Emily Warn, Founder

Emily Warn is the founder of SocialQuarry, a Seattle start-up that offers social media consulting services and the SocialQuarry Dashboard, a tool that mines social networks for valuable information that helps foundations and non-profits accelerate social change. She most recently served as founding editor-in-chief of poetryfoundation.org, winner of Webby and Parent’s Choice awards. Warn worked at the Microsoft Corporation from 1995-2002 where she served as group programming manager of Microsoft web sites. After leaving Microsoft, she worked as an online consultant for corporations and non-profits, including amazon.com and The Methow Conservancy.

In addition to her career in high technology, Warn is the author of five collections of poetry, Shadow Architect, The Leaf Path, The Novice Insomniac, The Book of Esther and Highway Suite. Her poems, essays and reviews have appeared in The Seattle Times, Poetry, BookForum, National Book Critics Circle, KUOW, The Writer’s Almanac, Parabola, The Seattle Weekly, and Poetry Daily, among many other publications. She is currently on the Board of Directors of From the Fishouse, an audio poetry website, and on the Advisory Board of PoetrySpeaks.com, the first for-profit online poetry company.

Jonathan King, Marketing Communications and Documentation Manager

Jonathan is a Seattle-based teacher, writer, editor, and nonprofit communications consultant. He has also spent much of the past 15 years immersed in the world of websites and online communications. His corporate writing and editing experience includes work for Microsoft, Amazon.com, Twango, and PiWorx. Most recently he has worked as a writer and editor for a range of nonprofit organizations, including Women’s Funding Alliance, Oregon Wild, Voices in Wartime Education Project, and Groundwire.

In a journalism career that has spanned print, television, and radio, he has reported on a wide range of issues, including the Iran-Contra affair, covert operations, nuclear safety and secrecy, the environment, computer technology, and consumer safety. He is author of two books on environmental issues and produced Voices in Wartime, a feature-length documentary film that delves into at the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets. He currently serves on the board of Groundwire, which delivers innovative tools and strategies to engage people in protecting the environment and quality of life in the Pacific Northwest.

Cynthia Hartwig, Marketing and Public Relations

Cynthia co-founded Sharp Hartwig, a marketing, branding and public relations firm in 1979. Her firm specializes in public sector and non-profit clients. Recently, Cynthia has created campaigns for The Wilderness Society (Wilderness. Pass it On); the Department of Ecology’s litter prevention campaign (Litter and it will Hurt); the Puget Sound Partnership’s public education effort to save Puget Sound (Let’s Turn the Tide); and brand and identity work for Sound Transit. She currently serves on the board of directors of One Reel, the non-profit company that produces Teatro Zinzanni and Bumbershoot; she is also on the board of Bridges to Understanding, a non-profit organization that connects kids around the world through digital storytelling.

Paul Pangaro, Software Designer

Paul combines technical depth, marketing and business acumen, and passion for designing products and services that serve the cognitive and social needs of human beings. He has worked as CTO for startups such as Idealab's Snap.com, developed product roadmaps for consumer Internet companies, and managed developer outreach and web properties for Sun Microsystems, where he held the position of Senior Director / Distinguished Market Strategist. From his background in the cybernetics of language, Paul has developed a methodology for modeling the conversations users need in order to understand how services can achieve their goals, and that brands need to convery value to and connect with their customers. He has collaborated closely with designers in creating high-traffic web sites and models of gnarly concepts such as innovation, play, and the creative process. From 2001 through 2007 he taught a course at Stanford University on the cybernetics of design. He has collaborated to create methodologies for understanding and cultivating innovation strategies that he has presented in Brazil and Austria. Paul was awarded a B.S. from MIT in Computer Science and Humanities, and a Ph.D. from Brunel University, where Gordon Pask was his thesis advisor. He is currently founder and CTO of Cybernetic Lifestyles.com, a strategic marketing and product innovation consulting firm in New York City, with clients including Poetry Foundation, Intellectual Ventures, and Citigroup. He serves on the board of Artship San Francisco, and is a Fellow and Trustee of the American Society for Cybernetics.

Tom Booster, Director of Software Development

Tom is a Senior Software Developer with a long track record for bringing software products from the conceptual phase to market. Most recently, Tom was the development lead on Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, a suite of applications that showcase the multi-touch capabilities in Windows 7 and comes pre-installed on millions of touch enabled PCs. He was one of the early developers hired by the Seattle start-up Visio and helped develop all versions of Visio before the business graphics software company was acquired by Microsoft in 2000. Since then, Tom worked as project lead on Microsoft Surface, the revolutionary computer that responds to hand gestures and real world objects. Part of Tom’s success at shipping stable, revenue generating products is his experience at hiring and motivating software development teams. Tom knows how to integrate product designers, software developers, documentation experts and test personnel into highly functional and motivated teams. Tom holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley and Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Oregon State University.