Alumni Days 2022 - Guest Speakers

Charlie Bell began his career in 1979 as a developer of minicomputer software used to calculate optimal payload layout for NASA's Space Shuttle program.

In 1984, he took a hiatus from software development and moved into project engineering for integrated space shuttle cargoes.

Bell managed the payload complement for STS-61B, working a console in Johnson Space Center through the Thanksgiving 1985 mission less than two months before the ill-fated Challenger disaster. He also owned the Hubble Space Telescope deploy mission, STS-31.  During the post-Challenger accident “stand-down”, Bell became deeply involved in database programming and in 1989 he joined Oracle’s field services team. There, he spent seven years writing Oracle applications and managed numerous transactional systems projects and teams.

In 1996, Bell left Oracle and co-founded Server Technologies Group to build internet commerce transaction software. The team at Server Technologies fell in love with a small electronic commerce company just across Lake Washington, and in March 1998 closed doors and put on “Amazon.com” badges.  Bell became the Director, and later Vice President, of Infrastructure for Amazon.com.  He has held several executive posts at Amazon since then, the last one being in Amazon Web Services (AWS). As Senior VP of Utility Computing, Bell owned world-wide engineering, operations, and product management for AWS.

In 2021, following the retirement of Amazon founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, Bell left Amazon and became interested in solving an emerging problem for companies: cyberattacks. In his current job at Microsoft, he became head of a new 10,000-person security engineering and compliance group at Microsoft that helps companies and governments deal with everything from digital fraud to ransomware attacks.

He graduated from the University of California Fullerton with a Bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems.

After several experiences at Boeing, Oracle, and Amazon.com as Vice President of Amazon Web Services, Charlie Bell moved to Microsoft, where he became the leader of a 10,000 person security and compliance engineering group that helps companies and governments deal with everything from digital fraud to ransomware attacks.

François Locoh-Donou is F5’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors. He joined F5 in April 2017, bringing to the office nearly two decades of enterprise technology experience building a wide range of products, teams, and operations around the world.

Locoh-Donou previously held successive leadership positions at Ciena, including Chief Operating Officer; Senior Vice President, Global Products Group; Vice President and General Manager, EMEA; Vice President, International Sales; and Vice President, Marketing. Prior to joining Ciena, he held research-and-development roles at Photonetics, a French opto-electronics company. Locoh-Donou serves on the board of Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF).

He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Cajou Espoir, a social enterprise focused on cashew processing that employs several hundred people in rural Togo, 80 percent of whom are women. He holds engineering degrees from École Centrale de Marseille and Télécom ParisTech in France and a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dr. McCormick joined BRI in 2017 and previously served as BRI’s chief administrative officer.

Over the past two decades, Dr. McCormick’s work has centered on launching, managing and investing in life science companies, frequently at the start-up level. Most recently, she served as CEO of Matrix Genetics, an industrial biotechnology company, spun out of Targeted Growth, Inc. Prior to that role, she held positions as chief operations officer at Targeted Growth, as a principal at Integra Ventures, as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and as Director of Business Development for the biomedical incubator and technology investment fund at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. McCormick received a PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She serves as Chair and Member of the Executive Committee of the Life Sciences Washington Board.

Francois spent most of his career in Customer Relationship and Business development in the Aerospace industry.

He spent 10 years located in the United States working for a French company developing engineering services and wiring harness for the aviation industry including Boeing.

Back in France in 2000, he moved to the aircraft propulsion business with GE and then Safran Group. His latest position in France was with Safran Nacelles (a business unit of Safran Group) as VP Sales & Marketing OEM and Airlines, member of the company Executive Committee. In Sept 2020, he was named in Seattle as Safran Group Corporate SVP for Boeing Programs.

Francois also represents Safran Aircraft Engines part of CFM with GE Aviation to Boeing.

Francois was graduated by the University of Nantes (France) in 1982.

Ms. Corvi served as Vice President and General Manager – Airplane Programs, of Boeing Commercial Airplanes of The Boeing Company. In her 34 years at Boeing, Ms. Corvi served in various management positions, including Vice President and General Manager of 737/757 Programs and Vice President of Aircraft Systems and Interiors, among other roles.

She currently serves on the board of directors of United Airlines Holdings, Inc., of Allegheny Technologies Incorporated and of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc.

Jeff Delaune is a robotics technologist in the Aerial Mobility Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His interests include analysis, design, implementation, and testing of new technology for planetary exploration, with a particular focus on autonomous aerial systems and vision-based navigation for now.
Jeff is part of the Guidance, Navigation and Control team for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. He received his Ph.D. in Robotics from Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE, France) in 2013, after a M.S. in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University (United Kingdom), and a B.S./M.S. in Engineering from École Centrale de Nantes (France).

As President & CEO of Life Science Washington (LSW), Marc sets the strategic direction, guides policy priorities, and directs business operations to ensure our members have the talent, investment, and partnerships needed to sustain the industry’s robust growth and solidify Washington state’s reputation as one of the top life science clusters in the nation. Marc also serves as the Chair of the Life Science Washington Institute, which is an affiliated non-profit focused on supporting life science entrepreneurs and growing start-up companies in Washington.

Before taking the helm as President & CEO, Marc served as Vice President, Public Policy & External Affairs for LSW. Prior to joining Life Science Washington, he served as Director of Policy & External Affairs for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where he was actively involved in creating and advocating for several statewide bioscience initiatives including the Life Sciences Discovery Fund. He was also deeply involved in a range of PNNL’s philanthropic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education partnerships and science education initiatives. Prior to moving to Washington state, Marc held a variety of policy and consulting positions in Washington, D.C.

Marc has served on several gubernatorial task forces including the Washington Clean Energy Leadership Council and the Life Science & Global Health Advisory Council.  His board service includes a number of statewide trade associations, including Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), Washington Clean Technology Alliance (WCTA), the Tech Alliance, and the CARE Fund.

Marc loves playing tennis, waterskiing, mountain biking, and Oregon Pinot Noir.