Advisory Board

Bill Abbott

Bill Abbott currently serves as corporate real estate broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial. He previously held a position in corporate real estate brokerage Services with CBRE, and as senior category strategies manager with Food Services of America. He received his undergraduate degree in business from the University of Washington Bothell, and obtained an MBA in business through Seattle Pacific University.

Fariba Alamdari

Fariba Alamdari serves as Head of Market and Value Analysis Group at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Dr. Alamdari served as Vice President of Future Market at Boeing Commercial Airplanes since May 24, 2006. Dr. Alamdari came to Boeing from Cranfield University, where she was head of the Department of Air Transport and dean of faculty of Engineering, Science and Manufacturing. She is the author of more than 80 articles and reports on aviation related issues. She obtained her PhD on the economic impact of airline deregulation in 1988 from Cranfield University. She has a masters degree in transport economics and a first degree in politics and economic studies. She is a member of Air Transport Research Society and a fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society.

Mark Ericks

Mark Ericks is a former Bellevue Police Chief, Assistant City Manager of Bothell, and Washington State Representative. While a police officer in Bellevue, he held positions as patrol officer, patrol supervisor, juvenile detective, narcotics detective, Lieutenant of Property Crimes, and Lieutenant of Major Crimes. In 1990, Mark was selected to be the Chief of Police for the City of Bothell. In 2002, Mark retired from law enforcement and became the Director of Administrative Services for the City of Bothell. This position consolidated the former positions of Finance Director, City Treasurer, Director of Human Resources and Director of Information Technology. He was then elected three times to serve as a state representative for Washington’s 1st Legislative District. He currently serves as the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Washington, appointed by President Obama in 2010.

Lou Gray

Lou Gray is a Co-founder & CEO of SEC Live. Gray has more than 18 years of entrepreneurial and operational leadership. Gray’s entrepreneurial efforts have lead him to the successful creation and sale of awarding winning products and companies, most recently with SEC Live. Past companies have included UIEvolution and at DreamBox Learning. On his journey to becoming a CEO, he has also served as an entrepreneur-in-residence, an attorney, an international strategic consultant, and director of mergers and acquisitions for an LBO firm. Lou holds a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, a teaching fellow in negotiations, and a certified mediator for the EEOC and the Harlem Community Justice Center. Gray holds masters’ degrees in both economics and international affairs from the Maxwell School, and a bachelor of science in psychology from Emory University. Gray was named a “Top 25 Innovator” by Seattle Magazine in 2009.

Anoop Gupta

Anoop Gupta currently serves as Distinguished Scientist for Microsoft Research.  Prior to re-joining MSR, Gupta served as corporate vice president of technology policy and strategy for Microsoft. He also served as the corporate vice president of the Unlimited Potential Group and Education Products Group and as corporate vice president and founding leader of Microsoft's Unified Communications Group. Before joining Microsoft in 1997, Gupta was a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University for 11 years. He received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and held the Robert N. Noyce Faculty Scholar Chair at Stanford. Prior to his role at Stanford, Gupta was on the research faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his Ph.D. in computer science. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Jim Hebert

Bio coming soon!

Alan Higginson

Alan Higginson has more than 20 years of senior executive and CEO experience in technology-related industries, and uses his extensive leadership skills and experience to help young companies grow and develop. He sits on the boards of several international technology companies, including Chairman of F5 Networks, (FFIV) and Chairman of Hubspan, Inc. Prior to Higginson's work with start-up ventures he spent five years at Sierra On-Line as executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, served as president and CEO of Bright Star Technology, was president and CEO of Atrieva Corp., and executive vice president of ATEX.

John Kinsella

John Kinsella is a partner at Environmental Resource Management (ERM) and  has almost 30 years experience in consulting, operations, and practice leadership. He has worked for a variety of clients in the chemical, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and waste management industries. John earned an M.Sc. in hydrogeology from the University of London.

Deborah Knutson

Deborah Knutson is Principal of a private consulting practice dedicated to creating public-private synergies for value-added investment identification, netting accelerated economic development for businesses, non-profits, cities and counties. Expertise in strategic planning, market analysis, priority setting per public policy/legislative challenges, organizational development and board governance. She has over 25 year of experience in the field of economic development, most recently as the President of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. She has a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from University of Washington.

