RPI names Tom Hughes as a new board member

Currently, Hughes serves as partner at Cedar Grove Investments, a private venture capital firm comprised of former senior executives from leading wireless and internet companies. Prior to joining Cedar Grove Investments, Hughes was founder and president of PhotoDisc, Inc., and quickly grew the company to become a leading publisher of royalty-free stock photography, which was sold to Getty Images in 1998.

"I’m excited to be a partner in guiding RPI to the next level of success and providing my perspective to the company to help them maximize their potential in this emerging market," said Tom Hughes. Before PhotoDisc, Inc., Hughes served as the founder and president at Northshore Publishing Systems, helping to bring PCs into traditional publishing companies and newspapers.

“Tom’s experience in facilitating company growth coupled with his extensive market knowledge will play a critical role in further enabling RPI’s rapid growth,” said Rick Bellamy, CEO of RPI. “His insights and expertise will complement the experience of the other members of our Board and be extremely valuable to RPI as we continue to innovate and enhance RPI’s product offerings and efficiencies.”

Additionally, Hughes currently serves on the Executive Committee for The SeaDoc Society, an organization that works to protect the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education. Previously, he was on the board of directors for companies such as Lake Washington Printing, Loudeye, Talisma, Vacationspot.com and Avenue A, currently known as aQuantive. Hughes holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and minor in English from the University of Washington.

The appointment of Hughes to the Board brings the number of RPI directors to five. The other board members include Victor Petroff of Riverlake Partners, Tim Bubnack of Huntington Capital, and Rick Bellamy and Ted Reischling of RPI.