A.D. "Bud" Albers is the chief technology officer (CTO) of the Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG). DIMG develops and delivers interactive Disney-branded media for Internet and mobile devices for audiences around the world and also provides centralized development support and a world-class technology for all of the Internet properties of The Walt Disney Company. Albers is responsible for leading technological breakthroughs on existing platforms as well as developing cutting-edge new technology solutions in support of the company's new media technology needs.

Albers joined DIMG from MediaNet Digital, formerly MusicNet, where he served as Senior Vice President & CTO, leading numerous high-profile digital music service launches including Microsoft Zune, MTV Urge, Yahoo Music Unlimited, Virgin Red Pass and the Samsung Media Service in Europe. Prior to MediaNet, Albers served as CTO of Drugstore.com, one of the leading online pure-play retailers, where he was responsible for all aspects of technology including design, development and operation of a suite of high volume retail Web sites that support more than 125M unique visitors per year.

Albers' experience also includes serving the role of senior vice president and CTO at Getty Images, where he successfully led the company's highly profiled transition from bricks to clicks, migrating more than 90 percent of the company's revenues to the on-line channel while helping to lead the integration efforts for the groups 39 acquisitions, transforming the business model into one referred to by J.P. Morgan & Co. as ''one of the most successful web-based businesses around.'' He was also instrumental in building the company's online news and sports services.

Albers graduated from McKendree College with a bachelor of science degree in Computing and Information Sciences in 1986. He was named to ComputerWorld's Premier 100 IT leaders in December 2007, an honor for leaders who have had a positive impact on their organizations through technology.

Artie Buerk has been providing strategic advice and capital to growth companies for over 30 years. Buerk is currently a founder and managing director at Buerk Dale Victor, a local private equity and venture capital firm, where he is instrumental in generating deal flow and providing active, hands-on portfolio company support.

Earlier in his career, Buerk served as President of Northwestern Trust from 1993-1995 and served as co-chairman from 1995-2001. Artie was President and board member for Shurgard Storage Centers from 1977-1992. He assisted with taking the company public in 1994. Buerk was founder and director of Intermation, a records storage management service. From 1968 to 1977, he served as Director of Development at the University of Washington.

Buerk has a B.A. in finance and banking from the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He currently serves as a trustee for the University of Washington Foundation and an advisory board member for the UW Business School and the Center for Technology Entrepreneurship. He is a past board chair and president of the UW Alumni Association, past chair of the UW Development Fund, and past president of the Harvard Business School Club of Puget Sound.

Buerk's other current civic involvement includes serving as a member of the Downtown Seattle Rotary Club and serving as a board member for the Alliance for Education. He is a past trustee of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and past president of the Seattle Public Schools' Foundation Fund for Excellence.

Beverly Cleary is one of America's most popular authors of children's fiction. Her books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and her characters—including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse—have delighted children for generations.

Born in McMinnville, Oregon, she is a graduate of the University of California Berkley and the University of Washington School of Librarianship (now the Information School). After college, she became the children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. It was there a child once asked her, "Where are the books about kids like us?"

Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts. Her book Dear Mr. Henshaw received the 1984 John Newbery Medal. Her books Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively.

In 2000, to honor her invaluable contributions to children's literature, Beverly Cleary was named a 'Living Legend' by the Library of Congress. In 2008, the University of Washington named Cleary its Alumna Summa Laude Dignata, the highest honor bestowed on an alumna in recognition of her lifetime achievement.

As General Manager of the Business Collaboration Services Team (BCS), Bob Davis is responsible for delivering Microsoft Online Services within the Business Productivity Suite (BPOS). He leads the efforts to deliver the BPOS-Dedicated Service along with supporting and operating the BPOS-Standard offering. Services that are part of the Dedicated and Standard offering include Microsoft Exchange Online, Office SharePoint Online, and Office Communication Services.

In his previous role, Davis was responsible for incubating new Online Services and managing Microsoft's global IT infrastructure including computer systems, datacenters, and networking worldwide to Microsoft as well as Microsoft customers through Microsoft Online. In addition to providing operational excellence and high availability services for internal clients, Microsoft IT played a unique role as First & Best customer providing valuable input, feedback and real-world experience to the Microsoft product groups developing enterprise products. He also spends time sharing best practices with customers in executive briefings and other forums. Prior to managing GTS, he was responsible for the Windows and Storage Services team that partnered with the Windows product group on the implementation, support and feedback for Microsoft’s flagship enterprise server. The team also implemented a new storage utility and data management policies that are driving millions of dollars out of business unit spending through more efficient storage utilization and forecasting company-wide.

