WRF Core Team

As president and chief executive officer of Washington Research Foundation, Mr. Howell has guided WRF from being an organization that identified, protected and licensed technologies to one with sufficient assets and expertise to foster the creation of early-stage technology-based companies.

Mr. Howell joined WRF in 1989 and shaped the most successful licensing program in the organization's history for generating a significant ongoing revenue stream.  He continues to provide strategic direction for this effort. 

Earlier in his career Mr. Howell was in medical sales and operations.  Mr. Howell serves on several boards related to the mission and activities of WRF and WRF Capital.  He holds a bachelor of science in biochemistry from Washington State University.

Mr. Eby helps WRF Capital achieve its financial goals and provides due diligence and licensing assistance for WRF Capital start-up companies. 

Prior to joining WRF, he was chief financial officer of the Seattle Art Museum.  He was finance manager for the museum's downtown building project and directed management of the museum's commercial real estate.  Earlier, he was a consultant with Arthur Andersen and Christopher J. Brown and Associates.

Mr. Eby received his bachelor of arts and bachelor of architecture from Rice University and a master's in business administration in finance and accounting from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  He is a certified public accountant.

Ms. Little is a managing director and business development manager at WRF Capital. She concentrates primarily in the areas of healthcare and biotechnology and is responsible for identifying and developing start-up opportunities and investment decisions in new companies.

Ms. Little is WRF Capital's investment manager for GlobeImmune, Targeted Growth,  Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, Ultreo, Corus Pharma (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Amnis, Therus, EKOS, and Trace Detect.  Additionally Ms. Little is the investment manager and board observer of Accium Biosciences.  Previously, Ms. Little was manager of technology licensing and acquisitions and senior technology licensing manager.

Before joining WRF, she worked as a marketing manager and market consultant.  Ms. Little has a bachelor of arts in zoology from Pomona College and a master's in business administration from the University of Arizona.

Mr. Reagh (pronounced "Ray") focuses on investments in communications, electronics and information technology, including software, semiconductor, and Internet-related applications.

Mr. Reagh currently serves as WRF Capital's investment manager for Farecast, Trailfire, Illumita, Physware and nLight Photonics.  He was also previously responsible for WRF Capital's investments in Consystant Design Technologies, Lumera (NasdaqNM: LMRA), Performant (acquired by Mercury Interactive) and Reality Based Learning (acquired by McGraw Hill Education).

Prior to joining WRF Capital, Mr. Reagh served as manager of business development for N&N Contact Lens, where he was responsible for negotiating and managing all agreements between N&N and its commercial partners.  Mr. Reagh was also a founding member and director of Numinous Technologies, a WRF Capital-founded software graphics company that was later acquired by Microsoft.

Mr. Reagh received a bachelor's degree in physics from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Chicago.  He has been admitted to the bar of the State of Washington, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

As director of research commercialization, Ms. Simoncini seeks out research projects with commercial potential, primarily those at the University of Washington (UW).  She also manages WRF’s $250,000 annual fund to support potentially valuable commercial research at the UW. 

Prior to joining WRF, she was a partner at Integra Ventures, a life science investment organization that provides capital to early-stage companies, and a scientist and business development manager at ZymoGenetics, a Seattle-based biotechnology company.

Ms. Simoncini received her doctorate degree in pharmacology from the University of Pavia, Italy, and her master’s in business administration from Seattle University.  She did postdoctoral work at the University of Washington and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany.

Ms. Etscheid is responsible for the licensing of most of WRF's biomedical inventions, comprising therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and biotechnology.

She monitors license agreements that generate several million dollars annually, negotiates new license agreements and manages a patent portfolio of more than 30 technologies. In addition, she assists in the due diligence to support WRF investments in biotechnology start-ups.

Ms. Etscheid has a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Smith College and a doctorate in pharmacology and cell physiology from the University of Chicago. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for four years before joining WRF. She is an active participant in the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA) and Licensing Executives Society (LES).

Mr. Le focuses on investment opportunities in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, enterprise software and advanced materials. He has worked closely with the management teams and boards of Corus Pharma (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Lumera (NasdaqNM:LMRA), Performant (acquired by Mercury Interactive), and Point of CareWare. He currently serves on the board of Accelerator Corporation and Recodagen Corporation, and is a board observer at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, HaloSource, Hyperion Therapeutics, Teranode, Uptake Medical, and VLST Corporation.

Prior to joining WRF Capital, Mr. Le was the founder, president and chief executive officer of MiniMeals, Inc. and a consultant for Capital Management Consulting, Inc.  Earlier, he was at Raymond James & Associates, Singer & Xenos Investment Management Company and Capital Management Group LLC, a private investment firm specializing in biomedical ventures.

Mr. Le completed post-graduate studies at the Templeton College of Oxford University and earned a bachelor of arts cum laude in economics and government from Harvard University.

Ms. Emmons joined the foundation in 1990 as its first full-time information specialist. She established WRF's Research Services, which included a print library and an online search service for WRF staff members, WRF venture center tenants, and nonprofit technology transfer organizations in Washington state.

She has expertise in researching patents and trademarks, scientific literature, competitive intelligence, and trade and industry sources to support market research. She was also instrumental in developing WRF's web site and intranet.

Ms. Emmons has a bachelor of science from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and a master's of library and information science from the University of Washington.