Veteran entrepreneur and startup advisor Dave Parker is taking over as CEO at global networking group Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
Parker has been around startups for nearly three decades as a founder, investor, and mentor for various companies. He was a leader at Startup Weekend and Code Fellows, and led the Founder Cohort program for the Washington Technology Industry Association.
Founded in 1987, EO’s community includes nearly 19,000 members across 83 countries and 222 chapters, including in Seattle. EO aims to connect founders and business owners at various stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
“When I heard there was a role open for a CEO in an organization focused on supporting and connecting entrepreneurs worldwide, it felt like serendipity,” Parker said.
Parker said he aims to grow the EO membership base to more than 35,000 people over the next few years. He will remain based in the Seattle area.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest:
— Seattle technical recruiting startup Karat named Nathan Rader as chief revenue officer. Rader previously spent more than a decade at Google, including as head of sales for Google Cloud, and most recently worked for HighRadius.
— Kelly Fukai was named chief operating officer at WTIA. She joined the nonprofit in 2022 after stints with Spokane International Airport and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.
— Seattle-area biotech company SystImmune named Dr. Jie D’Elia as CEO. D’Elia previously was a senior vice president at Bristol Myers Squibb.
— Steve Buckley, a longtime Seattle-area manufacturing leader, is joining geological and mining startup GeologicAI as senior vice president of instrumentation. Buckley founded Seattle-area startup Photon Machines in 2006, and was most recently president of Block Engineering.
— Shashi Jain was named partner at Portland Seed Fund. Jain previously was a principal at the Portland, Ore.-based fund, and is a tech industry vet who spent more than two decades at Intel.
— Erik Moore, chief information officer at DevilDog Cybersecurity, was hired as program director for a new cybersecurity master’s program at Seattle University.
