Technology Alliance Leadership

Marty Smith
Chair, Technology Alliance
Retired Partner, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP

Marty Smith practiced for 25 years with the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, retiring from Preston in December of 2006. While at Preston, Marty founded the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group and chaired that group for 6 years. Marty's practice emphasized information technology, software and computer law, and international commercial transactions. He advised such companies and organizations as Microsoft Corporation (for 25 years), Amazon.com, Valve Corporation, Corbis Inc., WRQ, Inc., NASDAQ, Medifor Corporation, Teledesic Corporation, the Business Software Alliance and Aldus Corporation (prior to its merger with Adobe) in all aspects of technology licensing and protection, joint development agreements, structuring multimedia and online service deals, and creating and operating technology-focused joint ventures. He is included in The Best Lawyers in America, An International Who's Who of E-Commerce Lawyers and Washington Law & Politics 2002- 2006 Super Lawyers.

Marty currently serves as Chair of the Technology Alliance board, sits on the board of the Washington State K-20 Network and on the board of Attenex Corporation, a company he helped found in 1999. Marty is a past chair of the Shidler Center for Law Commerce and Technology advisory board at the University of Washington and a past board member and secretary of the WSA (formerly known as Washington Software Alliance). Marty was the Chair of Governor Locke's Digital Education Task Force and the Chair of the Washington Digital Learning Commons, the nonprofit education organization created as a result of the recommendations of Governor Locke's Task Force.

Marty received his bachelor's degree from Whitman College in 1978 and his law degree from the University of Washington in 1981.

Tom Alberg
Chair Emeritus, Technology Alliance
Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group

Tom A. Alberg is a leader in financing and advising emerging technology companies in the Pacific Northwest. He is a founder and Managing Director of Madrona Investment Group created in 1995 to make private equity investments and the $250 million Madrona Venture Fund created in 1999 to invest in and support emerging companies developing innovative services and products in software, Internet and telecommunications.

He previously served as President of LIN Broadcasting Corporation and Executive Vice President of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. He is a board member of Advanced Digital Information Corporation, Amazon.com, and several private technology companies. Mr. Alberg served as Chair of the Technology Alliance from 2004-2006. He is co-chairperson of the Raven Foundation, a member of the boards of Classic KING-FM, Discovery Institute, and the Seattle Foundation, and a member of the Executive Committee of TechNet.

Earlier in his career, he was Chairman of the Executive Committee and a Partner of the law firm of Perkins Coie, where he represented major industrial and emerging technology companies in corporate and securities matters. Prior to joining Perkins Coie he was a lawyer with Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City. He graduated from Harvard College in 1962, cum laude, and from Columbia Law School in 1965, where he was an Editor of the Law Review.

Rob Arnold
Chair, Science & Technology Discovery Series
President & COO, Geospiza, Inc.

Rob Arnold, President, Chief Operating Officer and Director, joined Geospiza in 2003. Previously, he founded and was Chairman and CEO of Crossport Systems, an innovator in security solutions for broadband providers and applications, which was sold in 2001 to Lineo (now a subsidiary of Motorola).

Before Crossport, Mr. Arnold co-founded and served as CEO of ST Labs, Inc., a 250-person software testing and quality assurance firm, which was sold in 1999 to Data Dimensions, Inc. (now LionBridge).

Mr. Arnold serves on the boards of the Technology Alliance and WSA.

David Clarke
Chair, Technology Alliance Board Development
Partner, Perkins Coie LLP

David Clarke’s practice focuses on the corporate and transactional representation of startup and emerging growth companies, established public companies, venture capital funds and private equity funds. In more than 15 years of practice, David has handled numerous transactions ranging in size from under $1 million to over $4 billion, including mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and angel financings, public equity and debt offerings, spin-offs, restructurings, strategic partnerships and joint ventures. His corporate clients include Avvo, DS-IQ, Expedia, Farecast, HouseValues, HyperQuality, Jott Networks, Pelago, Revenue Science, SNAPin Software and Sur La Table.

