Brad Gray is stepping down from NanoString after 14 years leading the Seattle biotech company as CEO.
NanoString this week completed its acquisition to life sciences research and diagnostic giant Bruker, which bought the company’s assets for approximately $392.6 million in cash after NanoString entered a bankruptcy process earlier this year.
“We have found in Bruker a wonderful home for the enterprise so many people worked so hard to build,” Gray wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I know our customers will be well cared for, and my colleagues will continue our mission to Map the Universe of Biology.”
NanoString CFO Tom Bailey is also departing the company.
Most of NanoString’s other senior leaders are staying onboard under its new owner, according to a NanoString spokesperson, including Chief Scientific Officer Joe Beechem.
NanoString said in February it was exploring a potential sale following its loss in a patent infringement case late last year against 10X Genomics, which accused NanoString of infringing on seven patents related to NanoString’s GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler that analyzes RNA and protein.
Founded in 2003, NanoString spun out of the Institute for Systems Biology and went public in 2013.
Before joining NanoString in 2010, Gray was a vice president at Genzyme Genetics, and also spent four years at McKinsey & Company.
Other key personnel changes across Pacific Northwest tech:
— The co-founders of Temporal, a Seattle startup that helps companies write and run cloud applications, are swapping positions.
Samar Abbas, who was previously CTO, is now CEO. Maxim Fateev, who was CEO, is now CTO.
“This change is strategic, meant to leverage our founders’ unique strengths,” the company said on LinkedIn.
Abbas and Fateev previously worked together at Uber and helped build an internal open-source orchestration engine called Cadence. The reception to that idea sparked them to launch Temporal in 2019.
Fateev previously worked at Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Abbas also worked at Microsoft and Amazon.
Temporal raised a $75 million round last year.
— Digital remittance company Remitly hired Ronit Peled as its new chief people officer. Peled previously worked at DreamBox Learning as its chief people officer, and also held roles at OpenMarket and Amdocs.
— Anup Chamrajnagar, former CFO and COO at Certa, joined Seattle marketing startup Gradial as co-founder and chief commercial officer. Gradial raised $5.4 million in February. “I still had exciting work to do at Certa.ai, but the rest of the crew embarked on a journey to revolutionize marketing tech,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “After some building, I’m beyond excited to be reunited with the guys.”
— Lisa Nelson, a longtime Seattle-area tech leader who previously ran Microsoft’s venture fund, joined the board of telecommunications giant Spark New Zealand. “I’ve been engaged in the New Zealand ecosystem for many years now because I believe it is a country that consistently punches above its weight,” Nelson wrote on LinkedIn.
— Seattle cybersecurity startup Cyemptive Technologies hired Wessel Graatasma as vice president overseeing the company’s business in European markets. Graatasma previously was a vice president at Solid Optics.
— Seattle-based communications agency Kiterocket hired Jessica Fishman as a director of renewable energy. Fishman previously held exec roles at Powur, AlsoEnergy, and SolarEdge.
— Amazon’s Prime Video added racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. to hits broadcast booth for its upcoming NASCAR Cup Series coverage that kicks off next year.
