LSW EVS Staff and Board

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.  Marc currently serves on the Tech Alliance Board as well as the Board of the Bothell Biomedical Innovation Partnership Zone. Additionally, Marc has previously served on a number of statewide trade association boards, including Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) and the Washington Clean Technology Alliance (WCTA).

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

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Soraya Bailey, serves as the Innovation Training Director at the University of Washington’s CoMotion. With a background as the former Program Director for the UW Master of Applied Bioengineering program and co-instructor for the Johns Hopkins Mechanical Engineering Capstone program, she has mentored 140+ teams in the product development and commercialization process. In her current role, Soraya fosters relationships across the Pacific Northwest to support innovation and entrepreneurship. Her diverse skill set in program management, curriculum design, and biomedical devices makes her a valuable addition to the Life Sciences Washington Institute Board. With a dedication to mentoring students and a rich academic background, Soraya brings extensive knowledge in healthcare, consumables, and smart technology to the board. She holds an M.Sc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Calgary and B.A.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.

Margaret McCormick, PhD, serves as executive director and chief operating officer of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) and alsoas vice president of research for Virginia Mason Medical Center. 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 atTargeted 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.

Erin Williams Hueter joined Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County in January 2023 as Executive Director. She discovered her passion for service at an early age and has been working in human services, public health, and violence prevention for thirty years. While completing an internship serving victims of domestic violence, she developed deep compassion for this population and devoted much of her career to it. She served for over twenty years at Lutheran Community Services Northwest in several leadership roles in trauma recovery programs providing crime victim advocacy, behavioral health and refugee foster care. She proudly concluded her service with nearly five years as the Inland Northwest District Director.
Erin is a graduate of Pacific University and Leadership Spokane, has served on numerous Boards, Commissions and Task Forces including the Transitions Board of Directors, the Spo-Can Council/Our Kids: Our Business, the Washington State Task Force Against the Trafficking of Persons, the Community of Montessori Parents Board of Directors, the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council, Spokane Police Advisory Committee and Washington State Attorney General’s Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Statewide Coordinating Committee among others. Erin is the grateful recipient of the Arc of Spokane’s Partnership 4 Safety Community Service Award, the Spo-Can Council Award for work with survivors of sexual abuse, a Catholic Charities Volunteer Service Award and a Spokane Community Oriented Policing Services Partnership Award. Erin has been interviewed by numerous reporters and moderated and spoken at several events and conferences regarding behavioral health, crime and victimization in many forms, as well as self-care, vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue. Erin loves her community and working to see everyone in it thrive together. Erin and her husband raised their three children in Spokane and live in a renovated former bait shop on a small lake in the west plains

Dr. Young received her PhD from Vanderbilt University in Molecular Physiology & Biophysics in 2016 at which point she started working for Life Science WA with an interest in being at the interface of business and science. In her role there, she managed the Washington Innovation Network (WIN) Entrepreneur Mentoring Program where she worked with founders in their earliest stages. In 2017, she started working with Phase Genomics where she is now the Chief Operating Officer. Kayla has a passion for early-stage biotechnology companies and designing operational processes to help these companies be successful.