One of Seattle’s tallest skyscrapers has a new name that reflects JPMorganChase’s growing banking and technology hub in Seattle.

Formerly known as the Russell Investments Center, the building at 1301 Second Ave. is now the JPMorganChase Center.

The renaming coincides with JPMorganChase adding an additional 40,000 square feet at the 42-floor tower, which also houses Zillow Group and Perkins Coie.

The financial services giant, which now occupies 128,000 square feet, is also relocating its Seattle Tech Center from 1201 Third Ave. to the newly expanded space.

JPMorganChase has 850 employees in Seattle, including 400 tech workers — that’s up slightly from 380 people last year.

The company’s Seattle Tech Center opened in 2018, in part to tap into the region’s talent pool. The center focuses on areas including cybersecurity, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. It’s led by Mamtha Banerjee, a computer scientist, business leader, and Seattle startup veteran.

JPMorganChase implemented a five-day in-office policy last year. It has more than 2,220 employees across 150 branches and corporate offices in Washington state. There are about 320,000 employees globally. The company recently opened a new headquarters in Manhattan.

The company also on Wednesday anounced $1.5 million in grants to five Seattle-area nonprofits: Business Impact NW, Friends of Little Saigon, Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, Seattle University’s RAMP-up, and the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict program of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

The office expansion comes as downtown Seattle hit another record high for vacancy rate last year at 34.7% in Q4, as hybrid work continues to weigh on the commercial real estate market.

Zillow once filled several floors of the JPMorganChase Center but scaled down after committing to remote work during the pandemic. More than 70% of the Zillow’s workforce is made up of remote employees.

Russell Investments moved its Seattle headquarters last year from 1301 Second Ave. to nearby Rainier Square.

— Amazon’s Uwem Ukpong has a new title, moving from vice president of Global Services to VP of AWS Industries.

Ukpong has been with the tech giant for more than four years, joining from energy technology company Baker Hughes.

Ukpong’s resume is dominated by a 22-year stretch at Schlumberger, a Houston-based software and internet company that has offices internationally.

— Alicia Teel is now acting director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development. She was previously deputy director of the department, which supports small businesses and economic growth.

Teel began her career at the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce where she worked for more than 15 years.

At the Office of Economic Development, “[o]ur talented team is dedicated to leading projects and making investments that open up access to economic opportunities across our city, reduce the racial wealth gap, and encourage innovation and growth,” Teel said in a statement.

In announcing the appointment, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson thanked former director Markham McIntyre “for his leadership supporting small business recovery after the pandemic.”

McIntyre was in the role for four years. He also previously held leadership positions with the Chamber of Commerce, leaving the title of executive VP.

— Manik Gupta is leaving his role as corporate VP of Microsoft Teams.

“With Teams, I had the opportunity to combine my consumer DNA with learning the scale and complexity of the enterprise. The lessons, playbooks, and friendships I’ve gained will stay with me always,” Gupta said on LinkedIn.

Gupta, who is based in California, joined Microsoft in 2021. He said he’s exploring career options in AI, adding that “I’m convinced that the hardest and most interesting work in AI now lies in turning powerful models into products people can rely on every day.”

— ESS appointed Drew Buckley as CEO of the Oregon-based, long-duration energy storage company. Buckley joined the battery company in August as leader of its investor relations and capital market strategy. He previously spent 17 years as a technology-focused partner at the financial services firm William Blair.

“Drew brings an incredible track record of success, with the experience and industry relationships necessary to lead ESS to its next stage, manufacturing and delivery of our first Energy Base projects, and broader commercialization expected to commence this year,” said Harry Quarls, ESS board chairman.

ESS also named Kate Suhadolnik as chief financial officer from her current role as interim CFO. Suhadolnik has been with the publicly-traded company for more than four years.

Eric Dresselhuys resigned as ESS CEO in February and Kelly Goodman, who had been vice president of legal, became the interim chief executive. Goodman is now chief strategy officer and general counsel.

— Savanna Thompson is chief business operations officer role at fusion company Helion Energy after serving as VP of people & workplace Operations. She has been with the Everett, Wash., business for more than three years.

“As we move from building fusion machines to deploying fusion power plants, this role reflects the importance of scaling our teams, systems, and infrastructure that support our ambitious goals,” said Helion CEO David Kirtley in announcing the promotion.

Thompson joined Helion from 98point6, a Seattle telehealth company.

— Jackie Ostlie has returned to Microsoft, taking the role of director of AI initiatives in Microsoft Learning.

