James Lazarovits is the CEO and Co-Founder of Archon Biosciences, a leader at the intersection of materials engineering and artificial intelligence. James brings over 15 years of experience building, mentoring, and investing in deep tech startups across AI, software, hardware, and robotics. Before founding Archon, James was at the forefront of AI-driven computational protein design as a post-doctoral fellow and later research faculty at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, under the direction of 2024 Nobel Laureate, David Baker. There, he contributed to pioneering methods that integrate machine learning and molecular engineering to create next-gen therapeutic proteins. Jamie earned his PhD in nanotechnology engineering from the University of Toronto where he worked under Nanomedicine expert, Dr. Warren Chan. His doctoral work focused on overcoming biological delivery barriers, using nano materials and deep learning, laying the groundwork for his later contributions to rational protein design. 

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Brad Handler is an entrepreneur redefining the luxury travel industry. Brad began his post college career at American Management Systems and then Apple. Brad then went to law school and was an attorney at a top Silicon Valley law firm, and then at eBay as their first in-house counsel from 1997 to 2001. But he is best known for his innovation in the world of destination travel clubs. In 2002 Brad founded Exclusive Resorts with his brother Brent and served as the company’s CEO and chairman. Brad and Brent then created Inspirato, a vacation service which, under their leadership, provided personalized, high-end travel experiences. Brad and his brother left Inspirato in 2024 and Brad recently started Passport Golf which partners with leading country clubs to offer luxury once-in-a-lifetime golf excursions to New Zealand, Scotland, and Ireland. Brad earned a bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

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Yoko Miyashita is the CEO of Leafly, the go-to platform for cannabis education, discovery, and community. Yoko joined Leafly in 2019 as general counsel and stepped into the CEO role the following year, right in the middle of the pandemic and a major turning point for the industry. Born in Japan and raised in the US, Yoko spent much of her childhood translating for immigrant parents, an experience that gave her an early understanding of voice, access, and responsibility. That thread has carried through her career from practicing law to leading through change. Before Leafly, Yoko spent over a decade at Getty Images as SVP and general counsel, guiding the company through the global legal strategy during a time of massive digital transformation. She's a UC Berkeley and UW law school grad. At Leafly, Yoko is helping shape what the future of cannabis can look like, centered around trust, education, and community. 

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Dr. Sam Heidari is the CEO of Lumotive, a groundbreaking semiconductor manufacturer based in Redmond, WA. Sam holds a PhD in electrical engineering from USC and previously served as CEO of Quantenna, where he led the company through a public offering and $1 billion acquisition by ON Semiconductor.

At Lumotive, Sam is leading a team that's building award-winning programmable optical semiconductors that improve perception, increase computing power, and enable reliable high-speed communication in various industries. The Light Control Metasurface™ (LCM) is a patented, software-defined photonic beamforming solid-state technology. As the first of its kind, it meets essential needs in various sectors, including 3D sensing and AI computing.

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Emily Long is the co-founder and CEO of Edera, the pioneer of strong workload isolation technology for cloud and AI infrastructure. She places the highest value on people and bringing diverse teams together to build something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Emily is a tactical and strategic leader who’s proven in scaling operations, fostering strong company cultures, and driving strategic execution. She’s also an unapologetic people person who believes in the capacity of humor and human connection to motivate and empower team members to achieve more. Prior to Edera, she was the COO at Chainguard, where she built, scaled, and led core business functions that helped lead the company to its Series C and Unicorn status. Emily also served as Chief Operating & People Officer at Anchore, where she oversaw business operations and sales and spearheaded its DEI initiatives. She’s also held strategic operations roles at LogicMonitor and KPMG. Emily is based in Santa Barbara, California and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

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Howard Behar's career in business spans over 50 years, all in consumer-oriented businesses covering several industries. He retired from Starbucks Coffee after 21 years where he led both the domestic business, as President of North America, and was the founding President of Starbucks International. During his tenure, he participated in the growth of the company from 28 stores to over 15,000 spanning five continents. He served on the Starbucks Board of Directors for 12 years before retiring.

Howard is currently a Trustee for the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and is on the advisory board of Anthos Capital. He is committed to the development and education of our future leaders and has been a longtime advocate of the Servant Leadership Model. He has also authored two books on leadership titled It's Not About the Coffee and The Magic Cup.

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Dr. Elizabeth Wako is president and CEO of Swedish Health Services, where she oversees an organization with more than 1,500 licensed patient beds, 48,000 annual inpatient admissions and $3.4 billion in revenue. 

Dr. Wako has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. Before stepping into her current role, she worked as a registered nurse in behavioral health and held several key executive positions at Swedish.

She received her medical degree from the University of Utah and returned to the University of Washington to complete a medical residency in anesthesia, a fellowship in perioperative medicine, and finally, her MBA.

Dr. Wako lives in Seattle with her husband and four children.

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Kristen Hamilton is a three-time technology entrepreneur and CEO with multiple exits, a board director of late-stage startups, and a professional CEO Advisor. She is a General Partner at Enjoy The Work, where she teaches founders to become great CEOs. She co-founded the predictive hiring software leader Koru, and was CEO until it was acquired by UK-based Capfinity in 2019. 
Kristen grew up near Montreal, and currently splits her time between Seattle and Whistler. She is a mom to two university-aged daughters and a golden retriever, and has deep passion for skiing, biking, rowing, and spending time outdoors in the mountains.

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Jim Weber is a Director, Advisor, serial CEO, Author, and Speaker. Jim joined Brooks Running Company’s Board of Directors in 1999 and was named CEO in 2001. He stepped down in 2024 after 23 years in the position, during which time he is credited for the Seattle-based running company’s aggressive turnaround story. 

In 2022, Jim wrote a challenger brand, leadership memoir called “Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the Pack.”, with inspirational stories and tangible takeaways for current and aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and runners.

He currently serves as a member of the board of advisors at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management.

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Sujal Patel is Founder and CEO of Nautilus Biotechnology, a life sciences company creating a large-scale, single-molecule platform for quantifying and unlocking the complexity of the human proteome, with the goal of enabling fundamental advancements across human health and medicine.  

With nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience driving innovation for high-growth companies, Sujal is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who founded and served as CEO of Isilon Systems, an enterprise data storage company. After completing one of the most successful initial public offerings of 2006, Isilon was acquired by EMC in 2010 for $2.6 billion. 

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