Bruce and Jolene McCaw are co-chairs of the board of directors and principal benefactors for Talaris Institute, a Seattle-based organization dedicated to advancing knowledge of early learning and the importance of parenting by translating research on early childhood development into tools for parents. Inspired by their experiences as parents of three children, and the knowledge of tremendous gains in infant brain science and developmental research, the McCaws saw an opportunity to help parents with children 0-5, with trusted, research-based, easy-to-use parenting information.

The McCaws support organizations that focus on the healthy growth and development of children and the important role of families and other caring adults in children’s lives through the Apex Foundation, their family charitable private foundation.

In addition, Bruce and Jolene donate their time through board memberships. Jolene is on the board of the Washington Early Learning Fund, a public private non-profit organization committed to early learning and education in the state of Washington. She has served on the Pacific Northwest Ballet Advisory Board and worked closely with Swedish Hospital Foundation on special projects. Bruce is a current board member and past chair for the Museum of Flight, a trustee of St. Thomas School, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, the Seattle Opera and the 10-99 Foundation. He is a past trustee of CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) and Lakeside School.

Bruce, along with his brothers, was a co-founder and director of McCaw Cellular Communications, which was acquired by AT&T in 1994. The son of pioneers in the broadcast industry, Bruce began his business career in radio and television and moved shortly thereafter to the field of aviation, forming his own aviation insurance company, which later became Forbes Westar. He was also responsible for co-founding Horizon Air, which became one of the nation’s largest regional airlines prior to being sold to Alaska Airlines in 1986. Bruce also collects classic automobiles and racecars and, when time permits, competes in vintage racing events.

Carolyn Bardon is the Director of Finance and Operations at Talaris Institute, reporting to the Executive Director. As Director of Finance and Operations, Carolyn is responsible for business planning, financial oversight & reporting, operations support and team leadership.

Carolyn joined Talaris from the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she recommended systems improvements, and implemented policies and procedures related to finance, financial planning & analysis, IT, HR and facilities. Previously, she was the Co-founder and CEO of a small business and Director of Business Planning for an internet start-up. She also has financial experience working at the investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and in private equity. Carolyn has a BS in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Carolyn and her husband Max are the proud parents of a two year old daughter named Ava. In addition to spending time with family, Carolyn’s interests include yoga, running, tennis and community service.

Mary Braseth comes to Talaris with a unique blend of experience, knowledge and creative energy. Her professional resume involves ten years of experience as an escrow closer that involved working with families, finances and familiarity with the many intricacies of the real estate and finance industry. Most recently, Mary was the lead administrative assistant to the Vice President of Licensed Stores at Starbucks as well as the Vice President of Global Beverage. She joined Talaris in December of 2008 as the administrative assistant to Executive Director, Katie Simons. Mary is the proud mother of a twenty-one year old daughter and a grandmother of an amazing four year old granddaughter. She also has two engaging step-sons, twenty-one and eighteen years old. She lives in West Seattle with her husband, who is a public school administrator. Mary’s other interests include reading, long walks and spending time with family and pets.

Craig Stewart is president and a trustee of the Apex Foundation, a private family foundation of Jolene and Bruce McCaw with a focus on children, families and education. He currently serves on the board of the 10-99 Foundation.

After military service and stints with the US Government and Standard Oil of Ohio, Craig began development work at Lewis University in Lockport, Illinois, where he worked in the late sixties and early seventies. He has served as development director at Regis University in Denver, Colorado and Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. He was director of development at Lakeside School from 1986 to 1996. He continues to advise a number of nonprofit institutions, particularly in the areas of governance, development planning and major gift fundraising.

A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, he received his B.A. in political science, followed by an M.A. in ethnic studies from Governors State University in Illinois and an Ed.D. in higher education from Western Colorado.

Craig and his wife, Val, reside in Seattle and are the parents of two grown children.

Terry is Vice Chair of Talaris Institute, an operating foundation that promotes successful parenting through research-based information about raising socially and emotionally healthy children, birth to five. His experience includes leadership positions in non-profit organizations, foundations, and local government, working for both international and domestic causes. Terry helped establish the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from 1998 to 2001. Besides overseeing the development of the Foundation’s initial financial and administrative systems, he developed an initiative for international disaster relief and helped create a housing program to strengthen families in the Pacific Northwest. He served as Executive Vice President for the start up of the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust in Arizona, a regional foundation dedicated to early childhood development, youth, the elderly and the arts. Terry has been involved with Save the Children for almost two decades, initially as its director of refugee programs, later as executive vice president/COO, and recently on its Board of Directors. He has also served as Director of Central Staff for the Seattle City Council and venture fund program officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts. He has lived and worked internationally as an educator in Australia, Europe and Nepal and as a trainer in Southeast Asia refugee camps. Terry holds a master’s in business from the Yale University School of Organization and Management and master’s degree in humanities from the University of Chicago.