“I am incredibly grateful to Rachel Richardson for the opportunity and am excited to be back with some of the world’s smartest, kindest, most supportive humans in tech,” Ostlie said on LinkedIn.

Ostlie rejoins the company after a leadership role at Google Cloud Learning. Her career has included positions with multiple Seattle-area organizations including Veeam Software, Expedia and the nonprofit World Vision.

— After recently landing a $40 million investment, Seattle AI roleplay startup Yoodli appointed two new leaders.

• Emma Day is principal recruiter at Yoodli, leaving a comparable role at Seattle-based tech hiring platform Karat. “Yoodli has the rare and beautiful combination of an incredible mission — to help people communicate with confidence, a world-class team and a TON of growth ahead,” Day said on LinkedIn.
• Grayson Hay is principal software engineer, building on similar past roles at CodeSee, Tableau Software and Microsoft. Hay’s varied career also includes cinematography and bungee fitness instructor.

— Seattle cryptocurrency company Coinme named Hazen Baron as its general counsel. Baron is based in Arkansas and past employers include Walmart, fintech company Stronghold, and others.

Late last month Coinme announced an agreement with Washington state regulators to pause a temporary cease-and-desist order, clearing the way for the company to resume operations in the state.

— Jason Cavness, a Seattle-based U.S. market development partner for TechBank, is now a fellow with Earth Venture Capital, a Vietnam-based firm investing in climate tech internationally.

— The Microsoft Alumni Network, which represents more than 290,000 former Microsoft employees, has expanded its board of trustees, appointing eight new members:

• Declan Bradshaw, a 22-year employee based in Dublin and Redmond, Wash., who led Xbox’s European launch.
• George Durham, a leader of community engagement, global Technology for Good programs, and other roles after joining in 2004.
• Erendira Gonzalez, who over three decades led multicultural teams and launched the first Microsoft Technology Center in Latin America.
• Bill Kirst, who served as the director of change for Commercial Systems & Business Intelligence.
• Laura Luethe, who leads strategic content and communications as Microsoft HR’s director of communications.
• Somanna Palacanda, a 23-year employee who leads International Social Impact for Microsoft Elevate.
• Michelle September, who spent nearly 20 years at Microsoft and worked in account management, industry leadership, among other roles.
• Andrew Winnemore, VP of Microsoft for HR People Operations.

In addition, Larry Hryb, a longtime Xbox leader, was named vice chair of the Microsoft Alumni Network board.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: The FCC delivered a massive shakeup to the drone industry right before the holidays, adding foreign-made drones (most notably from industry giant DJI) to its “Covered List” of national security threats.

While the move effectively bans the sale of future foreign-made drone models in the U.S., we explore why it may represent an unexpected economic opportunity for the Pacific Northwest.

This episode features highlights from a recent interview with Blake Resnick of Brinc, the Seattle-based maker of public safety drones, who lobbied for the U.S. policy change.

Related story: Drone capital of the world? Seattle could be a big winner in the U.S. crackdown on DJI and others

Plus, the results are in. After ignoring John’s advice and deciding to retrofit his 2007 Toyota Camry with a modern infotainment system, Todd shares the outcome. 

Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

— Lisa Qian is the first AI Officer for the City of Seattle.

“This strategic leadership position is designed to ensure Seattle harnesses the transformative potential of artificial intelligence while upholding the city’s values and commitment to responsible technology use,” the Seattle Information Technology Department stated on LinkedIn.

Seattle is vying to establish itself as an AI heavyweight, touting the contributions of Amazon and Microsoft, smaller companies and startups, and the University of Washington, among others. In March, the city launched “AI House,” a first-in-the-nation hub designed to bring entrepreneurs, investors, students and community leaders together to propel the field.

Before this role, Qian was at LinkedIn where she served as a senior manager of data science. Past jobs include leadership positions at Seattle logistic company Convoy and at Airbnb.

“As a proud Seattle resident, I’m excited to apply my experience building responsible data science and AI systems toward work that directly benefits our community,” Qian said on LinkedIn.

— Microsoft has recruited a longtime media leader for its AI news product: Julia Beizer, current chief operating officer at Bloomberg Media. Adweek broke the news.

Beizer will report to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, Adweek states, and will work on products including its Copilot Daily news round up and Publisher Content Marketplace, which pays publishers for content that’s used by AI products. (The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft two years ago, alleging they illegally used the media outlet’s content to train its AI.)

Beizer has been with Bloomberg for eight years, helping drive subscriber growth with a focus on marketing, user experience and customer insights. She previously worked at HuffPost and was with The Washington Post for more than a decade.

— Seattle’s DexCare announced Rakshay Jain as its new chief product officer.

