The tech corridors of Bellevue and neighboring Redmond have always been a magnet for talent, but this week’s leadership moves feel less like a routine shuffling of titles and more like a quiet declaration that the Pacific Northwest is where ambitious people come to build the next chapter of their careers. At the center of that energy is Asic Demberel, a former Amazon leader who has stepped into the role of chief technology officer at Scala, a Bellevue-based startup building an AI operating system for contact centers and customer operations. Demberel spent 15 years at Amazon, starting in fraud technology for AWS and eventually leaving as general manager and engineering leader for Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks. That kind of tenure is not abandoned lightly, and Demberel was clear about why he made the leap. “You don’t walk away from 15 years at Amazon for an incremental challenge,” he said. “It takes an exceptionally complex problem and an opportunity so massive that you simply can’t look away.” That sense of purpose is woven into Scala’s DNA. The company was founded by Smartsheet CEO Rajeev Singh and former Accolade executive Ardie Sameti, and it raised an $8.5 million seed round in February. For Demberel, the move is about taking the operational rigor and technical scale of Amazon and applying it to the messy, human world of customer service, where AI promises to make conversations smarter, faster, and more empathetic. It’s a reminder that even after years inside a giant, some people are still hungry for the complexity of a startup—especially one that is trying to reshape how businesses relate to their customers.
Over at Flyhomes, the Bellevue-based company that builds financial tools for buying and selling homes, the leadership team has grown with three new faces that bring a mix of real estate market experience, global product thinking, and a deeply personal connection to the company’s mission. Tyler Moynihan joins as vice president of business development, bringing a career shaped by some of the biggest names in property tech. Most recently he held a leadership role at Opendoor, and before that he spent nearly 12 years at Zillow, where he helped orchestrate major deals including the acquisition of ShowingTime and a strategic partnership with Opendoor. Moynihan’s deep understanding of the digital real estate ecosystem gives Flyhomes a seasoned dealmaker who knows how to build bridges between technology, agents, and consumers. Meanwhile, Nihit Nirmal has taken the role of vice president of product, arriving from Singapore with a global perspective. Nirmal has a track record of launching startups—including an AI agent company designed to handle corporate conversations—and has worked across multiple fintech leadership roles. His job will be to shape the product experience that customers rely on when making one of life’s biggest financial decisions. The third addition is particularly poignant: Wendy Tieu has rejoined Flyhomes as director of partner enablement. Tieu, who is based in Los Angeles, originally spent seven years at the company before leaving in 2024 for leadership roles at MoeGo and Whatnot. Her return feels like a reunion, a homecoming built on the understanding that the company’s culture and mission left a mark she couldn’t stay away from. Together, these three leaders represent the kind of ambitious, high-touch, and globally aware team that Flyhomes needs to keep growing in a competitive housing market.
In Redmond, the marketing world is also seeing a changing of the guard. Heinz Marketing, a B2B marketing and consulting firm that has served tech and business clients for nearly two decades, is restructuring its top leadership in a way that honors its past while looking firmly toward the future. Matt Heinz, who founded the company 18 years ago, is moving from president to CEO, a title that reflects the visionary role he has played for so long. Joining him at the helm is Jenn Steele, who has been named chief operating officer and president. Steele comes to Heinz Marketing from SoundGTM, a Seattle go-to-market firm she co-founded and led, and she brings with her a résumé dotted with executive roles at well-known Seattle-area companies, including serving as CEO of Kissmetrics and holding top marketing and revenue positions at several other firms. Her leadership style is practical, metrics-driven, and deeply collaborative, which should fit right in with the firm’s reputation for helping B2B companies sharpen their messaging and demand generation. But with every transition comes a moment of reflection, and this one is especially bittersweet. Maria Geokezas, who has served as chief operating officer for nearly 17 years, is retiring. During her time at Heinz Marketing, she helped shape the firm’s internal culture, client relationships, and service offerings in ways that left a permanent fingerprint on the organization. The company made clear how much she will be missed, saying that the whole team is deeply grateful for her contributions and will miss her dearly. It’s a moment that captures the emotional side of professional growth: celebrating new beginnings while recognizing the people whose steady hands made those beginnings possible. For Heinz Marketing, this leadership evolution is a signal that while the names on the door might change, the company’s commitment to its clients and its people remains steady.