Wendy Lawrence

Captain Lawrence retired from NASA in 2006. A veteran of four space flights, Lawrence has logged more than 1225 hours in space. Lawrence  was one of the first two female helicopter pilots to make a long deployment to the Indian Ocean as part of a carrier battle group, and has undertaken multiple technical assignments within the NASA Astronaut Office. Lawrence has received numerous awards for service and leadership.  She holds a master's degree in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and a bachelor of science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Bob Leach

Bob Leach is senior vice president of DA Davidson and Co. and has more than 25 years of experience working in the financial industry. His previous experience includes work with Foster & Marshall, and Piper Jaffray & Hopwood. He was manager for both Dain Bosworth and Ragen MacKenzie, and the regional manager of the Northwestern Puget Sound and Eastern Washington Region for Wells Fargo. Leach holds degrees in economics and communications from the University of Washington.

Jud Marquardt

Jud Marquardt is a founding partner of LMN Architects, a Seattle-based firm delivering design services for all projects with particular emphasis in civic and public assembly facilities. Jud has served with distinction on the national boards of the AIA and the American Architectural Foundation. He currently serves as a visiting team chair for the National Architectural Accreditation Board in accrediting colleges of architecture at various universities across the country

Jens Molbak

Bio coming soon!

George Northcroft

George Northcroft is the regional administrator of the GSA’s Northwest region. Northcroft oversees all GSA’s operations in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington – including management of federal real estate and information technology.  Prior to this position Northcroft served as director of business relations & economic development for King County.  Additionally, Northcroft has worked as the director of treasury and cash management for Nordstrom, and director of the Department of Executive Administration in King County.

Bill Ptacek

Bill Ptacek is Director of the King County Library System, the second largest library system in the nation. Prior to his role with KCLS, Ptacek began his career at the Chicago Public Library and worked as the director of the Idaho Falls and Louisville Free public libraries before coming to the King County Library System. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, a master's degree in library science from the State University of New York and advanced degree in Administration from the University of Chicago. He has also served as an adjunct professor and a visiting speaker at the University of Washington’s Information School.

James Reed

Jim is the West Region Commercial Executive for Banner Bank, managing the commercial and specialty banking activities for the bank in Western Washington and Western Oregon. Previously, Jim’s roles have been as a division manager with commercial and retail banking responsibilities, and commercial banking center manager and on and on. Jim is a graduate of the University of Washington Bothell (IAS) 1995, Pacific Coast Banking School 2005 and Northwest Intermediate Commercial Banking School (1993).  His community involvement includes ranges from serving on the boards of chambers of commerce to volunteering in the classroom for Junior Achievement.

Richard Shea, Chair

Rick Shea is the President and CEO of Spiration.  Shea joined Spiration in 2000, with more than 28 years of medical device and health care industry experience.has lead Spiration through significant growth and development and now commercialization of the company’s minimally invasive IBV Valve System for the treatment of severe emphysema and for the treatment of air leaks post-thoracic surgery. Prior to joining Spiration, Shea held a broad range of executive positions, in sales, marketing, distribution, and research and manufacturing capacities. Shea earned a bachelor in science degree in marketing from Nichols College.

Susan Sigl

Susan Sigl is the president & chief executive officer of the Washington Technology Industry Association. Prior to WTIA, Susan was the co-founder and a general partner of SeaPoint Ventures, a Seattle based venture capital firm investing in communications companies in the wireless, broadband and network transactional infrastructure sectors. She currently serves as an advisor to Ivy Corp., a privately held, early stage Seattle start-up in the wireless sector, and as a board member of the Technology Alliance, the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Technology Council of North America. Susan was listed on the 100 Top Women in Seattle Tech by TechFlash in July 2009.
 

Renee Sinclair

The Honorable Renee Radcliff Sinclair is leading strategic initiatives for Apple Inc. in the western United States, where she manages relationships with elected officials and community thought leaders around issues related to student achievement and technology. Prior to joining Apple, Renee spent 14 years as a journalist, followed by four successful elections to the Washington State House of Representatives. Since retiring from public office, Renee has served in policy leadership roles with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Electronics Association, and now with Apple. Renee has served as a volunteer with a number of local government, humanitarian and workforce efforts over the years and continues to serve her community through a variety of policy-related, community-based activities.

Deborah Wilds

Deborah Wilds currently serves as the President and CEO of the College Success Foundation. Before coming to the Foundation in 2006, Wilds was a senior program officer for education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, Wilds served as the deputy director of the American Council on Education's (ACE) Office of Minorities in Higher Education, in Washington, DC. She was the co-founder and chair of the board of directors of New Era Education, an independent school and pre-school located in Baltimore. Wilds holds a Ph.D. in education policy, planning, and administration from the University of Maryland at College Park, an master's degree in education administration from Howard University and a bachelor's degree from the California State University, San Diego.

Carl Zapora

Bio coming soon!