A Community and Industry Leader, Neighbor, and Dad

Elected Office and Community Activities

Toby served as State Representative for the 45th District from January, 2002, through January, 2007. He served on the House committees on State Government Operations and Accountability (ranking member), Technology, Energy and Communications, and Transportation from 2003 through 2006, and previously served on the House Finance committee and the House committee on Children and Family Services. He also served four years on the Joint Legislative Systems Committee (which oversees all the computer and networks systems of the legislature) and on the Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee (which insures that executive branch rules do not exceed legislative authority). He served on the Attorney General's Advisory Council on Identity Theft, on the Joint Select Committee on the Homeowner Association Act, on the executive committee organizing the annual Governor's Prayer Breakfast, and on King County's Community Advisory Board on Disabled Accessible Voting Equipment. He served as Vice Chair of the House Republican Caucus during the 2003-2004 biennium, and on the Joint Task Force on Local Effort Assistance (school levy equalization) in 2002.

Toby has been active in the community for many years. He serves as president and a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, a member of the Board of Directors of Heart of America Northwest (one of the leading organizations advocating for cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site), a member of the Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board, a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington state chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection, and on the Advisory Councils of both the Lake Washington Schools Foundation and Youth Eastside Services (YES). He chaired Citizens for Accountable Elections, sponsor of Initiative 25 (2007) to make the King County Director of Elections an elected non-partisan office. He serves on the board of directors of the Eastside Republican Club, is webmaster (and past holder of several offices including president) of his homeowners association, and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts of America. He’s an active member of his church, where he serves as public affairs director, sings in the choir, volunteers in the food and clothing bank, and has led the annual Christmas gift program for needy families (in association with Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing). He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his community and legislative service, including the “Freedom’s Light Award” from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, “Government Partner of the Year” from Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce, “Hanford Clean-up Hero” from Heart of America Northwest, “Award of Appreciation” from King County Parent Coalition for Developmental Disabilities, and “Guardian of Small Business” from the National Federation of Independent Business.

Professional Experience

Toby works as Senior Standards Program Manager in the Windows Device and Storage Technologies Group at Microsoft in Redmond; he’s held various positions with Microsoft since January of 1993. His expertise is in communicating over the Internet, and he takes a special interest in communication for the people with disabilities. His current assignment involves designing technology for the smart homes of the future and reaching agreements with other companies to promote interoperability. For nine years prior to joining Microsoft, Toby was Principal Engineer and Standards Committee Representative for Hayes Microcomputer Products, then the leading manufacturer of modems for personal computers.

Toby is vice president (and former chairman) of the UPnP Forum, an organization of over 850 companies working together to create standards for smart home technology, and on the board of directors of the UPnP Implementers Corporation, which promotes UPnP technology. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, was a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Voice on the Net Coalition, and a past member of the board of the International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium, which awarded him the IMTC President's Award. He holds several patents in the area of computer communications, and has chaired a variety of industry committees within such organizations as the Telecommunications Industry Association and the International Telecommunication Union. Toby’s career has been focused on building consensus on standards and policy issues to enable the computer communications industry to move forward and effectively serve customers, and he applies this experience in all of his other activities to bring together people having disparate views to work toward common goals.

Personal

Toby comes from humble beginnings. His father, son of an airplane factory worker, served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and was an inspector for the company that produced rocket engines for the U.S. space program until he was injured in a work accident. Toby’s parents separated and eventually divorced. After disability compensation ran out and still unable to work, Toby’s father raised his three sons on public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, free school lunch programs, and government surplus food, while struggling through a string of failed attempts to start small businesses he could do despite his disability. Toby was introduced to computers early in high school, and excelled; he got his first computer job at the age of 16 through the CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) program, working for the Shasta County government in California. He spent a short time in college (where he won a prestigious computer programming award and, as a freshman, worked as a tutor for juniors and seniors in programming courses), but chose to pursue his career and quickly became an expert on the leading edge of computer communications and telephony. Now, his more than 30 years of experience in a wide range of technologies enables him to devote time to serving his country, state, community, and family -- but he never forgets where he came from, and the help he received from so many people along the way.

Toby and his wife Irene have been married for 26 years. They have five children, Mary 24 years old, Sarah 22, Robert 20, Julia 18, and Tommy 16, and reside in the Kingsgate neighborhood of Kirkland, along with Toby's mom Pat, two cats and a bird. He was born in 1959 in Van Nuys, California, graduated from Shasta High School in Redding in 1976, and attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His hobbies include playing the piano, singing in church and community choirs and in barbershop quartets, and volunteering web site management for several local organizations. He and his family enjoy a variety of recreational activities across Washington.