Janice Brinschwitz joined the Talaris team as their Bookkeeper in February, 2010 and reports directly to the Director of Finance and Operations.  In addition to performing routine accounting and financial reporting duties, Janice works closely with the Dir. of Finance to develop and assure compliance with financial controls and systems. 

Janice’s experience includes her role as Controller at Envision Response, Inc., a Seattle based TV production and marketing company where she managed the Accounting and Human Resources department.  She became a QuickBooks expert as the founder of her own bookkeeping and consulting business,  JLB Bookkeeping, focusing on QB training and troubleshooting.  Janice also worked as an auditor for Arthur Andersen LLP, Seattle, after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Washington with a BA in Business Administration.

Having lived in Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia, Janice now calls beautiful Edmonds, WA her home, which she shares with husband Thomas, and daughters Katharina and Gabriela.  Janice loves reading historical romance novels and dancing Argentine Tango.

Kathleen Hebert recently left her position as a vice president and corporate officer for Microsoft Corporation. During her 14-year tenure at Microsoft, she played a key role in various product development and marketing efforts, including Microsoft Office. Most recently, she led Microsoft’s newly formed Business Solutions division. A former associate at the Boston Consulting Group, she has worked on strategic planning and development in a number of industries internationally. Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Dartmouth College and a masters in business administration from Stanford University.

As a recent mother of twin girls, Kathleen balances her time between her family and her interest in early learning. She is a partner with Social Venture Partners in Seattle, focusing on early childhood development and parenting.

Roberta R. Katz is an executive officer and director of the Charles and Roberta Katz Family Foundation. She previously was one of the founders and the CEO of Flywheel Communications, Inc., a company specializing in the use of technology to manage rights-related transactions and dispute resolutions. Prior to joining Flywheel Communications, Inc., Ms. Katz was the President and CEO of the Technology Network (TechNet), a national bipartisan political network of technology industry executives. Ms. Katz had previously served for four years as the Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of Netscape Communications Corporation. Prior to her post at Netscape, she was the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. (now AT&T Wireless) and its subsidiary, LIN Broadcasting Corporation. Ms. Katz was also a lawyer in private practice, specializing in corporate law. She was a partner with the firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, resident in the firm’s Seattle office.

Before becoming an attorney, Ms. Katz was a cultural anthropologist. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she specialized in issues of social and cultural change. As a result of her continuing interests in the effects of technological and social change, she conducted a study, under the auspices of the Discovery Institute, of the effects of the Information Age on the American civil justice system. The results of her study were published in 1997 in a book entitled Justice Matters: Rescuing the Legal System for the 21st Century.

Ms. Katz is a member of several Boards of Directors and several Advisory Boards. She was named one of “The Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal and one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal, and she has been a frequent public speaker on Internet law and policy issues, legal system issues, social change issues, and technology-workplace issues.

Ms. Katz received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, law degree from University of Washington Law School, and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She is married and has two children.

For the past ten years, Mr. Nielsen has concentrated his activities in the field of public education. He traveled the country for two years studying America’s public education system and subsequently ran for and was elected to the Board of the Seattle Public Schools. He served on the board for eight years and was President of the Board in 2001. Mr. Nielsen’s goal has been and continues to be to help transform an urban school system in order to create a template to transform America’s schools.

Mr. Nielsen has also co-founded and provided the initial capital for TeachFirst, Inc., where he currently serves as the company’s chairman. The company films America’s greatest teachers in every grade and every subject and makes those teaching practices available to all teachers via the Internet. The company now serves 55 school districts in 24 states.

Mr. Nielsen currently serves as Director of Washington Services, Inc. and Mobility, Inc. (Flexcar). In his spare time he also serves on the Board of the Alliance for Education, IslandWood, KCTS Public Television and the National Eating Disorders Association. He is also active in the Young Presidents’ Organization Alumni.

He is a graduate of the University of Washington where he received a bachelor’s degree in Business in 1960. In his senior year at the University of Washington he was elected student body president. In 1963, he received a master’s in business administration degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

For over 20 years Chris Rogers has been helping organizations, business leaders and families clarify their key objectives, evaluate them against internal and external influences, and build adaptable strategic and tactical plans to achieve their aims. As Vice President-Financial Consultant at RBC Wealth Management, he provides comprehensive financial advisory and wealth management services to private clients, small businesses, and charitable foundations. Previous to RBC Chris served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Business Unit Manager, and a member of the Executive Committee for WRQ where he was recruited to lead the restructuring and repositioning of a strategic business unit for the privately-held enterprise software company.

Chris’s interest in early learning and parent support began in a state of personal fear and wonder when he and Heidi welcomed their first child in 2000. Since that time, Chris has been a community volunteer working to bring the knowledge of science to the practice of parenting through his membership and a variety of advisory roles with Social Venture Partners and Thrive by Five of Washington, among other organizations. Chris received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Washington. His favorite and most valuable education is earned daily with his wife under the patient tutelage of their two young children.