Seattle tech leader Lauren Sato has joined hardware startup studio Conduit Venture Labs as an entrepreneur-in-residence. Sato, the former CEO of Ada Developers Academy, will focus on Conduit’s health and performance vertical. She has expertise in knee injuries, particularly their impact on female athletes, and aims to address the needs of female athletes in her work with Conduit. Sato is also part of the team bringing the 2026 FIFA World Cup to Seattle, and she plans to focus on the number of athletes in the Women’s World Cup who missed the tournament due to ACL injuries.
Conduit Venture Labs, founded by Amish Patel and Susan Paley, aims to create a portfolio of hardware companies in areas including health and fitness tech. Sato praised Conduit’s unique approach, stating that hardware founders often face challenges in entering the industry, but Conduit’s resources and support will be a game changer.
In other news, The Riveter co-CEO Heather Carter is stepping down from her role, leaving Amy Sterner Nelson as the sole CEO of the women-focused professional network and mentorship company. Carter will be launching Venture Vitamin, a startup consulting firm with a venture capital arm, and will continue to advise The Riveter.
Techstars Seattle accelerator announced four new entrepreneurs in residence: Arean Van Veelan as CTO-in-residence, Bill Bryant as investor-in-residence, Chris Pitchford as chief revenue officer-in-residence, and Yifan Zhang as CEO-in-residence. Each brings a wealth of experience and expertise to their respective roles.
Starbucks announced that former CEO Howard Schultz is retiring from the coffee giant’s board of directors. Schultz had previously stepped down as interim CEO in March.
Cynthia Randall has been promoted to deputy general counsel and head of litigation at Microsoft. She has been with the company for nearly a decade in various general counsel roles.
Seattle AI contract management startup Lexion has hired Craig Sadowski as vice president of finance. Sadowski joins Lexion with experience in finance and planning from his previous roles at SkyKick and Outreach.
Britt Stromberg has been hired as CMO at Seattle menopause health startup Gennev. She previously founded and served as editor-in-chief at Underwire, a company that provided part-time CMO services for women’s health and wellness companies.
Randa Sbeity has been hired as senior engineering manager at Seattle startup Humanly. Previously, she served as senior engineering manager at BetterUp, a company that provides virtual professional coaching services to enterprises.
Acumatica, a cloud software company based in Kirkland, Washington, has appointed Jeff Smits as chief information officer. Smits previously served as CTO at Prime Trust, a provider of financial infrastructure APIs for fintech and digital asset companies.
Chronus, a Seattle mentor-focused tech company, has named David Satterwhite as CEO. Satterwhite brings five years of experience as chief revenue officer at UserTesting, a video-based human insights company.
Annie Pankiewicz will join Seattle elderly mental health startup Rippl Care as senior business development manager. She previously served as senior external relations liaison at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
Crelate, a Seattle-area recruitment platform, has promoted Kortney Harmon to director of industry relations. Harmon, who previously served as staffing and recruiting industry principal, is also the host of the Full Desk Experience podcast about staffing and recruiting.
Definitions:
– Entrepreneur-in-residence: An individual who works with a venture capital firm or startup incubator, providing entrepreneurial expertise and guidance to the companies within their portfolio.
– Hardware startup studio: A venture or organization that focuses on developing and supporting hardware-based startups, providing resources, mentorship, and funding.
– ACL injuries: Anterior cruciate ligament injuries, which are common knee injuries, particularly among athletes, that can result in significant impairment and require rehabilitation or surgery.
– Venture capital: Funding provided to early-stage, high-potential startups with the expectation of high returns on investment.
Sources:
– GeekWire (source article)
– Various company websites and press releases
