Board of Directors

Corkern champions the elimination of medication waste and medical errors that are so widespread and costly within the U.S. healthcare system. She believes the primary objectives of health reform can be achieved with a focus on these principles, and she advocates for the adoption of proven technology to deliver vastly improved patient safety and cost savings.

Embracing the big picture, Corkern is focused on building Talyst’s long-term success by enabling the success of its customers. She strives to continuously uncover and cultivate new markets that would benefit from Talyst’s expertise and secure a pipeline of new business for the company.

Corkern brings almost 20 years of experience in high-tech and supply chain management, and has helped build a number of highly-successful technology companies. Prior to joining Talyst, she served as chief operations officer at Vykor, Inc., a leading company in the management of the aerospace supply chain. She contributed to a plan that raised $28 million in venture capital funding and managed the company’s software development, customer support, training and professional services.

Corkern was instrumental in several public-company transitions and growth initiatives. She led a buyout of a division of Highland Digital to become the founder and president of ISOGEN International, which is now part of Inodata (NASDAQ: INOD). Corkern then led the integration of DataChannel into Netegrity (NASDAQ: NETE) and served as general manager for Netegrity’s portal business.

She is active in a number of charitable organizations, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Seattle Girls’ School. Corkern is a staunch advocate of women seeking technology careers, and was recently named one of the 100 Top Women is Seattle Tech.

Corkern holds a B.S. in technical communication from Louisiana Tech University and conducted graduate work at Southern Methodist University.

Hayes previously served as a research analyst and assistant to PineBridge Investments’ chief executive officer, a role in which he assisted in internal asset management activities, merger and acquisition analysis and integration, and general business development activities. His investment, corporate finance and general management experience began in 1994. Prior to joining PineBridge, he worked at the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund as a senior investment associate. Hayes previously worked as a corporate finance and credit analyst in the Media and Telecommunications Group at Chemical Securities (now JP Morgan).
 
He received a BS in finance from Boston College and an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

Chong has worked in buyouts and leveraged financing since 1981. Prior to joining PineBridge Investments, he was executive vice president for business development for the GT Group, an Asian conglomerate, from 1994 to 1998. In the early 1990’s, he was a founder and chief financial officer of Dynadx Technologies, Inc., a start-up company that developed and marketed a new out-of-home advertising technology. Until 1990, he headed the U.S. leveraged finance group at Swiss Bank Corp. and participated in or led the financing for more than two dozen high-profile leveraged buyouts.

Chong is or has been a director of numerous companies in a variety of industries, including Fresh Direct, Tensar, FMC Cardiovascular Resources, FieldTurf and Faith Media Holdings. He received an MBA from Columbia University and also has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Malaya.

Stewart was part of the start-up team at National Surgery Centers. During her tenure there, the company became the largest independent owner and operator of surgery centers, went public and subsequently sold to HealthSouth for $590 million. Stewart then joined the investment banking division at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York, where she worked closely with software and services companies. Since entering the venture business in 1999 (initially with Frazier Healthcare), Stewart has focused on different segments within infrastructure software, including security, wireless and media infrastructure.

She holds board positions at Applied Identity, BioPassword, GraniteEdge Networks and Max-Viz, while serving on the boards of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network and the Evergreen Venture Capital Association. Her degrees include a BA, political science from the University of Puget Sound, and a MM from Kellogg School of Northwestern University.

Most recently, Fade served as senior vice president of the OEM Division, where he was responsible for Microsoft’s licensing business with PC OEMs and embedded-device manufacturers. In other roles at Microsoft, Fade was in charge of overseeing the creation and launch of Office 97, Outlook and several Microsoft Office product line extensions, including the acquisition of Microsoft Front Page and led the teams which produced the first successful double-byte versions of Microsoft Windows, followed by Microsoft Office. Additionally, Fade served in several management positions in eight years at systems integrator Triad Systems.

He serves on the boards of Azaleos Corporation, Centeris and Klir Technologies. Richard and his wife Susan are active in supporting the needs of children with developmental disorders. They co-founded the Autism Center at the University of Washington. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida State University.

Under his leadership, GE introduced numerous new leadership products, including digital X-ray and advanced ultrasound medical imagers, high-efficiency turbines for power generation, the GE 90 Jet engine, advanced lighting and electronics-based appliances and weatherable plastics, to name a few.

In 1986, Dr. Edelheit left GE to become president and CEO of Quantum Medical Systems, a venture capital-backed company that pioneered color-flow ultrasound for vascular imaging. He continued to lead Quantum after its acquisition by Siemens Corporation. He returned to GE in 1991 as manager of the R&D Center’s Electronic Systems Research Center, and in 1992 assumed leadership of Corporate R&D.

Dr. Edelheit is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, which selected him as the recipient of the 2001 George E. Pake prize. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY from 1995 until 2002. He was also a member until 2003 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Advanced Technology Program. He serves on advisory boards of both the Physics and Bioengineering departments of the University of Washington. He is also on the board of the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Research and Education Institute in Boston. He is also on the Board of Directors of one public corporation, Sonic Innovation, and one private corporation, Hubspan. He is chairman of the Laboratory Advisory Committee of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In 1995, he received the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service. He has numerous publications and presentations.

A native of Chicago, Dr. Edelheit earned a B.S. degree in engineering physics and an M.S. degree and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois.

Previously, Ellis was co-founder and managing director of The Halifax Group, a $200 million private equity fund. Ellis was involved in all facets of Halifax, including the preparation of all fund documents, marketing to private and institutional investors, and has acted as the de facto general counsel in the due diligence, purchase and sale, and other legal matters relative to Halifax portfolio companies. He has served on the boards of two of the three Halifax portfolio companies.

Earlier in his career, Ellis spent more than 15 years with Kelly, Hart, and Hoffman, where he built and chaired the Real Estate and Commercial Law Group, the largest group within the firm.

Ellis has a B.A. from the University of Texas, a M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a J.D. from the University of Houston.