Ty Carlson is an aviation nut who took a summer internship at Microsoft while in a master's program for Aerospace Engineering. More than 20 years later, Ty is still at Microsoft.

An architect in the Strategic Software/Silicon Architectures "SiArch" group, Ty is responsible for the all-up strategic roadmap for Microsoft and the alignment with Microsoft's strategic hardware partners. Current focus areas include heterogeneous many-core (parallel) computing, green computing, and adaptive computing.

After a brief role in Macintosh Product Support, Ty spent the first 15 years at Microsoft working in all aspects of Windows development and technical marketing. After being a member of the Windows 3.0 development team, Ty moved to Windows Technical Marketing, responsible for worldwide enterprise deployments, technical training, and resource kits, logging over a million miles.

Ty co-authored the (original) Windows Resource Kits for Windows 3.x releases, as well as the Windows NT Resource Kits. He created the Microsoft Rapid Deployment Program for enterprise pre-release production-level training, deployment, and support. After a stint on the .NET Early Adopter team, he spent five years as a director on the hardware side of Microsoft's technical and business relationships, working directly with Intel executives. Known for his honest and straightforward style, Ty created a category of top-rated internal presentations called "The Bad, The Good and The Ugly," to provide bidirectional communication between the development team and field architects.

While he enjoys ongoing relationships with enterprise customers, Ty doesn't miss the extensive travel of his technical marketing days. As one of the few "veterans" around Microsoft, Ty's style is a blend of the intensity of the early days and the more mature strategy of Microsoft's current culture.

Ty has received multiple internal awards, including the "Bill Gates' Special Award for Windows 3.0" and the "Microsoft Achievement Award." He has a passion for improving education, particularly in rural and under-privileged areas, creating and supporting technical education programs at the high-school level in multiple schools. He loves the outdoors and adventuring, including kayaking, cycling, volleyball, and scuba diving, and he holds FAA private pilot and A&P ratings.

Ty received a BS in Computer Engineering and Engineering Physics with Honors from Pacific Lutheran University. He and his family reside in Redmond, Washington, and Tofino, British Columbia.