Hugh Mackworth, Managing Partner of SmartForest Ventures, has 25 years of successful high-tech executive and management experience. In addition, Hugh is chair of the Board of iMove and Attensa, former chair of the Board of Trustees of OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), chair of the Entrepreneur Foundation of the Northwest, and is currently on the board of SignaCert, TechTracker and the Software Association of Oregon. He is the founder of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum's Portland Angel Network, a network of private investors, and the Angel Oregon Conference.

He formerly served as founding CEO of Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ:DMRC), since named Oregon's fastest growing company. Before relocating from the Silicon Valley, Hugh worked with GammaLink, a computer-based fax startup, was a marketing executive at 3Com Corporation, and worked in engineering, marketing and finance for Apple Computer before it went public. His academic background includes a BA in computer studies and an MBA, both from Stanford University.

Debi Coleman, Managing Partner of SmartForest Ventures, is one of the most recognized female executives in technology management. Debi stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Merix Corp. (NASDAQ: MERX) in September 2001, having served as Chair since October 1999, and serving as both CEO/Chair since its spin-out from Tektronix, Inc. in March 1994 (IPO: May, 1994). Prior to that she was Vice President Materials/Operations for Tektronix. She is perhaps best known for her career achievements with Apple Computer, Inc. where she held the positions of Vice President of Operations, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President Information Systems and Technology.

Coleman serves as an advisor to three venture funds: PacRim Partners (CA); Utah Ventures; and Alexander Hutton Ventures (Seattle). She has been an active angel investor since 1995 and is a founding member of the Portland Angel Network.

Coleman graduated from Brown University with a BA in English Literature in 1974 and received her MBA from Stanford University in 1978. She also received an honorary Ph.D in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1987. Coleman was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 1997.

Coleman devotes time and energy to several organizations including the Oregon Arts Commission; Oregon Ballet Theatre; Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology; Brown University and International Women’s Forum. She currently serves on the boards of Applied Materials Inc.; Synopsys, Inc.; Kryptiq; Neopad; Teseda; Concero; Phoseon and Reply!.

A twenty-year venture capitalist, Thomas J. Toy is General Partner of SmartForest Ventures and Managing Director of PacRim Venture Partners, a venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999.  PacRim Venture Partners, which has investors from the U.S. and strategic partners and investors from Greater China, specializes in early stage information technology investments located in Silicon Valley. Previously, Tom was a Partner at Technology Funding, a professional venture capital firm focused on information technology and life sciences companies. Tom’s past investee companies include: UTStarcom (NASDAQ: UTSI), SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR), Catalina Marketing (NYSE: POS), LifeCell (NASDAQ: LIFC) and SyStemix (NASDAQ: STMX; acquired by Novartis). 

Tom is on the boards of directors of UTStarcom (currently serving as Chairman of the Board) an international telecommunications equipment company; White Electronic Designs (NASDAQ: WEDC) a designer and manufacturer of advanced semiconductor packaging solutions, ruggedized display products and interface assemblies; Solarfun Power Holdings (NASDAQ: SOLF; based in Shanghai), a manufacturer of silicon-based solar cells and panels and several private companies in the US and China. 

Tom also has taught the course on New Venture Finance at San Francisco State University MBA school. He is a regular volunteer panelist for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Job Forum, and he is on the Business Advisory Board of the Myelin Repair Foundation (www.myelinrepair.org), a research foundation for multiple sclerosis.

Tom graduated from Northwestern University with B.A. and Master of Management degrees.

Huoy-Ming Yeh

Huoy-Ming Yeh is Partner of SmartForest Ventures and Director of PacRim Venture Partners, a venture capital firm she co-founded in 1999.  PacRim Venture Partners, which has investors from the U.S. and strategic partners and investors from Greater China, specializes in early stage information technology investments located in Silicon Valley.

>Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Ming worked as investment consultant at Technology Funding, where she focused on deal sourcing, due diligence and deal management. Prior to joining Technology Funding in 1998, Ming spent two years at Lehman Brothers as an associate in the Global Technology Investment Banking and Advisory group where she performed analysis on business plans, conducted in-depth due diligence and completed M&A and public offerings for venture stage companies. Previously, Ming worked for seven years as a microprocessor design engineer for Sun Microsystems, Amdahl and Prime Computer. During her years at Sun, Ming was a key design engineer and the co-architect of the multiple instruction dispatch unit (dynamic grouping logic) on the UltraSPARC I processor. She earned three patents for her work on the UltraSPARC processor.

Ming holds a B.A. in Physics from Wellesley College, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California and a M.B.A from MIT, the Sloan School of Management.

Catherine Coleman - Administrative Assistant, Portland

With 13 years of office-management experience, Catherine's career began in the advertising industry, working first for ad agencies and then as Administrator & Curator of the American Advertising Museum. Her background includes event planning, project management and accounts payable. She graduated with honors from the University of Portland with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in French. No, she is not related to Debi.

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