One of the more intriguing announcements this week comes from Untamed Intelligence, a Bellevue startup that launched in May with a mission that feels refreshingly human in a tech world sometimes obsessed with automation for its own sake. Ludovic Fourrage announced that he is co-founder and chief AI officer of the company, a role that connects his deep technical background with a broader vision for human flourishing. Untamed Intelligence describes itself as an innovation studio dedicated to advancing human possibility, and its approach begins with a profound question: What do human beings need to flourish? From there, the company explores how technology and learning science might help people get to that answer. Fourrage’s career has been anything but linear, and that’s exactly what makes him perfect for this role. He previously served as a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, where he worked on issues tied to learning and opportunity. Before that, he spent more than 13 years at Microsoft, holding certification and learning leadership roles that gave him a front-row seat to how technology can shape education and professional growth. He is also the founder of Nucamp Coding Bootcamp, where he continues to serve as board chairman, a role that keeps him connected to the grassroots side of skills-based learning. Fourrage is joined by two equally impressive co-founders. Paul LeBlanc, the startup’s CEO, spent 21 years as president of Southern New Hampshire University, a role in which he championed access to higher education for tens of thousands of students, including those who had been left behind by traditional institutions. Rachel Koblic, the chief product officer, runs her own learning-focused consultancy and previously served as chief learning officer for Matter and Space. Together, this trio represents a powerful fusion of technology, education, and human-centered design. Untamed Intelligence is still in its early days, but the team’s combined experience suggests that it could become a meaningful voice in conversations about how AI and learning science can work together to unlock human potential.
Beyond the high-profile startups and executive appointments, this week’s Tech Moves are full of smaller but equally significant changes that reflect the breadth of the region’s tech economy. LogicGate, a Chicago-based company with a no-code governance, risk, and compliance platform, has named two Bellevue-based leaders to key roles. Mike Zinne joins as chief customer officer after stints at Quiq, Outreach, and Zendesk, giving him a strong background in customer success and enterprise software. Ram Venkat joins as senior vice president of product, coming from Highspot and bringing prior experience at Amazon and T-Mobile. The fact that a Chicago company is placing such important leaders in Bellevue is a testament to the city’s status as a hub for software talent, particularly in the area of enterprise SaaS and customer experience. Elsewhere, the Technology Alliance has appointed Matt Medlin, a longtime CPA with a focus on venture-backed companies, as chair of its board of directors. The technology and business advocacy group also announced new roles for two current board members: Jessie Thomas of Helion becomes vice chair, and Alissa Garner Byersdorfer of EY will serve as treasurer. Those leadership changes will help guide the organization as it continues to support technology-based economic growth across Washington state. The UW Climate Risk Lab, meanwhile, has added two new members to its leadership council: Brandon Middaugh, general manager of Microsoft’s sustainable markets and Climate Innovation Fund, and Peter Whitney, a business development manager at Amazon Web Services focused on AI and modern data strategy for the Americas. Their expertise will be crucial as the lab works to understand and mitigate the impacts of climate change through data-driven research. On the aerospace front, Seattle-based Nimbus Aerospace, which recently completed a test flight of its quarter-scale prototype, is bolstering its advisory board with two heavyweights. Frank Paskiewicz brings nearly three decades of regulatory experience from the Federal Aviation Administration, where he rose to deputy director of the Aircraft Certification Service, and Sheikh Rabbi, CEO and co-founder of Magnetic Motion, brings deep knowledge of hybrid-electric propulsion systems for climate-friendly aircraft. And in a move that underscores the social impact side of the tech world, Evergreen Goodwill has promoted Derieontay Sparks to chief revenue officer, putting him in charge of operations that support the nonprofit’s tuition-free education and workforce development programs. Each of these appointments may be quieter than the others, but they all speak to a region that is constantly renewing itself, drawing talent into everything from climate science to aviation to community services.
Finally, the biggest headlines in Redmond this week are also the most human: two top Microsoft executives are leaving the company they helped shape. Peter Lee, the former head of Microsoft Research, and Ryan Roslansky, the Microsoft executive vice president overseeing both LinkedIn and Microsoft Office, have both shared that they are moving on. Lee has been a central figure in Microsoft’s research efforts, a deep thinker whose work helped bridge the gap between laboratory breakthroughs and real-world products. Roslansky, meanwhile, has been a key player in the growth of LinkedIn and the evolution of Microsoft’s productivity tools, helping billions of people navigate their workdays. Their departures are not just corporate losses; they are the end of eras for two people whose names and ideas have been woven into the fabric of the company. But that is also the nature of the tech industry, especially in the Pacific Northwest. People come, they build, they mentor, and eventually they create space for the next generation to do the same. The departures bookend a week filled with new beginnings—Demberel taking on a startup challenge, Flyhomes welcoming back an old friend, Heinz Marketing turning a new page, and Untamed Intelligence asking what people truly need to flourish. There is something hopeful about that cycle. The region’s strength has never been tied to any single company or leader. It comes from the collective willingness of talented people to keep moving, keep learning, and keep building. Whether that means climbing the ranks at a massive corporation or starting something small and bold in Bellevue, the story is the same: the Pacific Northwest remains a place where careers are not just jobs but journeys. As this week’s Tech Moves show, the journey continues for everyone.