Davis joined Microsoft in 1994 as an applications analyst where he worked on the initial CRM application (MS Manager) and other financial (WWSales/MSSales) and operations (MOET/MSOper) systems in support of international subsidiaries. He spent two years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia building Microsoft's Regional IT organization and helped open offices in the expanding Southeast Asia and India region. Upon his return to Redmond, he was responsible for the Exchange 2000 migration, the first deployment that set 100 percent participation as ship criteria. After deploying Exchange 2000, he was Director of the Americas Regional IT organization, Global Client Software, and was responsible for the IT integration responsibilities associated with mergers and acquisitions.

Between his undergraduate and graduate education, Davis was a White House intern. During his internship, he was a member of White House Press Office and worked with the administration's spokesman.

Davis holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and a B.A. (hons) in Economics from the University of Washington.

As a Director of Trustworthy Computing Strategy & Risk Management for Microsoft, Kim Hargraves is responsible for the strategy and risk management program supporting such topics as privacy, accessibility and geopolitical intelligence. This includes developing and implementing global programs that enhance the privacy features of Microsoft products, services, processes and systems. Hargraves focuses on evaluating enterprise policies, risk management and corporate governance structures as they relate to privacy management and is also involved in analyzing technology policy areas such as Radio Frequency ID (RFID) as an advocate for strong privacy safeguards.

Previously, Hargraves managed the business/IT internal audit team at Microsoft, engaging in audit support initiatives to assess systems risk and performing audits across Microsoft’s business units. Hargraves was responsible for providing integrated systems audit support services for operations audits, systems development and process reengineering. In addition, she developed a privacy assurance program to enhance Microsoft’s ability to ensure compliance with related laws, regulations, corporate directives and best practices.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Hargraves held positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers related to security consulting and financial auditing. She also conducted financial analysis for Specialty Brands.

Hargraves is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. She holds CIPP, CPA, and CISA certifications.

Judge Horowitz has been active in the justice and legal systems for almost fifty years, and continues to be fully involved in efforts to improve the quality and delivery of justice to all. For many years he has chaired the Access to Justice Technology Committee of the Washington State Access to Justice (ATJ) Board, and has been a member of the ATJ System Impediments Committee. Judge Horowitz is a former Superior Court and Juvenile Court Judge in the State of Washington and for over thirty years has served as a mediator and arbitrator. He has also served as Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington, the first Chief Counsel for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, where, among other accomplishments, he authored significant legislation such as Washington State’s Crime Victim Compensation Act, and Child Abuse Reporting Law. He later served as that Department's Deputy Secretary.

Judge Horowitz received his B.A. from Columbia University and his L.L.B. degree from Yale Law School. He has been a member of the Washington State Board of Bar Examiners, an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) Law School, and an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Seattle University. He currently serves on the founding advisory board to the University of Washington Information School, the advisory boards of the Center for Law, Commerce and Technology at the University of Washington Law School and of the Access to Justice Institute of Seattle University School of Law, and on the National Advisory Board of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law. He is a Technical Support Member of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission, and serves on various committees of the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Access to Justice Board.

He is a founder, past Board Chair and current Board member of Seattle SCORES, an after-school program for grade school boys and girls in low resource communities and schools that combines soccer, literacy through creative writing, and community service to empower at-risk children, enable them to discover their self-worth, and teach them the skills to obtain a meaningful education and live a successful life.

As CTO & SVP/General Manager of CorbisImages.com, Rajiv Jain is responsible for overseeing technology for Corbis’ network of brands as well as business strategy, the web platform and marketing for Corbis Images. Jain is a member of the Executive Team based in the company’s Seattle headquarters.

Jain has more than 20 years of technology and business experience in general management and product management roles with broad expertise in e-commerce, system software and internet solutions including Web 2.0 technologies.

Prior to joining Corbis, Jain was SVP & CTO at American Greetings Interactive (AGI), where he was responsible for the strategic technological and digital development of all its interactive properties. While at AGI, he led the integration of two acquisitions in the photo-space, WebShots and PhotoWorks. Previously, he was General Manager for e-commerce at Cingular/AT&T Wireless and held executive and senior management positions at Portal (now Oracle), IBM, Autodesk.

Jain is a gold-medalist graduate from Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India and holds Masters of Science from University of Rochester NY. He holds 10 software patents under his name.

Alan Johnson was named director of Information Technology/CIO for Commercial Aviation Services director in June 2006. In September 2008, he was named director of the IT group supporting the Global Services & Support organization in IDS in addition to his CAS assignment. Prior to his current assignment, Johnson was director of Information Management, Boeing Information Technology. He was responsible for developing and implementing a data and information strategy within Boeing Information Technology.

