— Kaiser Permanente landed Dr. Rita Mangione-Smith to lead its Washington Health Research Institute. Mangione-Smith is a pediatrician by training who has studied how to assess the quality of care for children and adolescents. She most recently led her own lab at Seattle Children’s and was chief of the division of general pediatrics and hospital medicine at the University of Washington.

Mangione-Smith aims to apply her research to the real world by using data to manage the health of entire populations. Kaiser Permanente’s data resources “allow for predictive analytics to really start looking at how can we prospectively identify patients who may be at risk for future health problems,” she said. The Washington research division is one of eight operated by Kaiser.

Despite outnumbering men in medical school classrooms, women account for only 18 percent of hospital CEOs and 16 percent of deans and department chairs in the U.S., according to the Harvard Business Review.

Mangione-Smith hopes her new role can inspire other women to land these top jobs. “The more of us who are in these leadership positions, the more women will understand that this is definitely attainable if they want it, and that with the right mentorship they can get there,” she said.

— Real estate tech company Offerpad hired longtime Zillow executive Bryan LaFranchi to head its homebuilder partnership program. LaFranchi was with Zillow for nine years, most recently serving as a senior sales manager.

“Bryan’s dedication to the measurable success of partnered homebuilders, experience guiding them through online metrics, and history in helping accelerate their growth within this function will help Offerpad and homebuilder allies optimize solutions for consumers seeking the best real estate experience,” Offerpad Chief Marketing Officer Darrin Shamo said in a statement.

Offerpad is among a growing crop of “iBuyer” businesses that purchase homes directly from sellers, putting it in competition with the likes of Opendoor, Zillow and Redfin. In March, Offerpad announced a Series C round that brought its total debt and equity funding to $975 million.

— Longtime Microsoft engineering leader Harry Pierson joined Neo Global Development (NGD) as chief architect in Seattle. Pierson was at Microsoft for more than two decades, most recently working as a senior software engineer within the core OS division. He also helped to found Windows Runtime and the xlang project, which enables different coding languages to work together.

NGD is a blockchain startup focused on digital assets and identities as well as smart contracts. The company’s Seattle team is led by Pierson’s former Microsoft colleague John deVadoss.

“What NEO is trying to do is groundbreaking. The NEO team already has a stellar reputation for supporting its community and developers, but they want to take this a step further and make NEO the best blockchain platform in the world for developers to work on,” Pierson said in a statement.

— Corporate design firm Gensler named Kristin Jensen as managing director, based in Seattle. Jensen was most recently vice president of development at commercial real estate developer Touchstone.

Gensler has been active in designing offices for major tech employers in the Seattle area, including Microsoft, Tableau and T-Mobile. The firm once designed a building within a building for Boeing and created a co-working space for startup Atlas Workbase.

“We are thrilled to have Kristin’s leadership at Gensler,” Karen Thomas, Gensler’s Northwest regional managing principal, said in a statement. “With her strong reputation in the Seattle business and real estate communities, and her extensive experience in commercial development, Kristin will add extraordinary depth of talent and expertise to our diversified practice.”

— Vancouver-based event management tech startup Hubb brought on Phillip Graham as vice president of customer success and partnerships. Graham has prior event management experience at Cvent and Lanyon, which merged in 2016. He was most recently senior vice president of sales and account management at Rubicon International.

“I’m excited to take customer success at Hubb to the next level. Hubb is at an inflection point and to be a part of an amazing company delivering the most intriguing solution in event technology is something I’m super excited to be a part of,” Graham said in a statement.

Hubb raised a $6.3 million round in October 2018. The company helps clients such as Microsoft, Atlassian Tableau Software, and the Consumer Technology Association (which puts on CES) streamline and automate event management.

— Infrastructure firm HNTB hired Timothy Dill as a senior project manager in architecture based out of the firm’s Bellevue office. Dill will manage aviation and transit projects in the Northwest division and support the company’s national efforts.