Tom Alberg

Thomas Austin Alberg (February 12, 1940 – August 5, 2022) was an American lawyer and businessman, founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group, and a director of Amazon.com from 1996 to 2019. In addition to investing in many high tech startups, he was one of the earliest investors in Amazon. At Madrona, some of Alberg's investments included Impinj, a RFID technology start-up, online real estate brokerage Redfin, business management as-a-service provider Apptio and Isilon Systems, a storage software provider which was later acquired by the Emc Corporation.

Early life Alberg was born on February 12, 1940, in San Francisco, California, the son of Thomas Alberg and Miriam Twitchell Alberg. Alberg grew up in Seattle, Washington where he attended Ballard High School. During this time he also worked at the family farm in Carnation.

Career Alberg started his career in 1965 with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a New York–based law firm, after graduating from Columbia. He returned to Seattle in 1967 and joined Perkins Coie, a law firm based in the city. He went on to become the chair of the executive committee and served Boeing, Alaska Airlines, and other clients in the high-tech industry.

He joined McCaw Cellular in 1990 as an executive vice president, having been recruited by the then chairman Craig McCaw. In the mid-1990s, he quit McCaw after it was acquired by AT&T. After acting as an advisor to the board and being part of the negotiating team during this time, he quit the combined entity in 1995. He then partnered with William Ruckelshaus, who had earlier served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to form Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm headquartered in Seattle. Some of the investments by Madrona included Impinj, a RFID technology start-up, online real estate brokerage Redfin, business management as-a-service provider Apptio and Isilon Systems, a storage software provider which was later acquired by the Emc Corporation.

Alberg was noted for his association with Jeff Bezos and Amazon, where he was one of the earliest investors after being introduced to Bezos in 1995 by a friend. While he loved physical bookstores, it is noted that he was convinced by Bezos' online store after he failed to find a book by management consultant Peter Drucker in his neighborhood bookstore. He stepped down from the board in 2019 after serving for 23 years.

Alberg set up Oxbow Farms, a conservation center spread over 240 acres along the Snoqualmie River on land that was handed down to him by his father in Carnation, Washington. He also was the founder of Novelty Hill Winery in Woodinville, Washington which he founded with winemaker Mike Januik. Alberg was an investor in local journalism efforts focused in the Pacific Northwest including Seattle Weekly's Eastside Week and The New Pacific. Alberg also helped start the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington and also worked with former Washington state governor Christine Gregoire to set up Challenge Seattle, a non-profit that allowed business and technology leaders to contribute towards solving civic issues in the region. approximately one year after a stroke.

Published works