Desney Tan

CEO

Seattle, Washington, United States30 yrs 4 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Leader in multidisciplinary global innovation teams.
  • Pioneered advancements in health and life sciences.
  • Recognized innovator in brain-computer interfaces.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Healthcare and Technology Executive with a focus on AI and Human-Computer Interaction.

Contact

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About

Dr. Desney Tan is a seasoned executive who has built and run multidisciplinary global innovation teams – leveraging expertise in hardware and devices, software development, applied machine learning and artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and applied science to make impact in areas such as autonomous navigation, entertainment and consumer products, as well as health and life sciences. At Microsoft, Desney is Corporate Vice President and Managing Director for Microsoft Research, a multidisciplinary global organization working to create scientific knowledge and deliver innovation that leads to positive human impact at scale. His R&D portfolio includes work in systems and infrastructure, artificial intelligence and algorithms, as well as human-computer interaction and sociotechnical systems. He had founded and run Microsoft Health Futures, Microsoft's health and life science moonshot factory. His prior work has shipped in various versions of Azure, Windows, Office, the Microsoft Handwriting Recognition Engine and Tablet Input Panel, Xbox Kinect, and the Microsoft Band. Beyond Microsoft, Desney holds an affiliate faculty appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, serves on the Board of Directors for ResMed (NYSE:RMD, ASX:RMD), 1910 Genetics, Artificial, and the Washington Research Foundation. He is senior advisor and chief technologist for Seattle-based life science incubator IntuitiveX, advises multiple startup companies (e.g. Proprio Vision, Immortal Studios), and is an active startup and real estate investor. Desney was honored as one of MIT Technology Review's 2007 Young Innovators Under 35 for work on brain-computer interfaces and a 2012 Kavli Fellow by the US National Academy of Sciences. He was named one of SciFi Channel's Young Visionaries at TED 2009, as well as Forbes' Revolutionaries: Radical Thinkers and their World-Changing Ideas for work on Whole Body Computing. Desney is amazingly fortunate to have a family that supports (or at least tolerates) his crazy work habits, and it is great that his wife Angela and kids Ayden and Zachary are always there when he comes up for air.

Experience

30 yrs 4 mos
Total Experience
6 yrs
Average Tenure
13 yrs 4 mos
Current Experience

Newdays

Advisor

Jan 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • NewDays has developed a treatment program for mild cognitive impairment and dementia
  • using video visits with a cognitive health clinician and conversational exercises with an AI companion, all from your home.

Microsoft

4 roles

Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, Microsoft Research

Jan 2023 – Jan 2026 · 3 yrs

  • Responsible for multidisciplinary global organization working to create scientific knowledge and deliver innovation that leads to positive human impact at scale.
  • Managing portfolio of work in systems and infrastructure, artificial intelligence and algorithms, as well as human-computer interaction and sociotechnical systems.

Vice President and Managing Director, Microsoft Health Futures

Promoted

Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 · 2 yrs

  • Responsible for Microsoft’s cross-organizational Health and Life Science R&D (and moonshots).
  • Built portfolio of programs and partnerships in biomedical technologies (e.g. natural language processing, medical imaging, machine learning), the life sciences (e.g. immunomics, genomics, metagenomics, synthetic biology), as well as various application areas (e.g. population health, mental health, global health access).

Managing Director, Microsoft Healthcare

Jan 2015 – Jan 2021 · 6 yrs

  • Drove strategy, research, technical development, and business creation for Microsoft Healthcare.
  • Developed new products such as Microsoft Health Bot (millions of monthly active users and tens of millions of messages exchanged in just its first year), EmpowerMD (which powers Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience), etc.

Senior Director, Medical Devices Group

Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 · 1 yr

  • Transitioned Microsoft consumer wearable program (e.g. Band) into a medical device program, focused on cardiovascular health. Included development of quality management system and navigating regulatory landscape.

Washington research foundation

Member, Board of Directors (Chair, Startup committee)

Jan 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • Washington Research Foundation (WRF) supports research and scholarship in Washington state, with a focus on life sciences and enabling technologies.

Immortal studios

Strategic Advisor

Jan 2022 – Present · 4 yrs 4 mos · Los Angeles, California

  • Immortal is an original content studio dedicated to Essential Wuxia stories, the martial arts fantasy genre of heroism, fantasy action & empowerment.

Ai2 incubator

Limited Partner

Jan 2022 – Present · 4 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • Investor in AI2 Funds II and III to support the next generation of AI companies built out of the AI2 Incubator.

1910 genetics

Member, Board of Directors

Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 · 2 yrs · Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • 1910 Genetics is a biotechnology company integrating artificial intelligence, computation, and biological automation to accelerate the design of small molecule and protein therapeutics.

Artificial, inc.

