Thomas J. Cable
Chairman of the Board
Private Investor

Through activities supporting the University of Washington, Mr. Cable has developed an intimate involvement with the research community in the Northwest. Mr. Cable has more than 25 years of venture experience. Twenty of those years have been spent as a resident of Seattle and deeply involved in the development of the Northwest venture industry.

Ronald S. Howell
President and CEO, Washington Research Foundation

Mr. Howell has been with Washington Research Foundation since 1989, becoming president in 1992. He is also a Managing Director of WRF Capital, which manages the WRF's seed-venture investment fund. He is a director or observer to the board in several WRF Capital investment companies. He is a member of the advisory board to UW's iSchool, a member of the governing board for the UW Bioengineering Program in Technology Commercialization, and a co-founding member of the Technology Gap Innovation Fund.  He is a trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a board member of the Technology Alliance and serves on other boards and committees related to WRF's mission.  He holds a B.S. in biochemistry from Washington State University.

C. Kent Carlson
K&L Gates

Mr. Carlson is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and practices corporate law for the firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis.  Active in the legal community, he is currently co-chair of the Washington State Bar Association Corporate Act Revision Committee, past-chairman and current member of the Board of Trustees of Cornish College of the Arts, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Pilchuck Glass School.

Barry Forman
President, American Paradigm Corporation

Mr. Forman served as Chairman of the Financial Insurance Group in London, and as Managing Director of Allegiance Capital Partners. Prior thereto, he was a Managing Director of Chase Capital Markets. Mr. Forman is a co-founder of Halosource Corporation, which develops anti-microbial products. In addition, he co-founded a company providing web-based transmission and archival services for managing international trade documentation. He is currently a Trustee of the Seattle Symphony. Mr. Forman received a B.A. from Harvard College, a D.Phil. from Oxford, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

George I. Thomas
Thoracic and Vascular Surgeon
Clinical Professor Emeritus, University of Washington, School of Medicine

Dr. George Thomas received his MD from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1949 and specializes his practice in thoracic and vascular surgery.  He has held appointments in surgery at the University of Washington since 1955 and became Clinical Professor of Surgery in 1978.  During his career, he has authored over 70 publications.  Dr. Thomas has medical board certifications in surgery and thoracic surgery.  He has served as President of the Washington State Chapter of American College of Surgeons, the Seattle Surgical Society, the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, the North Pacific Surgical Association and the Northwestern Medical Association, among others. Dr. Thomas is currently a consultant in Vascular Surgery, at the Vascular Institute of the Northwest, in the Swedish-Providence Medical Institute.

C. Calvert Knudsen
Private Investor

Originally a lawyer by profession, Mr. Knudsen is the retired Chairman and CEO of Macmillan Bloedel, Ltd.  Prior to that he was a Senior Vice President, Weyerhaeuser Company; President of Evans Products Co.; Executive Vice President, Aberdeen Plywood & Veneers; and a Partner in Bogle, Bogle & Gates, a major Seattle law firm.   He is currently Chairman of the Board of Cascade Corporation; a Director of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.; a partner in The Ostrom Company; Chairman of Argyle Wines; proprietor of Knudsen Vineyards; and Director Emeritus, Space Needle Corp.  Mr. Knudsen is also a Trustee of The Seattle Art Museum and a Director of the Museum Development Authority.  He is a graduate of the University of Washington, where he also earned his law degree, and did post-graduate studies at Columbia Law School. 

Sally Narodick
Retired Chairman and CEO, Edmark Corporation and Apex Learning, Inc.

Mrs. Narodick served from 1989 to 1996 as Chairman and CEO of publicly held Edmark Corporation, which was one of the leading developers and publishers of early childhood educational software. Following the sale of Edmark to IBM, Mrs. Narodick served for 18 months as consultant to IBM, and as an independent e-learning consultant. In 1998, Mrs. Narodick was recruited to become the founding CEO of Apex Learning, Inc., an educational project to deliver Advanced Placement courses to high school students online. Earlier in her career, Mrs. Narodick served for 14 years with Seafirst Corporation (now Bank of America) in several financial management capacities, including Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller, and Senior Vice President in charge of Business and Consumer Banking for the Seattle and King County Region. Mrs. Narodick has a B.A. from Boston University, M.A. in Teaching from Columbia Teachers College, and an M.B.A. from New York University. Mrs. Narodick serves on the Boards of several publicly held companies, including Puget Sound Energy, Penford Corporation, Solutia, Cray Computer and SumTotal Systems. She is a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Kline Galland Center. 

James R. Uhlir
Partner, Christensen O'Connor Johnson & Kindness PLLC

After graduation from the University of Illinois Law School, Mr. Uhlir practiced in Chicago for a few years before moving to Seattle where he is a partner in the intellectual property law firm of Christensen O'Connor Johnson and Kindness PLLC specializing in patent and trademark prosecution, litigation and licensing. He is a past president of the Washington State Patent Law Assn., Allied Arts of Seattle and the Broadmoor Golf Club and is currently a Trustee of the Seattle Repertory Theatre and The Seattle Opera. Mr. Uhlir was a co-founder of Immunex Corporation and in his practice advises inventors and business startups. His passions include golf, skiing and he and his wife Camille's San Juan Island farm.

Brooks Simpson
President, Pacific Rim Medical Systems

Mr. Simpson has over 27 years of experience in medical sales and marketing. He retired from Physio-Control after 20 years of service including senior management positions as Vice President of World Wide Marketing, International, and North American Sales. During his tenure at Physio-Control he was involved with the divestiture from Eli Lilly, sale to Bain Capital, IPO in 1996, and acquisition by Medtronic in 1998. In 1999 Mr. Simpson founded Pacific Rim Medical Systems, a distributor of cardiovascular devices. Mr. Simpson is also chairman of the R. Hunter Simpson Foundation and a general partner in Diamond Head Reef Partners, a private investment firm.

Emer Dooley
Faculty, University of Washington

Dr. Dooley serves as adjunct faculty in technology strategy, entrepreneurship and venture capital in the Business School and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She also works with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), involving students in all aspects of company creation, technology commercialization and investment.  She was awarded the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1997. Dr. Dooley has a B.Sc .and M.Eng. from the University of Limerick in Ireland, and an MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She spent her early career in design engineering with Digital Equipment Corporation and in marketing with Mosaix. She has served on the boards of Social Venture Partners, the Northwest Entrepreneur Network and the League of Education Voters Foundation, among others.