Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology has appointed Brian Piper as its new Chief Financial Officer. Piper brings extensive experience from the biotech sector, having previously held CFO positions at multiple companies including Prelude Therapeutics, Scorpion Therapeutics, and Antares Therapeutics.
In his new position at Sana, Piper will also serve as executive vice president. The company, which specializes in cell and gene therapy and became publicly traded in 2021, announced that Piper’s leadership will be essential as the organization advances its therapeutic portfolio. According to Sana CEO Steve Harr, the company has significant progress underway in its type 1 diabetes program and in vivo CAR T initiatives. Harr emphasized that Piper’s expertise will be vital for advancing their portfolio, optimizing value creation over the long term, and working toward delivering transformative treatments to patients.
Meanwhile, Aptevo Therapeutics, another Seattle biotech firm, announced a leadership transition. Marvin White, who has served as CEO since the company’s 2016 spinout from Emergent BioSolutions, will step down from the position in April. Jeff Lamothe, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and veteran executive, will assume the CEO role. White will continue his involvement with the company as executive chair.
In other personnel news, Violett, a Seattle startup focused on air purification technology, has named Scott Kushino as its CEO. Kushino, who had been serving as an advisor to the company, is a seasoned tech leader in the Seattle region. The company’s founder, Branden Doyle, has transitioned to a new role as senior account executive at Phaidra, another Seattle startup. Violett has also expanded its team with the addition of Mark Stevens as vice president of sales and Ryan Palmer joining as fractional CTO.
Adora, a Seattle marketing startup, promoted Rohil Bhansali to head of engineering. Bhansali, who was among the company’s founding engineers, previously accumulated six years of experience at Pinterest.
New York-based Noma Security brought on Ted Plumis to lead
go-to-market partnerships. Plumis, a sales veteran from the Seattle area, previously held senior vice president positions at Exabeam and vice president roles at Imperva.
Clark Nuber PS welcomed Mark Tranter as chief revenue officer. An angel investor in Seattle, Tranter previously co-founded CFO Selections, which provides executive search and interim consulting services.
Zillow Group appointed Teresa Thomas as director of product, agentic AI and experiences. Thomas, who joined Zillow in 2019, has held multiple senior manager positions within the company.
Seattle startup Yoodli named Mike Rich as head of partnerships. Rich previously served as VP at both Panopto and comScore, and most recently held a senior director position at Signifyd. Yoodli also added Ryan Hartlage, formerly a senior director at PitchBook, to lead SMB sales.
Greg Smith joined Seattle-area startup Scala as global head of growth and GTM. Smith’s background includes positions as group vice president at Transcarent and senior marketing manager at both GE Healthcare Digital and Premera Blue Cross. Scala recently secured an $8.5 million seed funding round.
Placements.io brought Aaron Stacy aboard as senior enterprise sales director. Stacy’s experience includes previous roles at Amazon and Microsoft.
Finally, Seattle startup Casium appointed Conrad Pastore as senior immigration specialist. Pastore previously worked as a senior subject matter expert at Boundless, another Seattle-based immigration startup.