob Greyber stepped down as longtime president of Egencia, Expedia Group’s business-travel brand, and Ariane Gorin took over leadership of the business. Expedia Group had acquired Egencia in 2004. GeekWire attributed the leadership news to Skift and placed it amid widening uncertainty in travel during the early pandemic.
Ross Tennenbaum became Avalara CFO and treasurer
Avalara named Ross Tennenbaum CFO and treasurer. He had joined the company in 2019, after experience at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, and had helped Avalara with its IPO. He succeeded Bill Ingram, who was retiring. GeekWire cited Avalara’s then-latest earnings report, which showed $107 million in revenue and 40% growth. Those figures describe the result reported at the time, not Avalara’s current performance.
Board and governance appointments
Lovina McMurchy joined Pushpay’s board
Pushpay appointed Lovina McMurchy, then a venture partner at New Zealand investment firm Movac, to its board. Her earlier Pacific Northwest experience included serving as general manager of Alexa Shopping at Amazon and general manager of Skype at Microsoft, as well as director of venture development at Starbucks. The appointment connected the New Zealand-based investor to a career that had included major Seattle-area technology employers.
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Other professional moves across the region
Finance and investment: Katherine Bellows at Cascadia Capital
Katherine Bellows joined Cascadia Capital as a managing director for business development. Her earlier roles included senior vice president at Bank of America and executive work at GE Capital.
Architecture: Flavia Grey at ZGF
ZGF Architects hired Flavia Grey to lead its data, research and development group. Grey, a Stanford-trained civil and environmental engineer, had conducted research involving building occupants and sustainable buildings.
Government: Steven Maheshwary named Washington state sector lead
Steven Maheshwary became Washington state’s information and communication technology sector lead. He joined from Amazon and had previously worked at Microsoft.
Enterprise technology: Kevin Serpanchy joined BitTitan
Kevin Serpanchy became sales director for the Americas at BitTitan, a cloud-services company. He had previously worked at ProQuest.
Education: Antoinette Josato and Mark Leid
Antoinette Josato was named director of learning at Treehouse. She had held leadership roles in technology-instruction programs and earned a doctorate in education. Washington State University named Mark Leid the incoming dean of its College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; he was scheduled to take over from interim dean Linda Garrelts MacLean in July 2020.
Agriculture technology: Keith McCall returned to Pollen Systems
At agriculture and drone-technology company Pollen Systems, founder Keith McCall returned as CEO after Phil Van Etten stepped down. The company had recently announced a partnership with TerrAvion, but the partnership alone does not establish the company’s financial performance or scale.
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What the April 2020 roundup does—and does not—show
GeekWire’s April 6 article gathered moves announced or reported around the same period, but the items did not all have the same sourcing. The roundup directly described company and individual announcements alongside reports attributed to Bloomberg, Skift, LinkedIn and other sources. In particular, the Caballero and Egencia items were attributed to Bloomberg/LinkedIn and Skift, respectively. They should be read as reported personnel news, not as claims that every item originated in a company announcement.
The original roundup is available at GeekWire’s April 6, 2020 report. Its value now is as a snapshot of executive mobility and governance appointments during an unusually unsettled period, with later developments—most notably Shim’s departure—clarifying that announced roles can change.
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