Tech Moves: Xbox hires Seattle gaming vet Kim Swift; Frontdoor adds Amazon Fashion leader; more

Kim Schnell. (LinkedIn photo)

– Kim Swift has been named Senior Director of Cloud Gaming for Xbox Game Studios Publishing.

Swift is a longtime veterinarian for the Seattle gaming industry, whose résumé was Valve Software (she helped develop Portal), Airtight Games, Amazon, EA and most recently Google Stadia, where she was Game Design Director for cloud gaming for the tech giant was active, includes service.

In her new role at Xbox, Swift will be innovating and partnering with independent studios to develop games for the cloud, according to an announcement on Monday. Microsoft invests heavily in cloud-related gaming efforts.

“Today we are proud to announce that Kim Swift is joining the team to accelerate our innovation and to work with studios who would like to join us on our journey to cloud-native game development,” said Peter Wyze, Head of Xbox Game Studios Publishing said in a statement.

At Google Stadia, Swift oversaw the development of third-party third-party games. Google Stadia closed its first-party game studios in February.

Tony Bacos. (Front door photo)

– Tony Bacos, former vice president and CTO of Amazon Fashion, has joined Frontdoor as the company’s first senior vice president and chief digital officer.

Frontdoor, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is a home service plan provider. Bacos will be responsible for the company’s digital implementation and strategy. He will lead the company’s engineering, product management, data science, machine learning, AI, user experience, data security, and enterprise technology teams.

At Amazon, Bacos also ran Alexa Entertainment and Amazon’s homepage and navigation teams. He previously worked at Nike, Symantec and The Regence Group.

– Emily Parkhurst, editor and market president of the Puget Sound Business Journal, will become vice president of content at 6AM City, a hyperlocal newsletter and news aggregator company.

Emily Parkhurst. (PSBJ photo)

Parkhurst’s move was announced with 6AM’s plans to expand into more cities.

“People across the country are hungry for news that comes without the political bias that has so divided our communities, and that’s what 6AM City is serving every day in cities across the country,” Parkhurst told GeekWire.

Parkhurst said this is an opportunity that she “cannot miss” to use her skills to restore confidence in the local media.

6AM plans to expand to 50 cities across the country. To differentiate itself from competitors trying to redesign local news through newsletters, Parkhurst has said that every local market has two editors in town who are aware of their community.

“These editors are supported by a decentralized team across the country, which helps keep expenses down and allows us to grow as quickly as possible,” said Parkhurst. “It also means that each market has two local entrepreneurs whose great ideas can quickly be replicated in other cities.”

– Steven Maheshwary, director of information and communication technology for the Washington State Department of Commerce, joined the advisory board of X4Impact, based in Kirkland, Washington.

(X4Impact photo)

The advisory board currently has 14 members including Erik Arnold, CTO of Microsoft Tech for Social Impact; Vulkan boss Bill Hilf; and Tanya Hannah, CIO of King County.

X4Impact is an AI-powered market research platform for nonprofits, universities, and other organizations that focus on social impact. It was founded in 2020 and is a spin-out from Giving Tech Labs in partnership with Microsoft, Vulcan and The Hewlett Foundation.

Maheshwary previously worked at Amazon as a program leader for underserved populations and special projects and was a Fulbright Fellow from the US State Department in Malaysia.

Natalie Steck (Silicon Valley Bank Photo)

– Silicon Valley Bank hired former Viewpath CEO and President Natalie Steck as a director on their Seattle team. Previously, she was SVP of Global Sales and Marketing at Qorus Software and Senior Director of Marketing at Logic 20/20.

– Brian Paulen, Managing Partner of West Monroe, has been promoted to Head of West Coast Region for the national technology consultancy.

Paulen will continue to lead West Monroe’s Seattle office. He joined the company after acquiring Madrona Solutions Group in 2014, a CRM-focused consulting firm that he co-founded.