Bio susan preston

Ms. Preston is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, specifically focusing on initiatives related to angel investors and angel organizations, as well as the advancement of women entrepreneurs.

At Davis Wright Tremaine, a 450-national/international-law firm, she is the Director of Training and Professional Development with additional responsibilities for strategic planning and growth initiatives. She has developed and implemented firm-wide programs as well as practice group specific initiatives in areas of education, client development, marketing, mentoring and teaming.

Ms. Preston has held several board positions with public and privately held corporations, as well as serving on non-profit boards. She is currently on 7 boards, including the board of advisors for Nokia/Innovent. Additionally, Ms. Preston is Chairman of the board for The Hope Heart Institute, a leading cardiovascular research institute, with national and international recognition. She is the chair of the Entrepreneurship Center at Seattle University and is on the Board of Advisors for the Angel Capital Education Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to education and research on angel organizations and angel financing. ACEF originates from the Angel Capital Association (for which she is one of the founders). She is also a member of the Board of Visitors for Washington State University.

Ms. Preston is the author of Angel Investment Groups, Networks and Funds: A Guidebook to Developing the Right Angel Organization for Your Community”, a comprehensive guidebook on the establishment and operation of angel investment groups. She was also a contributing author to: State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on the Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing. She is currently working on her next book on angel financing scheduled for printing by Wiley Publishing in Q1 2007.

Ms. Preston was a White House delegate to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: international organization headquartered in Paris, France)Conference in Paris, France in 2000, on Women and Entrepreneurship at which approximately 80 countries sent delegates to discuss issues facing women entrepreneurs and was a speaker at the most recent OECD Conference in Istanbul, Turkey in June 2004, addressing issues for women entrepreneurs including angel investing, funding for women NGOs and US best practices.

She recently testified at a United States Congressional hearing in support for the $4 Billion Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program as the national expert on angel financing. Currently, Ms. Preston lobbying a Federal income tax credit for private equity investments. The bill has received sponsorship from the House Small Business Committee, and strong support from the House Finance and Ways and Means Committees. A modified form of the bill has been sent for scoring. She has received positive response from the Senate side of the Hill.

She has been and continues to be a national and international speaker on economic development,angel and venture financing, including programs for Goldman Sachs, Northern Trust, NYU Business School, OECD, Industry Canada, Alberta California Venture Channel, Angel Capital Association, National Angel Organization, NASVF, SSTI, NBIA, MASVF, Jamaican Government, Governor’s Conference on Economic Development, Washington state legislation, Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association and many others.

She has been profiled in Inc. Magazine and Red Herring (cover story for both magazines) and numerous other local and national publications and has contributed to many nationally published articles on angel investing and financing.

Ms. Preston frequently plans and facilitates conferences, retreats and workshops for organizations, forums and companies. By example, Ms. Preston served as co-chair for two consecutive years for the Early Stage Investment Forum, the premier investment event in the Pacific Northwest, and facilitator for the World Entrepreneur Organization.

She is also founder and past-president of Seraph Capital Forum, an all-women”s accredited investor angel investment forum, which educates women on early stage investment and provides a venue for introduction to promising new companies.

Representative Expertise
CEO of start-up company taking organization from absence of any focus on product or delivery, to a well-developed strategy and planned product development and rollout, establishment of internal structure, project flow and marketing and sales plan, with launch of first product

COO for public medical device and instrumentation company, at which accomplished a successful turn-around for ultimate sale to a public biotech company

Numerous mergers and acquisitions including public and private sale of assets and stock, merger of two public companies, acquisition of public company subsidiary by private company, and related proxies

Initial Public Offerings and Secondary Offerings ranging from $25 to $150 Million, as well as numerous private equity financings representing companies as well as venture capitalists and angel investors

Technology licensing for hi-tech and biotech companies, domestic and foreign, with and for for-profit companies and academic institutions

Intellectual property analysis and strategy, including patents (Ms. Preston is a registered patent attorney)

Ms. Preston has significant experience in senior management of companies including, CEO of Reality Based Learning Company, a privately held company that designed, developed and produced primary-school educational curriculum and assessment products. Prior to RBLC, Ms. Preston was a partner with Cooley Godward in the firm”s Pacific Northwest office. Cooley Godward is a leading high-tech law firm based in Silicon Valley. Her practice consisted primarily of corporate securities and transactional work, including representation of venture capital firms, and private and public companies. Ms. Preston was also COO and General Counsel for Source Scientific, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, and VP, General Counsel for MicroProbe Corporation, a public, biotech research and development company.

Ms. Preston received her JD, cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law and her BS, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Microbiology and Public Health from Washington State University.———–