morsebest innovation .: board of directors

Company Overview Executive Team Board of Directors Careers

Eric T. Best
Chairman
Eric Best is an aggressive entrepreneur and experienced manager of strategy, people, and process. By founding MindCorps in 1996, Best created a profitable, high-growth software consultancy that served the Internet and Fortune 500 markets. MindCorps customers included Microsoft, Universal Studios, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Hasbro, and Network Associates. In 1999, Best and his partners at MindCorps created a spin-off software product firm, Emercis Corporation, to provide e-commerce infrastructure tools to enterprise businesses. Best orchestrated the sale of MindCorps to Amazon.com in 1999 and the sale of Emercis to Impressa, Inc. in 2000. Joining Amazon.com, he managed business development for the Amazon.com Commerce Network, working on the deal team for Amazon's first major brick-and-mortar partnership with Toys "R" Us. Serving as Director of Ubarter.com, Best helped facilitate the sale of the business to Network Commerce in 2000 for $45 million. Prior to his work in the software industry, he performed immunology research at Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Seattle. Best holds degrees in Business Administration and Biology from Seattle Pacific University (SPU), currently serves on the SPU Entrepreneurial Studies Council, and is a member of the SPU Society of Fellows.

Michael Ahern
Director
Michael Ahern joined Morse Best Innovation’s independent board of directors in 2003. Most recently, Ahern was the CEO of Seattle-based GiftCertificates.com, which was established in 1997 and provides gift certificate products and services to corporations and consumers. The company supports hundreds of merchants including national retailers Eddie Bauer, Macy’s, and The Sharper Image. Prior to joining the GiftCertificates.com management team in April 2000, Ahern was the CEO of GiftSpot.com, Inc., a firm he co-founded in April 1999. Ahern has more than 20 years of experience in management, marketing, and technology with firms such as Microsoft, Autodesk, and Digital Research. He was employed by Microsoft from June 1993 to April 1999, most recently serving as Group Product Manager for Microsoft Project, a $350 million business. Ahern received his B.S. from Purdue University.

Steven White
Director
Steven White joined Morse Best Innovation’s independent board of directors in 2003. White is the Chairman of ITEX Corporation (http://www.itex.com). Founded in 1982, ITEX Corporation is leading marketplace for cashless business transactions in North America that processes more than $250,000,000 a year in transactions between 22,000 member businesses. Previously, White was a Senior Vice President of Network Commerce, a publicly traded Internet-based technology infrastructure and services company. From 1996 to 2000, he served as Chairman and CEO of Ubarter.com, a publicly traded company he founded that was the first to market online, cashless transactions. White directed the sale of Ubarter.com to Network Commerce in June 2000. He is the former Chairman and President of the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE).