SEBA Board of Advisors
Connie Bourassa-Shaw
Connie Bourassa-Shaw is the director of the University of Washington Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is housed in the Foster School of Business. As the center’s director, she is responsible for establishing the strategic direction of CIE, ensuring the quality of its academic programs and practical experience activities, working with student entrepreneurs, developing new initiatives, and creating partnerships with other entrepreneurial organizations in the Northwest. In September 2009, the Center was ranked #7 in the Top 25 Graduate Entrepreneurship Programs in the country by Princeton Review/Entrepreneur Magazine.
Bourassa-Shaw came to CIE from the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, where she served as executive director from July 2002 through December 2005. In that role, she created new programs focused on the educational and funding needs of early-stage entrepreneurs, and extend the reach of NWEN into the region’s entrepreneurial and venture capital community. Under her leadership, membership in NWEN grew from 450 to nearly 800.
Before joining NWEN, Bourassa-Shaw was at the UW’s Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where she’d held the position of managing director since 1997. She led the effort to launch the UW’s first Business Plan Competition in 1998.
Bourassa-Shaw is a member of the board of directors for the Northwest Entrepreneur Network and serves on the advisory boards of the national Association of Small Business Development Centers and UW TechTransfer. In 2008 she won the Foster School of Business’s inaugural Dean’s Leadership Award, in recognition of her work across the UW campus. She was listed on the 100 Top Women in Seattle Tech by TechFlash in July 2009. She graduated from the University of Montana with a BA in history (with honors), served in Peace Corps Chile, and spent more than a decade of her life as a magazine editor/writer before discovering her true love—early-stage entrepreneurship.
Peter Dunbar, MD, MBA
Founder and CEO of Talaria Inc.
Rick LeFaivre, Ph.D.
Dr. Rick LeFaivre is a venture partner at OVP Venture Partners, working out of the firm’s Kirkland, Washington office. He also serves as director of New Ventures–Technology at the University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization, helping to create companies that leverage technology developed at UW. His investment focus spans traditional information technology ventures as well as companies working at the intersection of computer science, biology and nanotechnology as applied to advanced biotech and energy solutions.
Rick has over thirty years of accomplishment as a computer scientist, professor, R&D executive and investor working at elite universities, high-technology companies and venture firms. He has served as VP of the Advanced Technology Group at Apple Computer, as SVP of R&D and CTO at Borland International, and has held R&D leadership positions at Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Tektronix. He was a founding partner of IdeaEdge Ventures, a San Diego-based venture development organization, and the Software Patent Institute, which advises the government on issues related to software patentability. He started his career as a professor in the computer science department at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, teaching and carrying out research in artificial intelligence and advanced programming technology, and later served as executive director of the Von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California, San Diego, focused on the effective commercialization of university-developed technology. Rick has published extensively in the computer science literature, has served on a number of industry and academic advisory boards, and has testified before the Congress of the United States on matters of technology policy.
Dr. LeFaivre received his AB in mathematics from the University of Missouri, and his MS and Ph.D in computer sciences from the University of Wisconsin. He was the founding chair of the University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Board of Visitors, and is a member of the University of Washington College of Engineering Visiting Committee, the University of Washington Information School Founding Board, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Energy and Environment Directorate Review Committee, the Washington State Energy Strategy Advisory Committee and the Pacific Northwest Energy Angels Advisory Board. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of WatchGuard, Inc. (NASDAQ: WGRD) until the company was sold in 2006.
Pierre Mourad, PhD
Pierre D. Mourad, Ph.D. – Dr. Mourad holds joint appointments within the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Pediatric Dentistry (Adjunct) at the University of Washington.
He received a BA in Mathematics from Rutgers University and MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington. He has performed and published basic and applied research in oceanography, atmospheric sciences, sonoluminescence, arctic and ocean acoustics, acoustic holography and medical acoustics. Supporting this work have been organizations such as DARPA, NASA, NIH, NSF, ONR as well as from private industry. The medical application of ultrasound has been his professional emphasis for about the last ten years. In addition to peer-reviewed publications, he has generated new ideas of a more translational-research nature. For example, he is listed as an inventor on four issued patents and another thirteen patent applications, all having to do with means of diagnosing or treating a variety of diseases and disorders. Much of his research is collaborative in nature, residing as it does at the interface of physics and medicine; some of that research has motivated industrial interactions. For example, his research on novel means of facilitating drug delivery has been incorporated into two recent startup companies in the NorthWest, specifically Inson Medical and PhaseRx Pharmaceuticals. His research on a novel power toothbrush that also uses ultrasound resides in Ultreo Inc, a company he co-founded. Finally, he co-founded Allez PhysiOnix Ltd, based on his research on monitoring intracranial pressure non-invasively, automating ultrasound Doppler systems, and improving physician’s ability to localize painful tissues and organs.
Buddy Ratner, PhD
Dr. Buddy D. Ratner is the Director of the University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB) Engineering Research Center and the Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization. He is Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Ratner received his Ph.D. (1972) in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. From 1985-1996 he directed the NIH-funded National ESCA and Surface Analysis Center for Biomedical Problems (NESAC/BIO). In 1996, he assumed the directorship of University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB). He is the editor of the Journal of Undergraduate Research in BioEngineering, an Associate Editor of Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, on the advisory board of Biointerphases and serves on the editorial boards of ten other journals. He is a past president of the Society For Biomaterials. He has authored over 400 scholarly works and has 17 issued patents. Ratner is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the American Vacuum Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International College of Fellows Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUS-BSE). Ratner has served as president of AIMBE, 2002-2003. In 2002 Ratner was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, USA. In 2003 he was elected President of Tissue Engineering Society of North America (TESNA). He is now on the council of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS). He has launched three companies. His research interests include biomaterials, tissue engineering, polymers, biocompatibility, surface analysis of organic materials, self assembly, nanobiotechnology and RF-plasma thin film deposition.
Joseph P. Whitford
With over 25 years experience in corporate finance and securities transactions, Joe is a partner in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP law firm and Co-Chair of the firm’s Life Science Practice Group.
Joe represents high growth companies in virtually all phases of their development, ranging from seed and venture investments through strategic partner arrangements and liquidity transactions in both mergers and acquisitions and public offerings. He also represents angel and venture capital investors which fund such businesses, as well as underwriters in registered offerings.
Joe works closely in counseling Boards of Directors and executive officers in their ongoing corporate functions. He also assists clients with both domestic and international joint ventures and technology transfers and licensing.
Joe is active in the local entrepreneurial community, serving as a Board member and General Counsel to the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, as well as General Counsel to the Tacoma Angel Network. He has previously held Board and leadership positions in the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. Joe also serves as a Trustee for Holy Names Academy, a private Seattle secondary school for young women.
Prior to moving to Seattle in 1978, Joe was an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. in Economics from Union College and a J.D. from Syracuse University.
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