Startups
Power Moves

Power Moves: Check out these 10 recent leadership shifts in Baltimore tech

This month sees key new roles at Under Armour, PGDx and Tenable. Plus, a new role in tech for Baltimore's former police commissioner.

Tchernavia Rocker is leading HR at Under Armour. (Courtesy photo)

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 baltimore@technical.ly.


1. Tchernavia Rocker joined Under Armour as chief people and culture officer.

Starting this month, Rocker is leading all human resources operations at the company. Rocker previously spent 18 years at Harley Davidson in human resources leadership roles, and also previously worked at Goodyear Dunlop North America Tire.

“We are thrilled to welcome Tchernavia to the Under Armour family and to our executive leadership team. Tchernavia brings deep industry experience in building best in class HR operations while developing strong workplace culture rooted in brand, values and transparency,” CEO Kevin Plank said in a statement issued last month.

2. Personal Genome Diagnostics named a CFO and new board members.

The Canton-based cancer genomics company named Jack Crowley as chief financial officer. Crowley previously served as CFO of Lantheus Medical Imaging, where he led the transition to a public company. PGDx grew to a second office over the last year after closing on $75 million in funding to open 2018.

The company also named two new board members.

  • Dr. Kavita Patel, a venture partner with PGDx investor New Enterprise Associates, previously served as a policy director in the Obama White House’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.
  • Garry Allen Nicholson, who served for seven years as president of Pfizer Oncology, brings a total of 30 years of experience in pharmaceuticals and biotech oncology.

https://twitter.com/PGDx_/status/1100782626435227649

3. Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis joined a Boston startup.

Davis was appointed chief security officer of Armored Things, a startup developing physical security and operations software, according to a news release. In the role, Davis is overseeing development of the company’s security products for police and security officers. Davis previously led the Baltimore Police Department from July 2015 to January 2018. He is also a former chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

4. Margaret Roth left Yet Analytics.

In January, Roth marked her final day as the chief customer experience officer at the downtown Baltimore startup, which we named to the 2017 realLIST.

“I consider it my greatest accomplishment in life to have been a founding part of this company and to have built such an amazing team of driven people that will lead on to fill the next Yet chapters with success stories and industry-changing accomplishments,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “There is no greater privilege in life than to have the opportunity to wake up every day and decide what it is that you are going to do to move forward, to be the ‘master of your fate,’ ‘to take a dream and turn it into something concrete.'”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsv8dmbh_Pp/

5. BioTechnical Institute of Maryland promoted a new executive director and named new board members.

The Southwest Baltimore-based biotech job training nonprofit promoted Leslie Prewitt to the position of executive director. Prewitt joined the 20-year-old organization providing training to entry-level technicians in the state’s biotech industry in 2017 as assistant director.

After serving as executive director for 18 years, Kathleen Weiss transitioned to executive director emerita and board member.

Emily English, CEO of Baltimore-based Gemstone Biotherapeutics, is also joining the organization’s board.

Meet Baltimore's most exciting tech companies. RSVP nowhttps://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js hbspt.cta.load(2084427, ‘f1d069d3-2285-47f1-ac8d-c56c9995d4e1’, {});

6. IronNet Cybersecurity grew executive ranks with a co-CEO and chief revenue officer.

The Fulton-based company said William “Bill” Welch is joining as co-CEO. Welch most recently served as COO and president of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Duo Security, and has also been COO at Zscaler and VP with HP Software Americas. Former NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander (ret.), who founded the company, will continue in a leadership role as co-CEO.

About a week later, the company appointed Sean D. Foster as chief revenue officer. He previously served in the CRO role at Forcepoint, a company that’s familiar to Baltimore tech via its acquisition of RedOwl Analytics last year. He’s also served in VP roles at HPE Security and Symantec.

7. Tenable Network Security named Ofer Ben-David as chief product officer.

Ben-David will lead the Columbia-based company’s engineering and product management organization. He joins Tenable from Elementum, where he led engineering, including product management, technical operations, IT, security and design. He also held leadership roles at Jive Software, VMware, Hewlett-Packard and Mercury Interactive.

To begin this year, Jamie Brown joined the publicly-traded company as director of government affairs. Brown joined the company from CA Technologies, where he managed cybersecurity policy. He previous served on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology.

8. Derick Naef is the new CEO of ReFirm Labs.

The Fulton-based cybersecurity startup that’s backed by DataTribe has two decades of startup experience, and most recently served as GM of the mobility solutions business at Acronis. ReFirm Labs cofounder Terry Dunlap will continue with the company as chief evangelist championing the need for IoT security, and lead growth of the company in the cybersecurity insurance market, the company stated.

9. John Camp joined Think Systems as senior consultant.

The Spark Baltimore-based corporate and technology consulting company said Camp joined its executive advisory team. He has 20 years of experience as a CTO at Bloomberg BNA, Wolters Kluwer, Compass Learning, and Thomson Reuters.

10. Terra’s Kitchen added to its marketing leadership team.

The Canton meal delivery service said Anthony Pitts joined as senior VP of marketing. Pitts previously served in leadership roles at luxury mattress retailer Leesa Sleep and DraftKings.

Joining the board of advisors is Fern Lee. Having previously served as head of direct response for Good Times Entertainment and CEO of marketing strategy agency THOR Associates, “Helping companies scale rapidly and accelerate consumer adoption is my passion,” she said in a statement.

Meet Baltimore's most exciting tech companies. RSVP nowhttps://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js hbspt.cta.load(2084427, ‘f1d069d3-2285-47f1-ac8d-c56c9995d4e1’, {});

Updated at 7 p.m., 2/27/19.
Companies: Yet Analytics / Tenable Holdings / Under Armour

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