Michael Schutzler, CEO of Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) will deliver the 2018 Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech) commencement address on June 16 at 12 p.m. at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.

Schutzler is an entrepreneur, engineer, and first generation immigrant. Before joining the WTIA, Schutzler led the merger of Livemocha – a community of 17 million language learners – with the popular education software company Rosetta Stone. He also built Classmates.com into the first profitable social media application, transformed online marketing at Monster.com, and grew the online gaming business at RealNetworks to become a global leader.

“Michael has been an incredible advocate of higher education, and LWTech, specifically. He currently serves on the President’s Advisory Council for the college, and has provided significant input in guiding our technology programs. He and the WTIA are key industry partners helping to assure the applied bachelor’s degrees in software development at five community and technical colleges are relevant to industry needs, through AppConnect NW. Michael’s expertise and interest in the college has been invaluable to our students. I look forward to hearing how he will inspire our graduates,” said Dr. Amy Morrison Goings, president of LWTech in a press release.