Johnson previously served as Information & Data Services director of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Information Systems Group. He was responsible for developing and implementing a data and information strategy within the Commercial Airplanes Information Systems Organization.

Johnson’s prior assignments have included serving as Information Systems director of the 737/757 Airplane Programs Group, and SSG-Internal Computing Information Services director for The Boeing Company. His responsibilities included all information systems support to the programs, the Renton site and Seattle Field; SSG-wide information systems and the support of those systems across all Shared Services Group (SSG) regions; managing production system operations and disaster recovery.

Johnson joined The Boeing Company in 1982 and has held computing and business assignments in Commercial Airplane, Space & Defense Systems and Shared Services Group, with strong emphasis on program and project management, information technology and product support.

Johnson is a graduate of Kansas State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Johnson also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Kris M. Kutchera is the Vice President Information Technology for Alaska Air Group. She is responsible for managing and developing computer systems, information systems, and voice and data communication for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Alaska has received widespread recognition for its application of technology to increase efficiency and productivity while improving customer service and convenience. InformationWeek magazine has recognized Alaska Airlines as one of the nation’s 100 most technologically innovative companies, and the company has been consistently listed in the InformationWeek 500.

A 20-year information technology veteran, Kutchera joined Alaska Airlines in May 2005 as managing director of IT applications, and was promoted to Vice President Information Technology in April 2008. She began her career at Boeing Computer Services and Capgemini America before moving on to leadership positions at Washington Natural Gas (now part of Puget Sound Energy), Fluke Corporation, and at F5 Networks, where she served as Vice President of IT for five years.

Kutchera earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and graduated in June 2009 from the Executive M.B.A. program at the University of Washington.

Eric Larsen, CFA, Managing Director, is the head of the Information Systems group within BlackRock Alternative Advisors, the firm’s fund of funds platform.

Larsen joined BlackRock in 2007 following the acquisition of the fund of funds business of Quellos Group, LLC. At Quellos, he served as a Principal, and led the Information Technology Group. From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Larsen was a Senior Consultant with Metamor Technologies, responsible for managing information systems projects, technical designs and developing new business. He began his career with Andersen Consulting, LLP in 1992.

Larsen represents the UW Information School on the UW Foundation Board, where he serves as director. He also serves on the Finance Advisory Board for DePaul University.

Larsen earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1992 and an M.B.A. with distinction from DePaul University in 1998.

Ed Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. Lazowska’s research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high-performance computing and communication systems.

He is a member of the Technical Advisory Boards for Microsoft Research, Voyager Capital, Ignition, Frazier Technology Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, and Impinj, and of the Boards of Directors of Data I/O Corporation and Lguide.com. He is a member of the ACM Council, the Boards of Directors of the Washington Software Alliance and the Technology Alliance of Washington. He also serves on the Washington State Information Services Board, for which he was recognized in 2002 by Government Technology magazine as a member of the inaugural "GT 25" national leaders of information technology in state government.

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.

Rick LeFaivre is a venture partner at OVP, and brings over 30 years of accomplishment as a computer scientist, professor, R&D executive and venture advisor working at leading 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 held R&D management positions at Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Tektronix. He was a founding partner of the Zazi Forum, which brings together world-class technology experts to advise corporations and government agencies on matters of national importance; IdeaEdge Ventures, a San Diego-based venture development organization; and the Software Patent Institute, which advises the government on issues related to software patentability.

LeFaivre started his career as a professor in the computer science department at Rutgers University, 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. LeFaivre 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.

LeFaivre received an A.B. in Mathematics at the University of Missouri; and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin.

As a co-founder of Intelius, Kevin Marcus has served as Chief Technology Officer since its inception in January 2003. Prior to joining Intelius, Marcus was a founder of InfoSpace, and served as its Chief Software Architect from 1996 to 2002. From 1993 until 1996, Marcus worked for Symantec Corp., a provider of security software.

Marcus has been an author and co-author on issued patents related to user authentication, messaging, geographical searching and CPU emulation. He attended the University of California, Riverside, where he studied computer science.

Peter McCracken is Co-Founder and Director of Research at Serials Solutions. Before founding Serials Solutions with two brothers and a high school friend, McCracken worked as a reference librarian at East Carolina University and the University of Washington. He has published articles in College & Research Libraries, C&RL News, portal, Serials Librarian, and more, and has been writing a quarterly column about maritime history on the internet for Sea History since 2004. He also maintains www.shipindex.org, a free site that tells individuals what books and journals mention over 100,000 ship names.

From its origins in McCracken's living room (and later his brother's basement), Serials Solutions has grown to a company of over 150 people, as part of the ProQuest family of companies since 2004. McCracken now lives near Ithaca, New York, where his wife is a faculty member at Ithaca College. They have a four-year-old son.

