Julie Van Ullen Takes Helm at iSpot as Leadership Shifts Reshape Pacific Northwest Tech Scene

In a significant move within the advertising technology sector, Julie Van Ullen has stepped into the dual role of president and chief revenue officer at iSpot, the Bellevue-based company known for measuring advertising impact across television and streaming platforms. Van Ullen, who maintains a board position with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), brings valuable experience from her previous role at Rakuten Rewards. iSpot founder and CEO Sean Muller praised Van Ullen as “a dynamic leader with a proven track record of building high-growth teams and fostering trusted relationships with customers across the media and advertising ecosystem.” This appointment comes as iSpot continues to cement its position as a regional powerhouse, ranking sixth on GeekWire’s prestigious list of top privately held startups in the Pacific Northwest. The company’s continued growth reflects the increasing importance of sophisticated advertising measurement tools in today’s fragmented media landscape.

Meanwhile, the Seattle tech ecosystem continues to evolve with MoxiWorks appointing Ashley Fidler as chief product officer for their real estate platform. Fidler, whose background includes experience at Pure Property Management and Microsoft, is expected to bring “incredible depth of experience in building category-defining platforms that marry cutting-edge AI with real-world business impact,” according to MoxiWorks CTO Michael Messig. This strategic hire follows significant organizational changes at MoxiWorks, including the appointment of a new chief marketing officer last month and the sale of their back-office accounting product earlier this year as they sharpen their focus on sales and marketing technologies. In the sports business sector, Seattle’s professional soccer scene welcomed Ro Vega as chief marketing officer for both Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC. Vega’s impressive resume includes nearly two decades in brand management, with notable positions at Beats by Dr. Dre and Nike, where he specialized in soccer products across North America before joining from digital advertising company The Trade Desk.

Corporate governance changes are also reshaping the region’s tech landscape, with F5’s CEO and President François Locoh-Donou set to expand his responsibilities by taking on the additional role of board chair in March 2026. This transition, disclosed through an SEC filing, will see Locoh-Donou succeed Alan Higginson, who announced his retirement after an extraordinary tenure of nearly three decades as an F5 board member, including 20 years as board chair. In another board-level appointment, Seattle-based pet insurance provider Trupanion has welcomed Bradley Powell to its board of directors. Powell brings valuable financial expertise from his previous role as chief financial officer at Expeditors International of Washington, a global logistics company, and earlier experience as CFO at Eden Bioscience, a publicly traded biotechnology firm. These governance changes reflect the maturation of the Pacific Northwest tech sector, as companies balance innovation with established leadership structures.

The region’s technology ecosystem continues to draw specialized talent, as evidenced by Gurobi Optimization’s appointment of Oliver Bastert as chief technology officer. Based in Beaverton, Oregon, the mathematical problem-solving technology company will have Bastert working remotely from Munich, Germany, leveraging his experience from analytics and credit-scoring company FICO, where he served as vice president of product management. In a significant move that bridges traditional tech with emerging blockchain technologies, Bill Platt, who previously led Amazon Web Services’ agentic AI division, has joined San Francisco-based Alchemy as chief operating officer. After nearly 12 years at AWS across two stints, Platt’s new mandate focuses on “weaving AI agents deeply into blockchain infrastructure,” highlighting the growing intersection between artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies that continues to attract top talent from established tech giants.

Communications leadership is also seeing significant changes across the region’s organizations. The Seattle Metro Chamber has appointed Mara Samudrala as director of communications and marketing, bringing experience from the Greater Phoenix Chamber to the region’s leading business association. In an interesting “co-op swap,” Halley Knigge has transitioned from her role as communications and inclusion lead at REI Co-op to become VP of communications at BECU, a financial cooperative. Knigge’s background includes media leadership experience at Alaska Airlines, bringing valuable perspective to her new position. These communications leadership changes reflect the importance organizations are placing on strategic messaging and stakeholder engagement in an increasingly complex business environment.

The startup ecosystem continues to evolve with Casium, a Seattle-based immigration tech startup, bringing on Kaustubh (Kaust) Yadav as product designer. Yadav’s diverse background in creative direction, copywriting, and product design includes work on campaigns for major companies like Amazon, AmEx, BMW, Citi, and Pepsi. This hiring demonstrates how specialized startups are attracting talent with broad corporate experience to address specific challenges – in Casium’s case, applying technology solutions to the complex field of immigration. As the Pacific Northwest tech scene continues to mature, this blend of established corporate leadership changes alongside emerging startup growth creates a dynamic environment where innovation and experience increasingly complement each other. The region’s diverse technology sectors – from advertising measurement and real estate platforms to immigration tech and blockchain applications – showcase the breadth of technological advancement occurring throughout the ecosystem.