Dexcare’s software platform helps healthcare providers manage their system’s capacity and schedule appointments. The startup launched at Providence, spinning out from the healthcare network’s digital innovation group in 2021.

“What drew me to DexCare is that this team isn’t trying to replace systems already in use, but connect them, and create the navigational intelligence that guides where, when, and how patients access care, no matter where they enter the system,” Jain said in a statement.

Jain joins the company from Innovaccer, a Bay Area company providing software for managing healthcare data. He will work remotely from California.

— Sri Chandrasekar is taking a break after nearly nine years as a managing partner at Point72 Ventures. Chandrasekar, who is based in Bellevue, Wash., appears to have resigned from the board of directors of four startups located across the U.S. and in London, while retaining seats at two others.

“To my Ventures team – It was amazing going to battle with you over the last 9 years. I expect nothing but great things from you in the years to come,” he wrote in LinkedIn. “To our Portfolio companies – Working with you is what made the long nights and the non-stop travel worthwhile. If you need me, you know how to find me!”

Prior to Point72, Chandrasekar was a senior vice president at In-Q-Tel in Menlo Park, Calif.

— Brian Fleming is stepping away from Sucker Punch, the Bellevue, Wash.-based game studio he co-founded 28-years ago. “I’ve decided it’s time to shake up the snow-globe,” he wrote on LinkedIn, adding that he’ll stay at the company — part of PlayStation Studios — through April to assist with the leadership transition. Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley will take over as co-studio heads on Jan. 1.

— Jiphun Satapathy is now chief information security officer for Motive, a San Francisco company providing software tools to make operations safer for construction, field service, energy, trucking and other industries. Satapathy, who is based in the Seattle area, previously worked as CISO for Medallia and has held leadership roles at Amazon Web Services, Snowflake and elsewhere.

— Janet Greenlee, director of communications at Allen Family Philanthropies, is retiring from her role. Greenlee has spent her career in marketing and communications. She worked for more than a decade at the philanthropy, which was launched by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister, Jody Allen.

Amazon filed a new notice with Washington state Monday morning signaling that it’s cutting 84 jobs, but the individual separations are part of the regular course of business, unrelated to the 14,000 corporate layoffs it announced globally in October.

The company said each of its businesses regularly reviews its organizational structure and may make adjustments as a result. It’s a routine process, the company said, not tied to broader workforce actions.

The notice stems from a new state law that requires employers to disclose all terminations occurring within 90 days of a prior notice under the state’s new “mini” version of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as the WARN Act.

“We’ve informed a relatively small number of employees that their roles will be eliminated as the result of individual business decisions,” said Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser. “We don’t make decisions like this lightly,” he added, noting that the company is providing affected employees with 90 days of full pay and benefits, transitional health coverage, and job placement services.

According to the filing, the separations are scheduled to occur between Feb. 2 and Feb. 23, 2026, across more than 30 Seattle and Bellevue office locations, plus six remote workers based in Washington. They include software development engineers, program managers, recruiters, HR specialists, and UX designers, ranging from entry-level to directors and principals.

Amazon noted in the filing that employees were notified starting in early November and received at least 89 days’ advance notice, exceeding the 60-day minimum required under the law. Those who find internal transfers before their separation date won’t be laid off.

Separately, the company said in October that it was cutting 14,000 corporate jobs globally as part of CEO Andy Jassy’s push to reduce bureaucracy and operate more efficiently. That earlier round included more than 2,300 layoffs in Washington state, according to a filing at the time.

Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti signaled additional cuts could continue into 2026. Reuters has reported the total could ultimately reach 30,000 — which would surpass the 27,000 positions eliminated in 2023 and mark the largest overall layoff in company history. 

The definitive list of the best munchies in Seattle. Written & sourced by local Seattle stoners. Find our fave feast-ready classics & gems.

The post The best munchies in Seattle appeared first on Leafly.

Check out our picks for the best places to be high in Seattle, complete with a recommended strain to perfectly match the vibe.

The post The best places to be high in Seattle: A cannasseur’s guide to the Emerald City appeared first on Leafly.

Deep breathe in… now exhale. Let’s go win the whole f*cking thing. When the Seattle Mariners won their first home playoff game in twenty-four years under a crisp October sky Sunday night, how did you feel? How about when we watched that lead slip to a tie in the top of the 8th? When Cal […]

The post The 3 strains you need for the Mariners’ playoff run appeared first on Leafly.

The Pacific Northwest BBQ Association is hosting a charity competition at Camp Korey, north of Seattle, September 6 – 8, 2024.  Camp Korey is a ... Read More