CEO Reading List: J. Thomas Ranken

Tom Ranken is the former CEO of Vizx Labs, LLC, a Seattle-based bioinformatics company focused on the development of software and systems for biological research.  Mr. Ranken was formerly President and CEO of Axio Research Corporation located in Seattle. He was previously Executive Director of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, a corporate trade association. Mr. Ranken received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. He earned an MBA from the University of Washington. After graduate school, Mr. Ranken spent seven years in banking as a Special Credits Workout Officer, a Senior Research Analyst, and as Special Assistant to the Chairman. Mr. Ranken joined Immunex Corporation in 1989. He had responsibility for all of the company's legislative, policy, and trade association affairs. During his five-year tenure, he was a key catalyst in the 1994 reform of the state's high technology tax structure.

He was elected Chairman of the Board of the Washington State Biotechnology Association and was a three-time Chairman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization's State Government Affairs Committee. In 1994, he was recognized as the Industry's Outstanding Advocate of the Year. Mr. Ranken is past Chairman of the Council of State Bioscience Associations, a national organization of state-based research industry trade associations. Currently, he serves on the Boards of Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, and Seattle Mental Health. He is married, lives in Magnolia, and has two young children. He is a devoted Mariner fan and guitarist.

Tom Ranken's Suggested Reading List

Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morrison, Published by Marboro Books, 1989.
	The Beatles by Hunter Davies, Published by W W Norton & Company, 1996.
Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who by Dave Marsh, Published by St Martins Press, 1983.
	John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography by Samuel Eliot Morrison, Published by Northeastern University Press, 1985.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X Published by Ballantine Books, 1989.
	Nixon: A Life by Jonathan Aitken, Published by Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1994.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, Published by Ballantine Books, 1988.
	The Source by James Michener, Published by Fawcett Books, 1992.
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk, Published by Little Brown & Company, 1995.
	The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent by Robert A. Caro, Published by Vintage Books, 1991.
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro, Published by Vintage Books, 1990.
	War and Remembrance By Herman Wouk, Published by Little Brown & Company, 1978.

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