Richard Fade, VENTURE PARTNER
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Richard is an Ignition Venture Partner. Richard invests primarily in infrastructure software and services. Prior to Ignition, Richard spent 16 years at Microsoft Corporation in several leadership roles including serving in the executive staff as a division level vice president for the past 10 years. Most recently Richard served as Senior Vice President OEM division where he was responsible for Microsoft's licensing business with PC OEM and embedded device manufacturers. Fade served as VP Desktop and Consumer Applications overseeing creation and launch of Office 97, Outlook and several Microsoft Office product line extensions including the acquisition of Microsoft Front Page.
Prior to that, Fade served as Vice President Far East Region where he was responsible for product development, sales, marketing and operations for Japan, China and Korea. Richard led the teams which produced the first successful double byte versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Prior to that Fade served in several management positions at Triad Systems - a specialist in inventory management and point of sale systems software.
Richard serves on the boards of Talyst, Azaleos, Centeris, Klir Technologies, and GotVoice.
Richard and his wife Susan are active in supporting the needs of children with developmental disorders. The Fades co-founded the Autism Center at the University of Washington.