McCracken was recently selected in the inaugural Tompkins County "40under" competition as one of "Tompkins County's most prominent business and community leaders under the age of 40."

McCracken earned a B.A. in English at Oberlin College, a M.L.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Maritime History from East Carolina University.

Ken Myer posseses over 20 years of successful experience in the technology industry leading companies ranging in size from start ups to Fortune 100. As co-founder and CEO of Interval Systems, Myer positioned the company as one of the leading providers of software tools for industrial engineers to implement lean manufacturing. As Executive Vice President of publicly traded Active Voice Corporation, Myer led the worldwide marketing, sales, technical services, and customer service teams as they launched a new product line into the Fortune 2500 market. The success of the launch helped pave the way for an eventual buyout by Cisco in 2001 for $300M.

At IBM Corporation Myer held a variety of executive positions including General Manager of the Northwest and Intermountain Region, National Executive for the Computer Services Industries, and CFO IBM Northwest. Myer holds an MBA and Masters of Speech Communication from the University of Washington and is involved in the Northwest education and technology non-profit communities. He is a current board member of Esna Technologies of Toronto, the Cascade Land Conservancy and the Technology Alliance, where he served as Board President.

Dr. Sherri Rogalski develops in-house IP practices for emerging and large companies and has worked with companies from the virtual stage through acquisition. She is registered to practice before the USPTO.

She has expertise in intellectual property practices, patent prosecution, diligence and patent management including post merger consolidation of large patent and trademark portfolios.

Rogalski earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Washington. She volunteers with organizations that support children and education.

Mike Simon has been working in computer security and policy development since 1985.

At the University of Idaho, a regional pioneer in computer security and one of the first NSA Centers of Excellence in Information Assurance Education, Simon built the network laboratory infrastructure used for the research programs. He also taught senior-level and graduate courses in networking and network topology.

As the Chief Scientist for Conjungi Corporation and the Chief Technical Officer for Creation Logic, Simon has been involved in building security awareness and improving the security posture for hundreds of companies. Simon is responsible for designing security policy that protects multiple industries, including health care, biotech, military, streaming media, power infrastructure, water infrastructure, financial institutions, e-commerce and aerospace.

Simon is an adjunct faculty member for the University of Washington and occasionally lectures at Seattle University, University of Idaho and several civic organizations on the subject of information assurance and computer security. In addition to the UW iSchool’s Founding Board, he serves on the Advisory Board for the Information Assurance certificate program at the University of Washington and on the Advisory Board for the Computer Science Department at the University of Idaho.

Simon earned a B.S. in computer science from the University of Idaho.

Tad Sommerville has pursued a number of different professional endeavors. He sold pleasure boats in 15 southern states, and managed sales internationally for a large boat builder. He owned and operated a small software company. He managed sales and marketing for an aluminum fabrication company, managed bond portfolios, and navigated and piloted a salmon tender in Alaska.

Currently, Sommerville is president of Sommerwind Group, a financial management company. He is a full-time real estate investor specializing in multi-family properties in Seattle, Tacoma and Palm Springs. Tad is also an investment trustee, managing the orderly liquidation of a large portfolio of loans and real property for distribution to creditors under an approved Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.

Sommerville is married with three boys and one girl. He received his B.S. in finance from the University of Colorado, Boulder and received his M.B.A. from the University of Washington in 2002. At various times in his life, he could speak Mandarin, French and Japanese.

As CIO at Intellectual Ventures, CJ Venkataraman is responsible for aligning and guiding the organization through the architecture road map and delivering software solutions to support business operations. His scope of control spans across program management, technology architecture, software development and integration, infrastructure and service desk.

Intellectual Ventures is built on the belief that combining capitalism and invention will benefit the world with more and better inventions as well as create financial rewards for investors. IV is a global company with five offices in North America and six offices in Asia.

Before joining IV in 2006, Venkataraman was the Director of Technology Architecture and Development at Corbis, where he was responsible for emerging technology, technical architecture and development of business process automation tools. He has worked as a software consultant building products like Outlook, Enterprise Datawarehouses, Workflow Management Solutions, and Legal Billing Systems.

Venkataraman holds an MBA in Technology Management, an MS in Statistics and an advanced diploma in Software Engineering.

Peter Wilson recently began a consulting role with Facebook to help establish its first permanent engineering office outside of Palo Alto.

Wilson is the former Director of Engineering for Google’s Kirkland development center, where he led the development of a set of Google applications across real time communications, media and advertising.

Prior to joining Google, Peter held a variety of positions with Microsoft, Diamond Cluster Consulting and Accenture.

Peter has a B.Sc. in Computer Science from London University's Imperial College.