— The Allen Institute named two new executives: Helen Protheroe as executive director of global partnerships and philanthropy, and Arden Yang as vice president of innovation.
Protheroe previously worked at the UK-based Royal College of Art as director of development and alumni relations.
Yang is a biotech vet who worked at Adaptive Biotechnologies, AstraZeneca, and Genentech before joining the Allen Institute, a Seattle-based nonprofit founded almost 20 years ago by Paul Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder. The organization focuses on neuroscience, cell science, and immunology, and funds research internationally through its Frontiers Group.
— Aaron Passey, who helped launch Qumulo back in 2012, is returning to the Seattle-based data management company.
Passey left the company in August 2016 and later spent four years as principal engineer at Dropbox.
He’ll lead Qumulo’s engineering teams alongside CTO Kiran Bhageshpur, who joined earlier this year.
Qumulo helps companies manage unstructured data. The company raised $125 million in a Series E round in 2020 at a $1.2 billion valuation. It laid off about 80 employees, or roughly 19% of its staff, in June.
Other personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech ecosystem:
— Kevin Goldsmith, a longtime Seattle startup engineering leader, joined New York music streaming company DistroKid as CTO.
— Samir Diwan, founding CEO of Seattle startup Polly, joined Madrona Venture Labs as partner.
— S. Skye Yoden is stepping down from Seattle-based nonprofit PATH, where she led its Digital Square health equity initiative.
— Lindsie Goss started a new role as director of business development at Seattle biotech startup Outpace Bio.
