Aaron Wheeler is stepping down after nearly a year and half as the director of the Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO), the Department of Commerce announced Friday.
Wheeler’s last day will be June 27 before he heads back to the Suquamish Tribe, where he previously spent 18 years as an information technology professional with the tribe’s government.
“I have had a wonderful time leading WSBO, but working with the Suquamish Tribe again is an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up,” Wheeler said in a news release. “The work in IT and education with the Squamish is a real passion of mine, and my new role allows me to get back to that focus.”
Wheeler was appointed by former Gov. Jay Inslee to the Broadband Office role in March 2024. WSBO’s mission is to close the digital divide in Washington by ensuring all urban and rural residents and businesses have access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.
Under Wheeler’s leadership, the office completed two rounds of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) applications, according to the Commerce Dept. WSBO was about to open the third and final application round when new federal guidance was released, initiating a significant shift in the state’s BEAD process.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
— Nikesh Parekh is leaving Microsoft four years after the tech giant acquired his startup, Suplari, which used artificial intelligence to help companies understand and get a handle on their spending.
“Back to building again,” Parekh wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Building enterprise applications for Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio for the past two years has strengthened my belief that AI will unlock incredible human potential.”
Parekh said he is “going deep on a small number of projects” that he is excited about “that will democratize opportunity and grow human potential through AI.”
— Michael Howell, co-founder and former CEO of the Seattle on-demand moving services marketplace Dolly, is leaving after 11 years. The startup was acquired about a year ago by Taskrabbit.
In a LinkedIn post on Friday, Howell said Dolly went from a “scrappy idea into something truly meaningful,” and he thanked teammates, mentors, investors and customers who were part of the ride.
Howell said he planned to recharge, reflect, and figure out what’s next, with no defined next step in his career.
— Jessica Nguyen is joining San Francisco-based Paragon Legal as a strategic advisor, she announced in a LinkedIn post.
Nguyen is staying on as a deputy general counsel for AI Innovation & Trust at Docusign. She has previously held legal roles at Avalara, Microsoft, Payscale and Lexion, among others.
— Hawa Drammeh has been chosen as a summer intern at Seattle-based AI2 Incubator.
Drammeh previously interned at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Blue Origin, and LinkedIn while double-majoring in Computer Science and Biochemistry at the University of Washington. She founded CSEED, a student-run tech/entrepreneurship group at UW.
— Eleanor Knight and Matthew Chiu have joined YoungTech, the community for startups in Seattle.
Knight, a Business Administration student at the University of Washington, is YoungTech’s brand and content strategy associate, in charge of storytelling, digital presence, and community engagement.
Chiu, an Information Systems and Marketing student at UW, is YoungTech’s business operations and communications associate. He has experience at Highspot and Okta.
