Linden Rhoads

Linden Rhoads is a veteran Seattle technology and life science entrepreneur and investor with a long history of mentoring others to have impact through innovation and affiliations with many aspects of the University of Washington. From 2008-2014, Rhoads was Vice Provost for the UW Center for Commercialization (now known as CoMotion), the unit of the University that seeks to commercialize discoveries emerging from UW research. During her tenure at UW, Rhoads negotiated the transfer of Fluke Hall to the UW and oversaw the launch of the university’s first incubator, the entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) program, and many other programs that support researcher-innovators. The UW’s innovation output was catalyzed from a ten-year average of 8 spin-out companies per year to 18 start-up companies in Rhoads’s final year at the UW, which contributed to the UW being ranked one of the most innovative universities in the world.

Prior to her role at UW, Rhoads worked as a serial entrepreneur, board member, and mentor investor. She led business development for start-up Cellular Technical Services (CTS) from 1991 to 1993, when it was the best performing stock on the NASDAQ. She then played significant leadership roles in numerous high-tech start-ups including AdRelevance (acquired by Media Metrix, now Nielsen Netratings), and Nimble Technology, both of which she co-founded with UW CSE faculty.

Through Seattle Ventures, her investment company, Rhoads is an active technology and life science investor, and a participant in organized angel investment groups such as the Alliance of Angels and Element 8. Since its inception, she has served as the General Manager of the W Fund, which has backed 19 spin-outs from Washington State research institutions. She is an appointed member of Governor Inslee’s Council of Economic Advisors and serves as a board member of the Committee on Advanced Tuition Payment and College Savings, overseeing Washington’s GET and DreamAhead 529 tuition savings programs. She serves on the Executive Steering Committee of the UW Innovation Roundtable. She has served on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the UW School of Law, from which she earned a J.D., on the steering committee to build the Allen Center for Computer Science, on the board of the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the Foster School, and on the board of UW’s Henry Art Gallery.

Rhoads is a longtime supporter of reproductive choice, and a co-chair of Washington Women for Choice. Rhoads attended Smith College and the Bronx H.S. of Science. Rhoads required financial aid to attend college and has focused her philanthropy on supporting institutions of higher education. She and her husband David Lahaie have seven children between them — three in college now — and two grandchildren.

• Appointed by Governor Jay Inslee
• Confirmed by the Senate on April 20, 2023
• Term:  October 24, 2022 to September 30, 2028