DC Power Moves: Emily Zhen is taking on healthcare investing at Zeal Capital

Emily Zhen is the newest principal investor at Zeal Capital Partners, spearheading the company’s health equity investing mandate.

Zeal, which invests in early-stage tech companies from underrepresented founders, is looking to fund in the healthcare space. Zhen will lead this effort by taking charge of the end-to-end investment for seed and Series A companies and working on deal execution in existing technologies.

Prior to Zeal, Zhen was a healthcare investor at New Enterprise Associates, where she helped deploy over $500 million in capital. She’s also held roles at Goldman Sachs, digital health startups, the US Treasury and life science research employers.

“I’m excited to invest in and partner with innovative early-stage companies anchored by a mission and commitment to health equity,” Zhen told Technical.ly via email. “I believe in the power and potential of seed and Series A stage companies to advance access and affordability of care, women’s health, mental health and wellness, and to address social determinants of health. I look forward to expanding Zeal Capital Partners’ investment lens and working with the team to delve into the intersections where health equity meets our existing categories of financial technology and the future of work and learning.”

Pie Insurance has four new execs

DC-based insurance tech company Pie Insurance has a whole slew of new leadership after last year’s raise.

Carla Woodard was named the new VP of claims; Jaime Gilliam-Swartz to VP of customer service and operations; Arasha Sadati to VP of data science; and Kris Bagchi to VP of reinsurance. The four new VPs were appointed almost exactly a year after the company raised $315 million in September of 2022.

“We’ve been incredibly intentional when appointing new leadership team members at Pie,” said John Swigart, cofounder and CEO of Pie Insurance. “We look for strategic experts who’re not only passionate about supporting small businesses, but who add immediate value to transforming the small commercial insurance industry. Carla, Jaime, Arash and Kris are poised to help Pie capitalize on our steady growth and realize our goal of becoming the number one preferred small business insurance provider on the market.”

Khuram Zaman is the new CTO of Georgetown-founded University Startups

Khuram Zaman, a former RealLIST Connector, is the new CTO at University Startups, a 2022 RealLIST Startups company.

The company was founded by two Georgetown University entrepreneurs-in-residence, Marc Steren and John Jabara, to assist entrepreneurship-inclined students with job and college readiness. In the new role, Zaman — also an instructor at Georgetown Entrepreneurship — will be focusing on IT, cybersecurity, compliance, systems integration, technology product management and innovation, as well as resourcing and budgeting.

Zaman comes to University Startups after spending 11 years at Fifth Tribe, where he was most recently the CEO of the company. He will continue on as a partner of Fifth Tribe.

Here’s who else is capping off the summer with a power move:

• Taylor Liggett is the new chief growth officer of ID.me, the McLean, Virginia identity tech company.
• Dan Kotter is the newest office managing pattern of the Greater Washington offices of Ernst & Young. He’s taking over for Kevin Virostek, who retires in December.
• Chantilly, Virginia’s American Systems, an engineering and IT firm, named John Steckel as president and CEO, effective Wednesday. Steckel was promoted from the role of VP of corporate development.
• National security tech firm Two Six Technologies appointed Daniel Ragsdale as deputy assistant director for workforce and education. In his past two years with the company, he’s held the roles of VP of research and development as well as VP for Department of Defense strategy.
• Tyto Athene, an IT services and consulting firm, named John West as VP of business development and strategy.
• Jacob Farmer, the founder and CEO of Farmer Cleaning, was named to the National Small Business Association’s Leadership Council, the US’s oldest small business advocacy organization.
• Interior solutions firm dancker, which has offices in Gaithersburg and Capitol Heights, Maryland, appointed Meg Nelback as senior VP of people and culture.
• DC Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Angela Franco was elected to the board of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. The Alexandria, Virginia org brings together 9,000 individuals who work for 1,600 chambers of commerce.
• Bethesda, Maryland’s DMI, an end-to-end digital services company, appointed Gary Wang to the role of CTO.
• Drew Hubbard is the new executive director of DC’s Workforce Investment Council, appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
• McLean’s HII Mission Technologies added Ahmed Ayad as the company’s chief growth officer.
• McLean staffing, IT and workforce solutions provider Dexian appointed Jeff Buss to the role of chief information officer (CIO). Buss was most recently the global CIO of Nordic Consulting.