In addition to his corporate clients, David works closely with leading venture capital firms on portfolio investments, and with private equity firms on leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and portfolio company representation. His venture capital fund and private equity clients include Blue Point Capital Partners, Endeavour Capital, Frazier Technology Ventures, Lone Star Funds, Madrona Venture Group, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Northwest Venture Associates, and WestRiver Capital.

From 2000 to 2001, David served as chief operating officer of Seattle-based Nimble Technology, Inc. He is a regular speaker on venture financing, merger and acquisition, private equity and corporate governance topics. David currently serves on the boards of the Seattle Repertory Theater and the Technology Alliance. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his J.D., magna cum laude, from George Washington University.

Randy Hassler
Chair, Technology Alliance Policy & Issues Committee
Vice President, Facilities Operations, Site Administration, Amgen

Randy Hassler joined Amgen with the acquisition of Synergen in 1995. In 2003, Hassler was appointed Vice President, Operations & Quality for Amgen’s Washington State facilities, before being appointed to the company-wide role of Vice President, Facilities Operations, Site Administration in 2006.

While at Amgen, Hassler previously held several vice president positions at the company’s Thousand Oaks, California headquarters, including Quality, Human Resources, and Quality Labs. Hassler began his career in biotechnology at Synergen in 1983. As the Director of Process Development, he was responsible for Molecular Biology, Fermentation Research, Process Biochemistry, Analytical Development and Cell Banking.

Hassler received a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Indiana University and his Master’s in microbiology from Colorado State University. He holds several patents and published papers in the area of process development.

Ed Lazowska
Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science, University of Washington

Ed Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. Lazowska received his A.B. from Brown University in 1972 and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1977, when he joined the University of Washington faculty. His research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high-performance computing and communication systems. Lazowska is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Lazowska chaired the Computing Research Association Board of Directors from 1997-2001 and the NSF CISE Advisory Committee from 1998-99; he currently chairs the DARPA Information Science and Technology Study Group. He is a member of the Microsoft Research Technical Advisory Board, and serves as a board member or technical advisor to a number of high-tech companies and venture firms. In 2003 President Bush named him to co-chair the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee.

In 2005 Lazowska received the Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service to the computing research community, and the ACM President’s Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. Nineteen Ph.D. and 23 Masters students have completed their degrees working with him.

Alan Nelson
Chairman & CEO, VisionGate Inc.
Affiliate Professor, University of Washington

Dr. Nelson is the founder, Chairman and CEO of VisionGate, Inc., a company developing novel technology for the 3-dimensional analysis of biomarkers in cells, focusing initially on the earliest detection of lung dysplasia for lung cancer screening. Prior to VisionGate, Dr. Nelson was the founder of NeoPath, Inc., where he served as President and CEO, and later served as Executive Chairman of TriPath Imaging, Inc., both companies focusing on the earliest detection of cervical cancer.

Before taking leadership entrepreneurial roles in the biomedical industry, Dr. Nelson was a tenured Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington where he established the Center for Imaging Systems Optimization. Prior to this, Dr. Nelson held an endowed chair professorship at MIT, was jointly appointed to the faculty at Harvard and directed the Harvard/MIT Radiological Sciences Graduate Program. He also held honorary professorships at Queens University and Trinity College in Ireland. Dr. Nelson is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and he holds over 20 issued patents and has published over 100 papers in the field of biomedical imaging.

Dr. Nelson serves as a director on various corporate and foundation boards and advises certain institutional investment funds in New York. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Technology Alliance, where he successfully chaired the task force to update the Washington State Ethics Law to encourage the commercialization of technology from state research institutions.

Chris Rice
Chair, Technology Alliance Benchmarking Committee
Managing Director, Conenza

Chris Rice serves as Managing Director for Conenza, a company that develops and manages customized online company alumni communities. Chris is an entrepreneur, angel investor and corporate board member. From 2002 to 2004, Chris was a partner with KPMG. There, he served as the tax industry leader for the software industry. Prior to KPMG, Chris was a partner at Arthur Andersen for 14 years, where he was the global leader of Andersen’s Technology Industry Team.

