Welcome to the second day of The Flashies, our fun and sometimes irreverent look back at the past year in Seattle technology, giving you an opportunity to vote on the most notable events of 2009. Today's category: Best hire of the year. And the nominees are ...

If you think we missed a key hire of 2009, please offer up a write-in candidate in the comments. Other readers will be able to support your nominee by logging in and clicking the "like" button next to your vote.

Continue reading for detailed descriptions of each of our nominees for today's category. And be sure to check back tomorrow around noon for the next Flashies category. Happy voting.

Don Dodge: Startup guru Don Dodge was among the employees to lose his job during Microsoft's cutbacks in early November. But it didn't take long for the director of business development for Microsoft's emerging business team to find new work .... at Google. Microsoft took a PR hit for letting Dodge go, and for letting him slip away to one of the company's chief rivals.

Geoff Entress: Andy Sack once described Entress as the Ron Conway of Seattle, referring to the legendary angel investor in Silicon Valley. Entress has backed more than two dozen startup companies in the Seattle area -- from Isilon Systems to Cheezburger Network to Sandlot Games. So, when Entress left his gig at Madrona Venture Group and a few months later landed at neighboring Voyager Capital back in March, people took notice.

Chase Franklin: Franklin worked wonders turning around Qpass, eventually selling the Seattle mobile billing company to Amdocs for $275 million in 2006. Now, Franklin has another turnaround task at hand. In September, the 51-year-old former Microsoftie took over the CEO reins of troubled online collaboration and project management startup Daptiv. Franklin says he's up to the task. "...I like challenging situations and I think Daptiv has some very solid aspects of its business right now," he said at the time of the appointment.

Brian McAndrews: The former aQuantive CEO left Microsoft late last year, sparking some speculation as to what was next for the online advertising executive. At the TechFlash launch event a month later, McAndrews joked that his speaking to the audience was like "one big job interview." Maybe some in the crowd were listening closely. Eight months later McAndrews landed at Seattle venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group.

William Morrow: Morrow arrived in the CEO post at Clearwire last March, and immediately started to put his stamp on the Kirkland broadband wireless company. Since his arrival, the former CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric has overhauled the management team and raised more than $4 billion in new financing. The stock has responding, more than doubling since his arrival.

Karl Siebrecht: Another former aQuantive executive, Siebrecht, set sail from Microsoft this past fall to test his skills again in the startup game. Interestingly, Siebrecht was close to taking a job at another company when he got an inside look at AdReady's self-service display advertising technology. He was immediately hooked. Three months after taking on the president and COO title at the Seattle startup, Siebrecht was promoted to CEO.

Dan Vetras: Vetras -- a high-tech veteran who previously served as CEO of Talisma and Captura Software -- was picked as CEO of Visible Technologies in February.

The Flashies Day 1: "Top Microsoft Videos of 2009"