The District tech community is shuffling its C-suites and filling key positions as it gears up for autumn. We rounded up some of the biggest names that switched companies, stepped down or got promoted and ordered new business cards in July.
Arlington-based Giant Oak, an AI and behavioral science software company, announced the appointment of Karelle Joun as CFO as it expands its workforce and customer list, especially in the government and financial sectors. Previously, Joun served as VP of finance for TrackMaven, which was acquired by Skyword, and as senior director of finance for Telarix. Read more.
&pizza has named Andy Hooper as its new president and COO. Hooper's role is a newly created one, allowing him to pull back from a handful of day-to-day operations and focus on building &pizza’s brand. The move follows the recent hires of CEO Erik Bruner-Yang and CFO John Reepmeyer. Read more.
After five years as a leader at Seed Spot, C’pher Gresham is taking over as CEO of the D.C. incubator. He will succeed co-founder Courtney Klein following her eight-year run as chief executive. The announcement follows the social-impact incubator's recent hiring of Kelly O’Malley and S. Lovey Parker to lead its second Impact Accelerator program in D.C. Read more.
Accenture promoted North American CEO Julie Sweet, a Greater Washington executive, to the top post of global chief executive, effective Sept. 1. The Arlington County-based power player is now the 34th female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, joining three other local women with that distinction. Read more.
Climate-friendly policy expert Kate Henningsen is taking over as COO of Arcadia Power, a District-based tech startup making renewable energy accessible for residential consumers. Henningsen spent several years as a litigator and also worked for Donna Brazile and the Clinton Global Initiative. Read more.
Software and services provider Ellucian has named Asim Zaheer as its new CMO, in charge of its global brand marketing, communications and marketing operations teams. He brings with him 25 years of experience in tech, including previous stints as CMO at Hitachi Vantara and CMO and SVP at Hitachi Data Systems. Read more.
ICF International named its first new CEO in two decades. Chief Operating Officer John Wasson will take the post Oct. 1, succeeding Chairman and CEO Sudhakar Kesavan, who has led the company since 1999. Wasson has been COO since 2003 and was named president of the company in 2010, helping oversee ICF’s recent growth. Read more.
Reston-based Contegix, a managed service provider focused on customer experience apps, named Elizabeth Clor as its new chief marketing officer. Clor most recently served as VP of demand generation at MicroStrategy and previously held leadership positions at Opower and Clarabridge. Meanwhile, Kevin Norlin, senior executive VP of worldwide sales, and Stephen Holdridge, senior executive VP of worldwide services, also resigned from MicroStrategy. Read more.
Falls Church, Va.-based Cognosante hired former General Dynamics executive Chad Thyes as senior VP and general manager for two business groups: its civilian health division and its “J.Lodge” group that includes quality assurance and performance analytics. He joins Cognosante after nearly a decade in General Dynamics' IT services segment, where he was a program VP.
Arlington's By Light Professional IT Services added federal market stalwart Tom Nixon to its executive ranks as senior VP. Nixon will lead its work with homeland security and law enforcement agencies. Previously, he was chief growth officer at MetroStar Systems and held the same role at SRA International.
Reston-based IT contractor NCI Information Systems hired federal market veteran Chuck Hicks as executive VP and CFO. Hicks joins NCI from commercial real estate firm Cresa Global, where he served as CFO. He previously held leadership roles at defense technology services firm SC3, ASRC Federal and Science Applications International Corp. Read more.
