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Debra Somberg

Independent Corporate Director/ Board Chair/ Committee Chair

Seattle, Washington

Overview 

Debra Somberg is an accomplished Independent Corporate Director and Board Chair based in Seattle, Washington. With a background spanning venture capital, finance, and leadership, she holds prominent roles at BECU as Chair of the Board of Directors and Port Blakely Companies as a Board member, showcasing her extensive experience in executive management and strategic planning.

Work Experience 

  • Chair Of The Board Of Directors

    2013 - Current

    BECU is the largest community-based credit union in the country with $30 billion in assets and over 1.4 million members. The organization operates with a strong sense of mission and purpose to improve the financial health of their members and their communities. Somberg has served on the Board of BECU since 2013 including Chairing the Compensation Committee and serving on the Finance and Risk Management and Nominating Committees. She was elected to the role of Chair of the Board of Directors as of April 2021. For information, visit www.becu.org.

  • Board of Directors

    2015

    Port Blakely Companies is a values-driven, family-owned company built on a century of stewardship. Founded over 150 years ago, the company owns and manages diversified assets in forestry and forest products exports. A recognized leader for its sustainable forestry practices and operating standards, Port Blakely Companies is based in Seattle, Washington, with operations throughout the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand. Somberg serves on the Audit Committee and is the incoming Chair of the Nominating and Governance committees. For information, visit www.portblakely.com

  • Board of Directors

    2022

    Absher is an 85 year old employee-owned, commercial construction company based in the Puget Sound. Absher maintains a healthy balance of competitive-bid, negotiated, design-build and general contractor/construction manager (GCCM) projects across the country working across the federal, transportation, educational, multi-unit housing, recreation and commercial markets. Somberg serves on the Audit Committee and is Chair of the Compensation Committee. For information, visit www.absherco.com.

  • Founder

    2015 - 2024

    NewView (takeanewview.org) is a non-profit organization unlocking the power of tri-sector engagement to build innovative and successful business models that tackle social problems in new and sustainable ways. The organization has worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as small innovative companies such as Propel (www.joinpropel.com) and MoCaFi, to address issues of food security, financial credit and workforce development. NewView founders also work to create the ecosystem and provide investment capital to catalyze new ventures that drive synergistic benefits for the private, social and public sectors.

  • Managing Partner

    2011 - 2015

    Begun as an outgrowth of the Alster Group, Sovern focuses on developing personalized solutions for health and wellness through innovative products and services. The Sovern Group brings technology innovations to the healthcare marketplace maximizing outcomes for individuals and cost effectiveness for institutions. Brook.ai is the first company founded to create a new, more effective way of managing diabetes and chronic disease. The Alster Group was a strategic and operational partner to high growth companies looking to capitalize on end-customer trends in consumer, healthcare and data-related technology innovations. Advisory relationships have included Carbitex, an advanced material company, North Point Investments, Omada Health and a series of healthcare consumer technologies.

  • Managing Partner

    2000 - 2011

    Maveron is a consumer focused venture capital firm with approximately $700 million under management as of 2010. Recruited as a General Partner by Howard Schultz, Somberg quickly became a Co-Managing Partner of the firm. With a focus on investing across the consumer continuum, the firm invested in a range of companies from Lucy, a consumer product/retail company to Capella, an online university, zulily an online retailer and Trupanion, a medical insurance company for pets. Somberg co-led Maveron's raise of two subsequent funds during her tenure of approximately $500 million. Somberg moved to Germany in the summer of 2009, but continued being active in the firm as a venture partner and portfolio company board member.

  • Founding Partner

    1999 - 2000

    Growth Capital Investment and Merchant Bank

Thomas Weisel Venture Partners (TWVP) is an early stage venture capital firm that invests in emerging information technology companies.

  • Senior Managing Director

    1992 - 1999

    High Growth Company Investment Bank. Purchased by NationsBank for $1.3 billion. Managed retail and direct marketing practice.

  • Summer Associate

    1991 - 1991

McKinsey Growth Tech serves leading growth stage tech players, venture capital, and growth private equity

  • Assistant to the President

    1989 - 1990

    Non-profit harnessing low-income tax credits to build housing and related projects.

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