Chris Bee, a tech executive who previously worked at Lessen, Zillow, and Uber, has joined AI email startup Superhuman as chief technology officer.
Bee was most recently the CTO at Lessen, a property services management startup valued at more than $2 billion last year.
“I can’t be more excited to help build such a beloved product that gives people time back every day,” Bee wrote on LinkedIn.
San Francisco-based Superhuman secured $75 million in 2021 to fuel the development of its email app, which aims to streamline how people send, receive, and compose emails in clients including Gmail and Outlook. The company is now focusing on enterprises.
Bee, who is based in Seattle, was previously a senior director at Zillow Group and a senior engineering manager at Uber.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
— Tammy Perkins, a longtime HR executive based in Seattle, has joined HR software provider ProService as chief people officer. Perkins previously held the same role at HAVI and spent 13 years at Amazon. She has also worked at PMI Worldwide, Fjuri, Appen, and Microsoft.
—Jonathan Klein, co-founder and former CEO of Seattle-based Getty Images, resigned from the company’s board last week. Klein, who helped launch the photo giant in 1995, stepped down as CEO in 2015, and left his chair role in 2018.
— Olly Downs, a longtime Seattle tech leader, was named chief technology and AI officer at Curinos. He joined the New York City-based fintech startup last year. Downs previously held executive roles at BARK, Zulily, and Zillow Group. He founded and led Amplero, a Seattle marketing startup.
— Larry Hryb, who spent more than 20 years at Microsoft and became the de-facto face of Xbox, has joined Unity as director of community at the game development giant.
“At Unity, I see a horizon brimming with potential,” Hryb wrote on LinkedIn. “Unity’s mission of empowering creative and business success of creators around the world across games, apps, and experiences aligns with my lifelong passion for innovation and community building.”
Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, stepped away from Microsoft last year. He was one of the main ambassadors of Xbox and also hosted the Official Xbox Podcast.
— Seattle logistics startup Pipe17 has hired Ryan Powell as chief revenue officer. Powell previously worked at Ryder System, Whiplash, and Easyship.
— Chris Green has joined the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association as its first president. He was most recently assistant director for the Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness at the Washington State Department of Commerce.
— Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit Latino Founders named Juan Barraza as its new executive director. Barraza joined the organization’s board in 2019. He is currently director of innovation and entrepreneurship at VertueLab.
— Andrew Coté, vice president of strategy and growth at Seattle startup Brinc Drones, has joined the Business Executives for National Security, a network of security business leaders based in Washington, D.C.
— Karina Martija-Harris, previously a program manager at Washington Maritime Blue, has joined the National Security Innovation Network as a program management analyst.
