Executive Shuffle: Pacific Northwest Tech Leaders Reshape Leadership Teams

According to GeekWire, multiple Pacific Northwest technology companies announced executive changes this week, including iSpot appointing Julie Van Ullen as president and chief revenue officer, MoxiWorks naming Ashley Fidler as chief product officer, and F5 CEO François Locoh-Donou set to become board chair in March 2026. Other notable moves include Trupanion adding former Expeditors CFO Bradley Powell to its board, Seattle’s soccer clubs hiring Ro Vega as chief marketing officer, and former Amazon Web Services leader Bill Platt joining blockchain infrastructure company Alchemy as COO. The executive shifts span advertising measurement, real estate technology, enterprise software, and sports marketing, reflecting ongoing leadership realignment across the region’s tech ecosystem as companies position for growth in evolving markets.

Advertising Measurement Faces Leadership Transition

The appointment of Julie Van Ullen at iSpot signals a critical juncture for advertising measurement technology as traditional TV and streaming metrics converge. Van Ullen’s background at Rakuten Rewards and position on the Interactive Advertising Bureau board brings crucial e-commerce and industry standards expertise to a company that faces increasing pressure to demonstrate ROI across fragmented viewing platforms. The timing is particularly significant as major advertisers demand more sophisticated attribution models that can track consumer behavior from ad exposure to purchase across both linear and digital channels. Van Ullen’s challenge will be scaling iSpot’s measurement capabilities while maintaining the trust of media buyers who are increasingly skeptical of competing measurement claims in a crowded marketplace.

Real Estate Tech Focuses After Strategic Divestiture

MoxiWorks’ appointment of Ashley Fidler as chief product officer comes just one month after the company sold its back-office accounting product, representing a strategic pivot toward sales and marketing solutions. Fidler’s experience at Microsoft and Pure Property Management suggests MoxiWorks is doubling down on platform development rather than maintaining a broader suite of real estate tools. This reflects a broader trend in proptech where companies are shedding peripheral services to focus on core competitive advantages. The emphasis on “cutting-edge AI with real-world business impact” mentioned in the company’s announcement indicates MoxiWorks is betting heavily on artificial intelligence to differentiate in a crowded real estate technology market where many platforms offer similar basic functionality.

Enterprise Leadership Succession Planning

F5’s announcement that CEO François Locoh-Donou will assume the board chair role in 2026 represents a carefully orchestrated leadership transition that gives the company nearly two years to prepare for Alan Higginson’s retirement. This extended timeline is unusual in today’s fast-moving tech landscape and suggests F5 values continuity in its board governance during a period of significant industry transformation. The combined CEO-chair role, while common in technology companies, raises governance questions about oversight and accountability that investors will likely scrutinize. Similarly, Trupanion’s addition of Bradley Powell to its board brings financial expertise from Expeditors International at a time when the pet insurance provider faces margin pressure from rising veterinary costs and increased competition.

Cross-Industry Talent Migration Accelerates

The executive moves highlight an accelerating trend of talent crossing traditional industry boundaries. Bill Platt’s transition from AWS’s agentic AI division to blockchain infrastructure at Alchemy represents the kind of cross-pollination that’s becoming increasingly common as foundational technologies like AI become applicable across sectors. Similarly, Ro Vega’s move from digital advertising at The Trade Desk to sports marketing with Seattle’s soccer clubs demonstrates how consumer marketing expertise transfers across seemingly disparate industries. This talent fluidity suggests that executive skills in platform development, data analytics, and digital transformation are becoming increasingly portable, with leaders following emerging opportunities rather than remaining within narrow industry silos.

Pacific Northwest Ecosystem Implications

These executive changes collectively signal the maturation of the Pacific Northwest technology ecosystem beyond its Amazon and Microsoft anchors. The fact that companies like iSpot (ranked No. 6 on the GeekWire 200) can attract talent from major players like Rakuten demonstrates the region’s growing appeal for specialized technology domains. However, the concentration of these announcements also raises questions about whether there’s sufficient executive talent depth in the region to support continued growth without increased recruitment from outside markets. The remote appointment of Gurobi Optimization’s CTO in Germany further illustrates how Pacific Northwest companies are adapting to distributed leadership models to access specialized expertise beyond local talent pools.