Board of Directors

Joe Ashley, Chairman, has held key management positions in several biotechnology and medical device companies. From 1974 to 1983, he was the President of Beckman Instruments’ Clinical Division, which was acquired by Smith Kline in 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he was the President of Genetic Systems, one of Seattle’s first biotechnology companies, that was then acquired by Bristol-Myers in 1984. He is currently Chairman of Copernicus Therapeutics, a DNA-based drug delivery company in Cleveland, Ohio.

Rob Arnold, President, 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 is also a board member of the Technology Alliance.

Gordon Gardiner, Director, is a Managing Partner of Swiftsure Capital LLC, a Seattle-based private equity firm. Prior to joining Swiftsure in January 2006, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Delafield Hambrecht, Inc., a Seattle-based full service investment bank, where he managed the investment banking and brokerage groups. Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer of three technology companies where he was responsible for raising capital and for corporate development. Mr. Gardiner was also Managing Director of Burrill & Company, where he advised health care companies on private capital raising. Prior to 1995, he worked for 15 years with J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York, Milan and San Francisco. Mr. Gardiner completed the Executive Program for Growing Companies at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Harvard College.

Dr. Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Dr. Hood’s professional career began at Caltech where he and his colleagues pioneered four instruments, which comprise the technological foundation for contemporary molecular biology. Dr. Hood moved to the University of Washington in 1992 as founder and Chairman of the cross-disciplinary Department of Molecular Biotechnology. He co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington in 2000 to pioneer systems approaches to biology and medicine. In 2007, he was elected to the Inventors Hall of Fame (for the automated DNA sequencer). Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies, including Amgen and Applied Biosystems.

David Thacher, Director, was a Microsoft Partner and led the worldwide R&D effort for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Thacher directed the Microsoft CRM business and product group from its inception. He joined Microsoft in 1988 and held various leadership roles within the Microsoft Windows NT®, Publisher, Office and bCentral™ teams. He is a graduate of Yale University.