Farewell to Lee Cheatham. Leaving Washington Technology Center for the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

Dear Friends of Washington Technology Center,

On behalf of the board of directors and staff of Washington Technology Center http://www.watechcenter.org , I wanted to let you know that WTC’s Executive Director Lee Cheatham has announced that he has accepted the position of operations director at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University http://www.biodesign.asu.edu/ and will be leaving WTC at the end of this month. He will also serve as general manager of the Biodesign Institute’s Impact Accelerator program.

We wish Lee well in his new position and thank him for his service to WTC.

Under Lee’s direction, Washington Technology Center has continued as a champion for innovative, growing companies in Washington. In his 11 years with WTC, the center has helped position companies and researchers to generate an astounding $500 million in external support for product development, manufacturing and jobs in this state. That is a truly remarkable accomplishment made possible by a state investment of less than $3 million annually. Lee leaves WTC in a strong position for further growing its services and the value it provides.

The Executive Committee of the WTC Board of Directors has selected Chris Coleman, WTC’s current CFO and director of business operations, to serve as Interim Executive Director for the organization. A search for WTC’s next executive director will begin in early 2010.

I hope you will join me in wishing Lee all of the best.

Sincerely,

Mike Schwenk

Chair, WTC Board of Directors

Vice President and Director of Technology Deployment and Outreach, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory