Some C-suiters got pink hearts; some were wooed away by more appealing prospects. Here’s who was in and out in February.
❤️ Elham Tabassi named CTO for the brand new US AI Safety Institute
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the creation of the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) on Feb. 7, and named Elham Tabassi as the organization’s CTO and Elizabeth Kelly as its Director. AISI is operated under the umbrella of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Tabassi has been at NIST since June 1999, working as an electronics engineer until Oct. 2017, then as chief of staff through Oct. 2022. Since Oct. 2023, she’s been the agency’s chief AI advisor. In Sep. 2023, Time Magazine named her one of its 100 Most Influential People in AI.
❤️ Sonos executive Antoine Leblond joins Bumble as CTO
After 25 years at Microsoft and nearly seven years at Sonos, Antoine Leblond joined Bumble as CTO on Feb. 21, part of an overall leadership shakeup at the dating app. In an announcement for investors, Bumble said Leblond would be “leveraging foundational and emerging technologies, such as AI, to deliver more compelling and positive experiences for all users.”
Leblond served as Sonos’s SVP of software, and left Microsoft as SVP of Windows.
💔COO Asha Sharma leaves Instacart…❤️but joins Microsoft
Just over three years after joining Instacart, COO Asha Sharma is leaving to lead product for Micorosoft’s AI platform. Sharma, who was VP of product, started her career in Microsoft’s marketing department.
Sharma made the announcement in a post on LinkedIn, writing that “the pace of AI innovation over the last year has been tremendous” and that the industry is “at a tipping point.”
💔Dali Rajic leaves COO position at Zscaler…❤️to join Wiz
Cybersecurity firm Zscaler COO Dali Rajic resigned on Feb. 2 to take a job as president and COO of cloud security company Wiz. Rajic’s resignation triggered a 4.9% drop in the company’s stock price a few days later.
Rajic spent more than four years at Zscaler, including two as COO.
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