Amazon’s Jigar Thakkar Returns to Seattle as VP of AI-Powered Quick Suite
In a significant career move, Jigar Thakkar has returned to Seattle to lead Amazon Quick Suite, an innovative platform leveraging agentic AI to streamline business workflows and data access. Thakkar brings impressive credentials to this new role, having most recently served as chief technology officer at New York-based financial services firm MSCI for over seven years. His appointment marks a homecoming after his previous two-decade tenure at Microsoft, where he made his mark as the founding engineering leader of Microsoft Teams and rose to corporate vice president. Swami Sivasubramanian, VP of agentic AI at AWS, expressed enthusiasm about Thakkar’s appointment, highlighting his “customer-centric approach and ability to scale transformative products, his passion for agent technology, and his experience building platforms that serve millions of users.”
The healthcare sector also saw a notable leadership shift as Sara Vaezy rejoined consulting firm Chartis as chief product and technology officer after nearly a decade at Providence, where she served as chief transformation officer. This represents Vaezy’s second stint with the Chicago-based company, where she previously worked from 2010 to 2015. In announcing her new role, Vaezy articulated the pressing challenges facing healthcare: “We viscerally know the healthcare system is broken and needs to change. Clinicians are overburdened, patient care isn’t always well coordinated or affordable, and costs continue to increase unsustainably.” Her dual perspective from both provider and consulting backgrounds positions her uniquely to address these systemic issues while maintaining her connection to academia as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health.
Seattle-based legal-tech startup Supio, fresh off raising $60 million last year, has strengthened its executive team with two key appointments. Niki Hall joins as chief marketing officer, bringing experience from Five9 and Contentsquare, while Kelli Dragovich takes on the role of chief people officer after more than two decades in HR at companies including Google, GitHub, and Intuit. Meanwhile, mentoring software platform Chronus named Ankur Ahlowalia as CEO. Ahlowalia, who previously led software company Korbyt for over five years, expressed enthusiasm about leading a company “pioneering mentoring software and leveraging artificial intelligence to make mentorship more accessible, personalized, and impactful for all employees.” In the biotech sector, Variant Bio appointed Dr. Craig Basson as chief medical officer and president of research and development, bringing over 25 years of experience to the Seattle-based drug discovery company that works with genetically diverse populations to develop new therapies.
The intersection of technology and outdoor recreation gained a new champion as longtime Seattle-area tech leader Larry Colagiovanni joined REI to lead AI product innovation. Colagiovanni’s diverse background includes multiple stints at Microsoft, where he most recently led product vision and strategy for Microsoft Shopping and launched the company’s first conversational shopping assistant. He has also held roles at Madrona Venture Labs, Limeade, and eBay. Colagiovanni noted that his new position “brings together my passion for the outdoors with my belief in human-centered AI that supports better discovery, decision-making, and experiences.” In academic circles, serial entrepreneur Diego Oppenheimer, founder of Algorithmia (acquired by DataRobot), has taken on a new role as an executive fellow with the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he looks forward to “continuing helping to build companies, invest in founders, and now helping shape the next generation of AI-native entrepreneurs.”
Portland-based compliance technology company Smarsh announced several leadership changes, appointing Ian Goodkind as chief financial officer (previously CFO at Jamf), Kamesh Tumsi as chief product officer (from HealthEquity), and shifting former CPO Goutam Nadella to the role of chief strategy officer. The Northwest Quantum Nexus (NQN), a group supporting quantum research across the Pacific Northwest, formalized its organization with three volunteer leaders: Joseph Williams as executive director, University of Washington physics professor Charles Marcus as chief scientist, and Arry Yu as director of external affairs. In Seattle’s Yoodli, an AI roleplay startup that recently secured $40 million in funding, Stephen Delano has joined as principal software engineer after five years at digital mortgage startup Tomo, where he was a founding engineer. His background includes more than a decade at Chef, the Seattle-based automation technology company acquired in 2020 for $220 million.
The public sector in Washington state also experienced leadership transitions, with Sarah Clifthorne stepping in as interim director of the Washington State Department of Commerce following the resignation of Joe Nguyễn. Clifthorne, who has served as deputy director since February 2025, brings experience as a policy director with the Washington State Senate and in union leadership. Seattle’s new Mayor Katie Wilson made several leadership changes, including replacing Seattle City Light CEO Dawn Lindell with Dennis McLerran, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head for the Pacific Northwest region. Wilson also appointed acting directors to various city departments, including Quynh Pham at the Department of Neighborhoods, Amy Nguyen at the Office of Arts and Culture, Beto Yarce at the Office of Economic Development, and Lylianna Allala at the Office of Sustainability and the Environment. In the real estate sector, Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather joined the board of governors of the Center for Land Economics, an education and research organization promoting equitable land assessments, while WestRiver Group announced Craig Lange as managing director and lead of its Disruptive Growth Fund after Lange’s three-decade career with Caterpillar.
