Meet the Judges: Susan Preston

Susan Preston

Managing Partner
SeaChange Fund
United States

Susan Preston is the Managing Partner of SeaChange Fund (formerly the Seattle Angel Fund), committed to fostering entrepreneurial growth in the Pacific Northwest through early-stage investments, as well as Co-Manager for the Element 8 Fund, focused on cleantech investments. She was General Partner for the CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund, which focused on seed/start-up stage investments in clean energy technology. Susan has taught in the MBA program and was the Buerk Endowed Fellow for Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington. Susan also serves as immediate past chair and a lead instructor for the Angel Resource Institute, a global investor and entrepreneur education organization.

Susan is the author of numerous articles, white papers and books on angel financing. She is a contributing author to Impact with Wings. In addition, she authored, Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs, Early-stage Funding for Long-Term Success was released by Wiley Publishing in March 2007, and her first book, Angel Investment Groups, Networks and Funds: A Guidebook to Developing the Right Angel Organization for Your Community, a comprehensive guidebook on the establishment and operation of angel investment groups, for which she has received numerous accolades, was published by the Kauffman Foundation in 2004, and later adapted for use by the World Bank in emerging markets.

Susan is a world-recognized expert in angel financing and angel organizations. She is a national and international consultant and speaker on economic development, angel and venture financing for numerous countries and NGOs including the EU, OECD, USAID, South America, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Australia, India and the Caribbean. She was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for several years focusing on initiatives supporting the growth and success of women entrepreneurs and initiatives related to angel investing and angel organizations.

Susan spent much of her earlier career in senior management positions in public and private companies, from general counsel to CEO. She was also a partner in two national law-firms and is a licensed patent attorney.

Ms. Preston received her JD, cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law and her BS, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Microbiology and Public Health from Washington State University.