Ravi Vedula is leaving Microsoft after 26 years, and former Amazon AI chief Rohit Prasad is set to become Boston Dynamics CEO on October 7, 2026. Other notable Pacific Northwest appointments include new technology, AI, and international-growth leaders at Qualtrics, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and Overland AI.
Leadership changes at Microsoft and Boston Dynamics
Ravi Vedula leaves Microsoft after 26 years
Microsoft corporate vice president Ravi Vedula is leaving the company after 26 years, according to GeekWire’s October 6, 2026 roundup. He joined Microsoft in 2000 and was the first engineering manager for Exchange Online. Most recently, he led an organization of more than 1,000 people responsible for the data and analytics platform behind Microsoft 365 and Copilot.
Vedula said he plans to focus for now on travel, finding ways to contribute, and writing, while remaining open to another professional chapter. His book, Hyderabad Days: The Code We Lived By Before We Coded, was published in March 2026 by Microsoft’s 8080 Books. He has also considered writing about his 2017 heart transplant.
Rohit Prasad takes over as Boston Dynamics CEO
Rohit Prasad is scheduled to become Boston Dynamics CEO on October 7, 2026, GeekWire reported. He previously served as Amazon’s senior vice president and head scientist for artificial general intelligence, leaving the company at the end of 2025. He joined Amazon in 2013 during Alexa’s early development and oversaw work on its Nova AI models.
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Prasad succeeds interim CEO Amanda McMaster, the company’s CFO. Robert Playter retired in February after more than 30 years at Boston Dynamics. Prasad was expected to join the company’s board, but that appointment was still subject to approval in GeekWire’s report. Boston Dynamics makes Spot and Stretch robots and is developing the Atlas humanoid; Hyundai Motor Group holds a controlling stake.
New executives at Qualtrics, Fred Hutch, and Overland AI
| Organization | Appointment | Relevant background |
|---|---|---|
| Qualtrics | Mike Potter, chief technology officer | Joined from Ontario healthcare company Petal; previously held leadership roles at Qlik, IBM, and Cognos. |
| Fred Hutch Cancer Center | Shawn Stapleton, vice president and chief AI and innovation officer | Led AI lifecycle management at MD Anderson Cancer Center for more than three years; previously headed data science for Philips in Seattle. |
| Overland AI | Jon Abramovic, vice president of international growth | Most recently director of global defense sales at SIG Sauer; spent eight years at Oshkosh Defense leading business development across Europe and Asia. |
Qualtrics appoints CTO Mike Potter
Potter’s appointment comes as Qualtrics, which has dual headquarters in Seattle and Provo, Utah, navigates other company changes. GeekWire reported that the company recently cut 117 jobs connected to its Seattle operations, largely in engineering and product, and paid $6.75 billion to acquire Press Ganey Forsta in 2025. The roundup does not connect either event to Potter’s appointment.
Fred Hutch creates an AI and innovation post
Fred Hutch created Stapleton’s role as vice president and chief AI and innovation officer. The cancer center said he helped scale AI initiatives across clinical, research, and administrative settings at MD Anderson. Before that, he led data science for Philips in Seattle.
Overland AI adds an international-growth leader
Seattle-based defense technology startup Overland AI named Abramovic vice president of international growth. His earlier sales leadership work included Taiwan, Prague, and Beijing. GeekWire placed Overland AI at No. 7 in its GeekWire 200 ranking of regional private technology startups; the roundup does not state the ranking’s measurement date or methodology.
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Other Pacific Northwest technology appointments
- Noosphere Labs: The Seattle-area startup announced a leadership team for its effort to develop “human-centered physical intelligence”—AI intended to help people interact with and understand the physical world. The team includes launcher and former Meta AI research director Kevin Carlberg; co-founder and COO Tyler Simpson; engineering leader Andrew Ma; founding design partner Joshua Walton; founding hardware partner Louis Barinaga; founding AI engineers Andrew Smith and Michael Iuzzolino; and founding architect Mikhail Shashkov.
- Earth Finance: Liz Pearce became the Seattle climate startup’s first chief commercial officer after serving as chief revenue officer at Ever.green. Earth Finance recently launched SpatiaFi, a tool for location-based capital decisions.
- Tenable: Charlie Bell, formerly an AWS executive and later a Microsoft leader in security, compliance, and identity, joined the company’s board. GeekWire said the appointment was disclosed in an SEC filing and came amid Tenable’s push in AI-driven exposure management.
- Amazon: Fırat Güder, a professor and chief engineer at Imperial College London’s Güder Research Group, joined Amazon’s special projects organization as a scholar. Separately, Leonardo de Moura was promoted to vice president and distinguished scientist with AWS in Seattle; he joined Amazon in 2023.
- WTIA: Amelia Marckworth became director of programs, innovation and entrepreneurship. She joins from Seattle University, where she held leadership roles for more than a decade and was an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship.
- Hyperparam: Hernan Alvarez joined the Seattle startup to lead product and go-to-market. The company builds tools for collecting, storing, and analyzing AI-system data and recently launched HypAware for oversight of AI agents and error detection. Alvarez previously led Great Expectations as CEO.
- Zap Energy: Philip Jensen joined the Everett-based company as vice president of fuel programs and operations. He previously worked at First American Nuclear and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. GeekWire reported that Zap expanded its focus to include nuclear fission in April.
- Noble Studios: Christie Johansen-Pinney became Seattle-based vice president of client experience after holding vice president roles at Rooster Punk, DEPT, and The Marketing Practice.
- Scowtt: Anders Mortensen, formerly chief revenue officer at The Trade Desk and a Google executive for more than 13 years, joined the Seattle advertising-technology startup’s advisory board. Scowtt helps advertisers optimize ad spending.
How to read this week’s moves
The appointments span different kinds of organizational change rather than one shared trend: a long-tenured executive’s departure, a CEO succession, functional leadership hires, board and advisory appointments, and the formation of a startup leadership team. The roundup reports personnel changes, not a common cause or a forecast of what they will mean for the companies involved.
Quick Recap
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