He is known throughout the technology community as a co-founder in the 1980s of Aldus Corporation, where he was one of the original developers of PageMaker, the product that started the desktop publishing revolution.
Mike began his technology career at Boeing in 1978 as a graphics and systems programmer. After Boeing, he worked for Atex as an engineer and project lead, developing device firmware and operating systems for reporter workstations. At Aldus, Mike served as the lead engineer for the Macintosh version of PageMaker 2.0 and was later named an Aldus Fellow. His research into image processing, color reproduction, and advanced layout was incorporated into Aldus PrePrint, a color separation and image-processing program for desktop color reproduction. Aldus later merged with Adobe.
In 1993, Mike co-founded and served as president of MetaBridge Corp., which was retained by Microsoft three years later for the successful worldwide rollout of Internet Explorer 3.0. In 1997, Mike co-founded NetPodium, a provider of distance-learning software and services. He served as NetPodium's chief technology officer and vice president of development until the company was sold in 1999.
Mike holds a Master of Software Engineering degree from Seattle University, where he has served on the advisory board of the school's Computer Science Department. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology from the University of Washington. Mike has been deeply involved with the University's two-year-old Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.
Mike and his wife and children are longtime Seattle residents.
