Rick Bergman, former executive vice president at semiconductor giant AMD, joined Seattle-area mobile connectivity company Kymeta as its new CEO, effective April 1.
Bergman left AMD in September after four years at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. He was previously CEO of Synaptics, a hardware and software giant also based in Silicon Valley.
Kymeta’s current co-CEOs Doug Hutcheson and Walter Berger are retiring effective March 31.
Kymeta, which was founded in 2012 with backing from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, makes use of an innovative type of technology called metamaterials to build antennas that can be steered by software, without moving parts. Its hybrid cellular-satellite terminals can facilitate communications in hard-to-reach areas — an application that’s been of particular interest to defense customers.
The company raised $84 million in 2022; total funding to date is nearly $400 million.
Kymeta also announced that former Boeing exec Nicole Piasecki will be its chair of the board, a role Hutcheson previously held.
Other key personnel changes across Pacific Northwest tech:
- Inbal Shani joined Twilio as chief product officer of the Twilio Communications business unit. Shani, based in Seattle, previously held the same role at GitHub, and was a manager at Microsoft and Amazon.
- Eric Fleishman, former chief architect at DocuSign, joined digital identity and remote online notarization startup Proof as its chief technology officer. Fleishman, based in Seattle, spent more than eight years at DocuSign and previously was at Microsoft for nearly a decade.
- Denene Prophet-Williams joined Seattle’s Fred Hutch as its new chief nursing officer and vice president. She was most recently executive director of clinical operations and research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Samuel Oschin Cancer Center, and previously spent eight years at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
- Peggy Johnson, the former Microsoft executive who stepped down as Magic Leap CEO last fall, is the new CEO of Agility Robotics, the Corvalis, Ore.-based company known for the Digit bipedal humanoid warehouse robot. Read more.
- Longtime marketing executive Amy Sellers joined Seattle-based e-bike giant Rad Power Bikes as its vice president of marketing. Sellers was previously CMO at Seattle apparel startup TomboyX and vice president of marketing at real estate company Flyhomes.
- Rachael Moss joined Seattle-based biotech company Inventprise as chief people officer. Moss was previously vice president of talent at Seattle e-commerce startup Fabric and held exec roles at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Equinix.
- The Gates Foundation named Paulin Basinga as its new director of Gates Foundation Africa. Basinga joined the Seattle-based nonprofit 12 years ago and was most recently its global director, program advocacy and communication.
- Stefan Ramirez joined Seattle gaming startup Starform as its new chief operating officer. Ramirez previously was an exec at Prytania Media, BonusXP, and En Masse Entertainment.
