Strategic News Service - About Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson is the CEO of the Strategic News Service^® (SNS), www.stratnews.com. SNS was the first subscription-based newsletter on the Internet, and is read by Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Mark Hurd, and industry leaders and investors in computing and communications worldwide. Mark is the founding chair of the Future in Review^® (FiRe) Conference, which the Economist has labeled "the best technology conference in the world," as well as of SNS Project Inkwell, the first global consortium to address technology design changes for one-to-one computing in classrooms. He is the founder of two software companies, a hedge fund, and the Washington Technology Industry Association "Fast Pitch" investment forum, Washington's premier technology investment conference.

Best-known for his accurate forecasts of important technology market shifts, Mark was the first to predict the global liquidity collapse, on TV on CNBC Europe, in March 2007, in London. He correctly predicted Steve Jobs' return to Apple before Steve was aware of it, as well as the future popularity of the "CarryAlong" format, now the fastest-growing computer category, represented by iPads and Netbooks. His 10-year, publicly graded accuracy rate is over 94%.

On the morning of 9.11, Mark was in a meeting with 30 senators, arguing for a new national broadband policy. By October 2001, he had assembled an SNS "Project Intelligent Response" booklet and hand-delivered it to key members of the Senate and Administration in the face of the 2001 anthrax attacks, providing the first structured effort by the technology community to fight terrorism.

Mark's well-known term "AORTA" (Always On RealTime Access) became the name of Europe's first broadband wired network. His interest in theoretical physics led to a paper on Resonance Theory, submitted in 1979, which was the first to describe a version of String Theory as a Theory of Everything.

Mark is a member of the UCSD Calit2 Laboratory advisory board and serves as advisor to OVP Venture Partners, Crowd Trust, and the mPedigree Network. He was selected by Fortune as one of the "100 Smartest People We Know." When Michael Dell resumed control of his company, he hired Mark to review Dell operations and prospects and to suggest future actions to the management team. Mark has provided board-level strategic advice for Orange, T-Mobile, Cap Gemini, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, and other leading global technology firms.

Mark regularly appears on BBC World News, BloombergTV, CNBC, and National Public Radio, and in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. He recently spoke throughout China as a guest of the U.S. Embassy. In addition, he is the founder and chair of Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance, created to reduce resident killer-whale mortality rates in the Puget Sound. And as the founder and current chair of the IP Protection Alliance, Mark has been working with top global technology firms and government agencies in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia to halt nation-sponsored theft (and forced disclosure) of crown-jewel IP.

Mark is a frequently sought speaker at corporate meetings and conferences around the world, and he provides top-level strategic reviews for management teams. Clients include companies and countries interested in software, computer, and telecoms growth: Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Symantec, T-Mobile, Warburg Pincus, Orange Communications, and the Free State of Saxony, among others. He has received the expressed gratitude of the Swedish and Icelandic governments for helping accelerate the deployment of wireless broadband in both countries, and he is a member of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue.

Technology Alliance Partners (TAP) provides assistance to software, telecom and related technology companies in developing technology-informed business strategies, and in implementing these strategies. This often includes assistance in: developing new company strategy; software-specific management advice; product and technology evaluation; competitive review; and the achievement of company strategic and fundraising goals, leveraged through alliance formation.

Clients include some of the largest software and telecommunications companies in the world; TAP also works with small but promising companies.

Retained by Prince/Johnson Controls (world's largest independent designer and maker of car interiors) to advise on the future of car computing.

Hired by the government of Saxony, Germany, to assist in the formation of a new software industry.

Consultant to Softbank/Seybold on new directions for this leading computer trade show vendor.

Retained by McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.(AT&T Wireless Division) in 1992 to assist in data broadcast business unit strategy and alliance formation; created two spinouts.

Retained by Aldus Corporation to work with Paul Brainerd, chairman, CEO and founder, on a proprietary internal planning project. Subsequently retained to manage development of 1994 corporate strategy; work led to Adobe merger. Upon adoption of strategy by executive committee, was retained to assist in related alliance formation.

Retained by Autodesk, Inc. to assist in acquisitions planning, technology market evaluation, and new product plans.

Set strategy and tactics for a Washington software startup resulting in a multi-year, multi-million dollar non-equity funding by a top U.S. computer manufacturer. Assisted this company in successfully obtaining venture capital; second round closed in 1993.

Led a negotiating team for the leading Windows utilities software company which closed on a $1 MM OEM agreement with IBM.

Selected as the only outside software consultant to advise the Technology Practice of investment banking firm Piper Jaffray, Inc.

As Chair of The Presidents' Group, Washington Software/Digital Media Alliance, provide ongoing educational programs on building software companies.

As a member of the Advisory Board of the Human Interface Technology Laboratory, assisted in bringing Microsoft and other companies into the Virtual Worlds Consortium. Became the first individual member of the Consortium.

As a director of VR software startup WorlDesign, Inc., assisted in the formation of alliances with firms in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Assisted in the launch and/or growth of numerous smaller software firms, including PreText, Express Systems (Walker Richer Quinn), Marion Software, TYM.IS, ElseWare (Hewlett-Packard), Worldesign, Manley and Associates (Electronic Arts), ConnectSoft, Peopleware, and many others.

Has created numerous alliances with Microsoft for client companies; track Microsoft closely.

Led quarterly business technology trends seminars to Seafirst Bank, Bank of America's most profitable division.

Provides advice to local and out-of-state venture capital firms on funding targets.

Author of the "Vision" column series, Microsoft Start Page, on future consumer-related technology trends (Microsoft's most popular series, based upon reader feedback)

KCTS-TV (Seattle public television), interview on Serious Money: "The Future of Multimedia Software Companies"

KSER-FM (Seattle), guest on program Technical Difficulties: "Microsoft as an Emerging Political Force in Washington State: Boeing II?"; also "The Information Economy"

Televised interview on "The Future of the East German Software Industry," East Germany

Keynote Speaker, Bionomics Institute Annual Conference, Mountain View, California

Keynote Speaker (multiple years), E-Chron European Entrepreneurs' Conference, Stockholm

Keynote Speaker (multiple years), Merrill Lynch Annual Telecom Group Retreat, Aspen

Keynote Speaker, SIZZLE Conference: "The Future of Software Marketing," Bellevue

Keynote Speaker, Technology Consulting Group, Cap Gemini Annual Retreat, Behoust, France

Keynote speaker (multiple years), E.M. Warburg Pincus Fifth Annual Venture Capital Technology Meeting, Rockefeller Center, New York

Keynote Speaker (multiple years), Washington Software Alliance Predictions Dinner, Seattle

Keynote Speaker, Washington Software Alliance Presidents' Group: "Using Alliances to Build Software Companies," Bellevue

Presenter and Moderator, Online Advantage 96, Keynote Panel: "The Future of the Internet"