Who: Cynthia Tee, 45, a 20-year Microsoft veteran.

Her latest venture: Tee starts her first day Monday as executive director of Ada Developers Academy, a free software-development school in Seattle for women.

Why the change: Tee, who has a master’s in computer science from MIT, took a leave of absence from Microsoft in September. When she heard about the opening at Ada, she knew she wanted the position and officially left Microsoft earlier this month. Having been a mentor and mentee at Microsoft, Tee wants to see more women in tech. “The whole concept of championing women and supporting them — I thought that would be amazing as a career,” she said of her new job.

What Ada is: Founded in 2013, Ada places women in a free, yearlong software-development program that includes seven months of classroom instruction followed by a five-month internship at an area company, including Expedia, Zillow and Amazon.com. To date, 15 women have graduated, 22 are in internships and 24 will start a new school year in May.