Seattle Symphony
Taking a page out of the program—literally—we look at the executives, entrepreneurs, and Microsoft millionaires who are funding the Seattle Symphony's season.
Dave Fulton
Basics: 62, Founder and Former C.E.O., Fox Software
Contributions: Sold Fox, a database management firm, to Microsoft in 1992 for $173 million; retired at age 49 and has since assembled a 16-piece string-instrument collection featuring a viola crafted in 1580; plays violin in an informal quartet with three members of the symphony.
James Raisbeck
Basics: 70, C.E.O., Raisbeck Engineering
Contributions: Founded the aviation engineering company that designed the Boeing 737’s post-9/11 cockpit security system; last year, pledged $500,000 to help fund a visiting-artist program.
Charles Simonyi
Basics: 58, co-founder, Intentional Software; former distinguished engineer, Microsoft
Contributions: Oversaw development of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Multiplan; training to become the world’s fifth space tourist; donated $10 million to the symphony for its centennial in 2004.
Mich Mathews and Jeff Sanderson
Basics: Mathews: 40, senior V.P. for corporate marketing, Microsoft; Sanderson: 48, former general manager of strategic development for MSN, Microsoft
Contributions: Sanderson spent 17 years at Microsoft, during which time he met Mathews, before reinventing himself as a middle school math teacher. Craig Watjen (next slide) got the couple involved with the symphony.
Craig Watjen
Basics: 70, co-owner, Seattle Mariners
Contributions: Former head of Microsoft's Treasury Group; earned a B.S. in clarinet from Juilliard as well as an M.B.A. from Stanford; underwrote construction of the symphony’s concert organ.
Gerald Grinstein
Basics: 74, C.E.O., Delta Air Lines
Contributions: Head of Delta since 2004; was C.E.O. of Burlington Northern when it acquired Santa Fe Pacific in 1995, creating America's largest railroad; served as co-chair of the symphony’s board from 2000 to 2002.
Paul Leach
Basics: 55, distinguished engineer, Microsoft
Contributions: Software engineer in Microsoft’s Windows division and former trumpeter for the company’s orchestra; hosted symphony’s 2006 Christmas bash, which featured a performance by four members.
