Toby is an experienced and active leader in our community

• Member of the Kirkland City Council since January, 2012. Member of the council Public Safety Committee and the Ethics Committee.
• Former State Representative for the 45th District (2002-2007), including representing many citizens of Kirkland in Olympia.
• Former commissioner of King County Fire Protection District 41, which served the Kingsgate, North Juanita, and Finn Hill areas of Kirkland.
• Chaired the Kirkland Ethics Task Force, appointed by the City Council to draft an ethics and conduct policy for members of the city council and city boards and commissions.
• Cochaired Citizens for One Kirkland, supporting annexation of Kingsgate, North Juanita, and Finn Hill into Kirkland.
• Member of the Advisory Council of Lake Washington Schools Foundation.
• Member of the Advisory Council and former Board Member of Youth Eastside Services (YES).
• Active member of the Evergreen Hill Neighborhood Association.
• President of Kingsgate Highlands Division 3 and 4 Homeowners Association.
• Member of Friends of 132nd Square Park.
• Member of the Leadership Eastside class of 2013.
• Chaired Citizens for Accountable Elections, sponsor of Initiative 25 (2007), which made the King County Director of Elections an elected non-partisan office.
• President of Washington Coalition for Open Government, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that educates citizens and public officials regarding access to public records and meetings.
• Member of the Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board, appointed by Secretary of State Sam Reed.
• Member of the Open Government Task Force appointed by Attorney General Rob McKenna and State Auditor Brian Sonntag to recommend improvements to Washington's open public records and meetings laws.
• Member of the task force appointed by the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court to recommend improvements to access to court records.
• Member of the Board of Directors of Heart of America Northwest, one of the leading organizations advocating for cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site.
• Active church member including serving as Director of Public Affairs (advising and assisting with relationships with government officials, news media, and interfaith relations, including representative on Kirkland Interfaith Network), choir member, volunteer in the food and clothing bank, and leading the annual Christmas gift program for needy families (in association with Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing).
• Received the “Freedom’s Light Award” from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for his support of First Amendment rights in Washington.
• Received the “Government Partner of the Year” from Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce.
• Received the “Hanford Clean-up Hero” from Heart of America Northwest.
• Received an “Award of Appreciation” from King County Parent Coalition for Developmental Disabilities.
• Received the “Guardian of Small Business” Award from the National Federation of Independent Business.

During his time as state representative, Toby served as Ranking Member of the House Committee on State Government Operations and Accountability, including leading reforms to our election laws following the difficult 2004 election. He also served on the Transportation committee, the Technology, Energy and Communications committee, the Finance committee, the Children and Family Services committee, the Joint Legislative Systems Committee (overseeing all the computer and networks systems of the legislature), and the Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee (ensuring 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, and on King County's Community Advisory Board on Disabled Accessible Voting Equipment. His broad experience and contacts in state government enable him to be a powerful advocate for Kirkland.

Toby is a technology expert and recognized leader in the computer industry, and applies his skills to serving the people of Kirkland

• Senior Program Manager in the Windows Ecosystem Engagement Team at Microsoft, developing technology standards policy for the Windows division, representing Microsoft in national and international organizations, and promoting Microsoft technology initiatives to industry partners.
• Represents Microsoft as member of the Board of Directors of USB Implementers Forum.
• Represents Microsoft as member of the Board of Directors of Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
• Co-chair of the Web Services Discovery and Devices Profile Technical Committee of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.
• Formerly represented Microsoft as member of the Board of Directors of UPnP Forum, including serving several years as chairman of the board.
• Formerly represented Microsoft as member of the Board of Directors of the International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium, which awarded him the IMTC President's Award.
• Founding member of the Board of Directors of Voice on the Net Coalition.
• Chaired several industry committees within such organizations as the Telecommunications Industry Association and the International Telecommunication Union.
• Holds several patents in the area of computer communications.
• Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Toby’s career has focused on building consensus on standards and policy issues to enable the computer communications industry to move forward and effectively serve customers. He applies this experience in all of his activities to bring together people having disparate views to work toward common goals.

Toby’s life experiences make him sensitive to the needs of all people in our community, and have prepared him for public service

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 CETA (the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act program) working for the Shasta County government in California as a computer operator and programmer. He received a full scholarship to attend California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where, as a freshman, he won a prestigious computer programming award and worked as a tutor for juniors and seniors in programming courses, but he chose to leave college early to pursue his career. He quickly became an expert on the leading edge of computer communications and telephony. Now, his more than 35 years 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 29 years. They have five children, Mary 27 years old, Sarah 25, Robert 23, Julia 21, and Tom 19, and reside in the Kingsgate neighborhood of Kirkland. His hobbies include singing in church and community choirs, playing the piano, and volunteering web site management for several local organizations. He is passionate about teaching people how the government works and how to be more effective advocates for the issues important to them.