Misha Halvarsson

Misha Halvarsson

Names@Work Intellectual Property Associate

Misha is a business development strategist and entrepreneur. For the last 20 years she has assisted startup ventures in the areas of pre-funding strategic design and business development frequently teaming up with individuals, private firms and public agencies to help launch new products and services. Her diverse background reflects the multi-disciplined environment of today’s global economy.

She is currently Founder and Managing Member of DDM2, LLC, a Seattle-based consultancy group that assists emerging growth companies define and build their businesses. Since 1998 she has specialized in Intellectual Property, Domain and Brand Portfolio Management for various corporations, including iCopyright and Coldwater Creek, Inc., helping them to more effectively maximize the strength and value of their brands.

Misha is a former Founder of iCopyright, Inc. Based in the Seattle, Washington, and founded in 1998, iCopyright developed and introduced the world’s first online automated clearinghouse to instantly reprint, reuse, and distribute any content published on the Internet. Its patent-pending technology has become the leading online licensing solution for the publishing industry. In 2001 it received the Codie Award for Best Digital Rights Management Software, and most recently, in 2005, the company’s iCopyright.net toolbar received the Codie Award for Best Digital Rights Management Solution.

Along with her original partners, Misha developed the business plan and original financial model which raised in excess of $15 million to launch the company. She was responsible for the detailed market research and competitive analysis that supported underlying business plan assumptions and business model. From 1998-2000, Misha was the key architect of the company’s Intellectual Property initiatives with end-to-end responsibility for deployment and management of trademarks, copyrights, domain names and patents – both domestically and internationally. The company grew to over 100 individuals and was sold to New York investors in 2001. Misha has continued to remain passionate about the integration of Web-based services designed to solve the key issues facing content creators and providers.

Earlier in her career, she served as Managing Director of SouthAsia Resources, Inc. representing corporate and investment interests in excess of $250 million principally in South Asia, the Pacific Rim and North America.

Also active in both non-profit and economic development efforts, Misha has been the founder of several 501(C)(3) non-profits, the originator of U.S. Government-backed global information clearinghouse programs and a participant in numerous White House Regional Roundtables as well as in various National Commission on Entrepreneurship Focus Groups. Recognized as an Information Specialist by the United Nations Environment Programme, in 1996, she was invited to participate as a member of an international advisory consortium focusing on bridging the technology information gap. Other participants included representatives from the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, World Bank and the Tata Energy Research Institute.

A published writer on international business and angel capital formation issues, Misha is a founding board member and past-President of NEWnorthwest (formerly known as the Northwest Chapter of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), a recipient of a FWE Trailblazer Award in 1999, founder and President of the Center for Entrepreneurial Women; and a long time member of Systers - an electronic community for women in technology founded by Dr. Anita Borg (Director of the Institute for Women and Technology). Honors include inclusion in the World’s Who’s Who of Women, and recurrent editions of Marquis’ Who’s Who in the West and Who’s Who in Finance and Industry.

Misha was raised in Asia. She resides in Seattle, Washington with her husband, Dillon Jackson, Esq., a member in the law firm of Foster Pepper & Shefelman. She has two children by marriage, and four grandchildren. She currently lives and works from her houseboat on Lake Union in the company of a delightful Golden Retriever and one Ragdoll.