Member, Board of Directors

Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 · 2 yrs · Palo Alto, California

  • Artificial has developed a fully-connected, human-in-the-loop lab automation platform that allows scientists to focus on the science, and accelerates life science discoveries.

Resmed

Member, Board of Directors (Nominating and Governance + Compensation committees)

Jan 2021 – Present · 5 yrs 4 mos · San Diego, California

  • ResMed (NYSE: RMD, ASX: RMD) pioneers a comprehensive range of life-changing products and connected health solutions that help people breathe and sleep better.

42five holdings

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Apr 2019 – Present · 7 yrs 1 mo · Bellevue, Washington

  • Multifamily real estate investing (>$35M and 150+ door portfolio, and growing).

Intuitivex

Senior Advisor and Chief Technologist

Jan 2019 – Present · 7 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • IntuitiveX is a health and life science incubator and consultancy that helps entrepreneurs and startups transform their ideas from concept to commercialization.

Proprio vision

Technical Advisor

Jan 2019 – Present · 7 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • Proprio develops computational imaging enhanced augmented reality systems to improve the efficacy of precision tasks, like spinal and brain surgery.

Alliance of angels

Angel Investor

Jan 2014 – Present · 12 yrs 4 mos · Greater Seattle Area

  • Investor in AoA Syndicate as well as AoA Seed Fund II.

Jason calacanis syndicate

Angel Investor

Jan 2013 – Present · 13 yrs 4 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

  • Investor with Jason Calacanis Syndicate (involved in ~50 companies) as well as in Launch Funds III and IV.
  • Exits (partial list): Red Tricycle, Cozy, Birdi, DailyDrip, Butter, VendorHawk, Statussphere, Grin, Captiv8, Superhuman, Callin, ...

Seattle angel conference

Angel Investor

Jan 2013 – Present · 13 yrs 4 mos · Greater Seattle Area

  • Investor in SAC II through SAC XVII.
  • Exits (partial list): Discuss.IO, Social Glimpse, Energy Storage Systems, PDM Automotive, ...

Microsoft

3 roles

Principal Research Manager, Human-Computer Interaction Group

Jan 2009 – Jan 2012 · 3 yrs

  • Started and ran haptics and interaction hardware group (including researchers, hardware/software engineers, designers, and social scientists), as well as hardware manufacturing ecosystem that US groups could leverage.

Principal Research Manager, Computational User Experiences Group

Promoted

Jan 2007 – Jan 2014 · 7 yrs

  • Started and ran mobile sensing and interaction technique group.
  • Developed and shipped physiological sensing platform on Xbox and Microsoft Kinect.
  • Incubated, developed, and shipped Microsoft Band.

Researcher, Visualization and Interaction Group

Jan 2004 – Jan 2007 · 3 yrs

  • Research on large display experiences as well as natural user interfaces.
  • Developed and shipped Windows Multi-Monitor functionality, as well as the (neural network-based) Microsoft Handwriting Recognition Engine and the associated Tablet Input Panel (frontend UI/UX).

University of washington

Affiliate Professor

Jan 2007 – Present · 19 yrs 4 mos · Seattle, Washington

  • Faculty, Computer Science + DUB Human-Computer Interaction and Design group
  • Co-founder and Chair of Industrial Advisory Board, NSF Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering

Advanced telecommunications research institute international

Visiting Researcher

Aug 2000 – Dec 2000 · 4 mos · Kaihanna, Japan

  • Designed and built augmented reality prototyping tools (used by Daimler AG for simulating car interiors and airplane cockpit layouts)

Walt disney imagineering

Virtual Reality Designer, Developer, and User Experience Playtester

Jan 1999 – Jan 2001 · 2 yrs · Glendale, California

  • Designed virtual and augmented reality experiences deployed at DisneyQuest theme parks
  • Playtested virtual reality rides (e.g. Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, ...)

Singapore armed forces (saf)

Officer (Lieutenant)

Jan 1996 – Jan 1999 · 3 yrs · Singapore

  • Sword of Merit winner (ranked 2nd in 1997 officer cohort)
  • Platoon Commander + Intelligence Officer, 35th Battalion, Singapore Combat Engineers

University of notre dame

Research Assistant and System Administrator

Jan 1993 – Jan 1996 · 3 yrs · South Bend, Indiana

  • Autonomous robotic path planning (based on quadtree and octree structures)
  • AI-based interactive educational environments

Education

Carnegie Mellon University

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Jan 1999 – Jan 2004

University of Notre Dame

Bachelor of Science (Summa Cum Laude) — Computer Engineering

Jan 1993 – Jan 1996

St Frederick High School

High School (Valedictorian)

Jan 1989 – Jan 1993

Desney Tan - CEO | Stackforce