Kathy Surace-Smith

Kathy Surace-Smith has over 30 years of experience advising or working in high-growth private and public companies in both the U.S. and Europe, including 22 years in the life sciences industry. Ms. Surace-Smith is currently a Senior Vice President at NanoString Technologies in Seattle, where she has responsibility for human resources, legal affairs, and the regulatory and quality functions. She currently chairs the Trustee Committee on Student Life.

She is Board Chair of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, a leading cancer research and care center in Seattle.  She also served on the board of United Way of King County for 12 years, including as Board Chair. She received an A.B. in politics from Princeton University magna cum laude and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was an editor of the Columbia Law Review.

She and her husband Brad have supported Columbia through the endowment of the Smith Family Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, the establishment of a scholarship at the Law School to support students from countries that are underrepresented in the law school community, and contribution to the Richard N. Gardner Professorship in the School of International and Public Affairs.