Chris’ practice at KPMG and Arthur Andersen focused on federal and international tax related to technology and wireless industry companies. Chris’ experience includes working with companies across the entire spectrum, from startup to some of the largest companies in the world in their respective industries, including Microsoft, AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile. He serves on the board of the Technology Alliance and is a board member of Blue Heron. He has a BS in Accounting from Indiana University Kelley School of Business and a JD from Indiana University School of Law. He is a CPA.

Dan Rosen
Chair, Alliance of Angels
President & CEO, Dan Rosen & Associates

Dan Rosen is CEO and President of Dan Rosen & Associates, an early-stage technology investment and advisory firm. In 2000, Dan was founding Managing Partner of Frazier Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund in Seattle, where he stayed until 2006. FTV specialized in category-defining technology companies in communications and software.

Dan was at Microsoft from October 1994 through May 2000, where he had a variety of positions including General Manager of New Technology, responsible for assessing Microsoft’s new technology needs and finding innovative ways to meet those needs through increasing internal research efforts, licensing, investment, or acquisition, and General Manager in MSN. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dan was at AT&T for 15 years, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of AT&T Consumer Interactive Services, and AT&T's first Managing Director for Northern and Eastern Europe.

Dan chairs Clearsight Systems, Neah Power Systems (NASDAQ: NPWS.PK), and the Alliance of Angels. He sits on the boards of eCommerce Industries and the Technology Alliance. Dan has a B.A. in Biology from Brandeis University and a Ph.D in Biophysics from University of California, San Diego. He holds several patents in communications and Internet technologies.

John Stanton
Partner, Trilogy Partners

Early in his career, John helped found McCaw Cellular Communications in 1982 where he served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman. McCaw was the largest wireless operator in the U.S. by 1989. John was a wireless industry pioneer co-founding three Top 10 wireless operators during his nearly 25 year history in the industry. Beginning in 1989, John formed a series of private entities that in 1994 were combined to form Western Wireless Corporation, where he served as Chairman and CEO from 1989 to 2005. Western Wireless merged with Alltel Corporation in August 2005. Western Wireless formed VoiceStream Wireless as a subsidiary in 1995, and spun off the company in May 1999. John served as Chairman and CEO of VoiceStream until it was sold to Deutsche Telekom in 2001. At the time, VoiceStream was the sixth largest wireless company in the U.S. Deutsche Telekom changed the name to T-Mobile, which is now the fourth largest operator. John served as Chairman and CEO of VoiceStream and T-Mobile USA from 1995 to 2005.

Earlier this year, John and several colleagues formed Trilogy Equity Partners, which invests in small wireless related companies, and Trilogy International Partners which operates wireless systems in south and central America. He served as Chairman of national wireless associations three times, once each during the last three decades. In addition, he serves as a board member of Advanced Digital Information Corporation, Hutchison Telecommunications International, Columbia Sportswear and as a Trustee of Whitman College. A Seattle native, John graduated from Whitman College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Susannah Malarkey
Executive Director, Technology Alliance

Susannah Malarkey has served as Executive Director of the Technology Alliance since its inception in 1996. She oversees all Technology Alliance initiatives and programs, including the Alliance of Angels, a membership group of angel investors and members of investment firms who invest in early stage technology companies, and the Science & Technology Discovery Series. She is additionally responsible for all public policy and research projects conducted by the Technology Alliance. Recent accomplishments include leading the effort that established the $350 million state-funded Life Sciences Discovery Fund dedicated to building Washington’s research and entrepreneurial capacity in the life sciences.

Prior to assuming her current position, Malarkey was the Director of Public Policy Programs for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce for five years. She also served as the Executive Director of Business Volunteers for the Arts from 1987-1995, and spent the five years previous to that working in community outreach and public relations for KCTS, Seattle's public television station.

Malarkey has a master's degree in public affairs and a bachelor's degree in community services, both from the University of Oregon. She serves on both the executive and screening committees of the Alliance of Angels; chairs the board of Humanities Washington; was a gubernatorial appointee to Washington Learns; and serves on various other civic and charitable organizations.