Power Moves: RevZilla’s longtime HR director leaves the Navy Yard

Power Moves is a column where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, new gig or promotion? Email us: philly@technical.ly.

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2019 was a year of change for one of the Navy Yard’s longest-standing anchors, ecommerce company RevZilla.

Former CEO and cofounder Matt Kull stepped down from his role over the summer when the board brought in Ken Murphy as head, following 10 years with major retailers such as Mattress Firm.

And after about seven and a half years as one of the company’s main culture builders, Talia Edmundson left her role as director of human resources on Dec. 4.

The HR expert and and frequent public speaker who believes “No one likes a brilliant jerk” told Technical.ly that she oversaw much of the hiring and culture development within the company, and thoroughly enjoyed being able to help build and grow RevZilla. (She was also nominated for our 2019 Technical.ly Awards for Culture Builder of the Year.)

“I was highly encouraged to think like an entrepreneur, which was a massive opportunity,” Edmundson said. “No one had ever handed me that kind of blank canvas opportunity. It was huge for me personally and professionally.”

After nearly eight years in the role, Edmundson said it was time for her to explore other options.

“There’s no perfect time to figure out where I wanted to leave, but I felt very comfortable leaving with someone who would value this [HR] team,” which she found in the new leadership, she said.

Edmundson is now looking for new opportunities and said she’s interested in working with another startup with the opportunity to help build again.

“Philly is phenomenal to startups, and there’s a lot of opportunities to find brilliant cofounders who know what they want in terms of culture, what their people function looks like,” she said.

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Philly Startup Leaders (PSL), the decade-old nonprofit run by and for entrepreneurs, announced at the end of 2019 that it was welcoming four new board members and advisors in 2020.

In a blog post, PSL said it looks for board members and advisors who have “a deep understanding of entrepreneurship, a passion for mentorship, knowledge of thriving startup ecosystems around the world, and a dedication to the development (and success) of founders in Philadelphia.”

The org found that in new members Mark Switaj, Aurora Archer, Melissa Lee and Tiffanie Stanard.

Looking forward to 2020 and beyond with our new additions to our incredible leadership team! @me1issalee @mds233 @auroraarcher @TiffanieStanard #startupleaders #entrepreneurs #philly #startup #leadershttps://t.co/O6CQCFQpeC pic.twitter.com/rmp5it3u14

— PhillyStartupLeaders (@startupleaders) December 19, 2019

Switaj, the CEO and founder of Roundtrip, an on-demand transportation platform for the healthcare space, has been active in the startup scene in Philly for the last five years, PSL said. Roundtrip was a part of PSL’s accelerator in 2017, got an honorable mention on our 2018 realLIST, and raised $5.1 million in 2019.

The cofounder and CEO of Bellatrix Group, a consumer-focused health and wellness products consulting company, Archer joins the PSL board as a board member and advisor on diversity, equity and inclusion. The former corporate exec became a founder in 2018 and brings 25 years of business experience to the table, PSL said.

The founder and CEO of The GREEN Program, Melissa Lee has been involved in the local startup community for over 10 years. The GREEN Program provides an experiential education program in sustainable development for young leaders.

And Tiffany Stanard joins PSL as advisor on branding and media, the org said. Standard founded Prestige Concepts, a brand enhancement agency, 10 years ago and will bring her expertise to the organization in 2020.

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The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) found its new director of innovation in Eliza Pollack.

The former assistant director was promoted amid some restructuring of OIT, which absorbed the Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation at the end of 2019.

“Our once small innovation team has really grown over the last few months, and with the additional responsibilities in our portfolio it made a lot of sense to recognize Eliza as the person to evolve what has always been our core work — building capacity for innovation in government and a culture to support it,” said Andrew Buss, the office’s deputy CIO of innovation management.

Pollock and Buss will continue to work on initiatives like SmartCityPHL (which recently found a new manager in Smart Cities Director Emily Yates), the Digital Literacy Alliance (which recently made its third round of grants, entirely focused on Census 2020), and communicating about public technology.

“It’s been exciting to watch the innovation portfolio grow so much since we started the work, and I’m happy to still be a part of the team,” Pollack said. Read her 2016 essay on why she wants young people to consider City Hall for their next jobs.

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Car wash subscription company EverWash appointed a new CTO, Jamie Pritz, to its leadership team at the end of 2019.

Pritz will lead EverWash’s DevOps team as the company continues to build its network of car washes and provide membership services to its customers. His initial focus will be on achieving stability enhancements for EverWash’s app and owner dashboard, the company said.

He comes to EverWash, which is headquartered in Northwest Philadelphia near City Avenue, after 21 years at The CEI Group, where he most recently worked as director of software applications.

“My goal is to make sure the EverWash platform is able to scale to support millions of users,” Pritz said in a statement. “Building new features into the mobile app, such as targeted promotions, more in-app communications, and robust analytics tools will help us achieve this goal.”