Washington State Software Industry Development Board's Executive Committee holds first meeting in March 1984.

  • By Peter Blecha
  • Posted 11/10/2009
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 9205
See Additional Media

In March 1984 the charter members of the Washington State Software Industry Development Board gather to conduct their initial organizational meeting. The meeting takes place at the Seattle offices of the Economic Development Partnership for Washington (1218 3rd Avenue). In attendance are Bill Grinstein (president, EDPW), Bruce Milne (CEO, Accountants Microsystems, and first chairman of the group), and representatives from Washington's other six leading software firms, including Boeing Computer Services, Microsoft, AMI, and MicroRim. The new organization will soon be renamed  the Washington Software Board.

Four months later, on July 15, 1984, the organization promoted a kickoff event which featured an introduction by Congressman Rod Chandler (b. 1942), a letter of support from Governor Booth Gardner (b. 1936), and a keynote speech by Senator Slade Gorton (b. 1928). In the years following the board expanded its mission beyond serving as a trade group just for the software industry, and in 2008 it became the Washington Technology Industry Association – a fitting moniker for a group that, as current WTIA CEO Ken Myer recently explained, now includes local "companies in the electronics and device segments of the industry, complementing our existing strength in software, digital media and telecom" fields.


Sources: WTIA Press Release, "Washington Technology Industry Association and TechAmerica Join Forces To Serve the Tech Industry: Agreement Makes the WTIA Exclusive Partner for TechAmerica in Washington State," Washington Technology Industry Association website accessed on September 28, 2009, (http://washingtontechnology.org/community/forums/thread/737.aspx); HistoryLink.org, The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, "Washington Technology Industry Association" (by Peter Blecha), www.historylink.org/ (accessed October 15, 2009).

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You