Robert inSeattle

Robert Lee is currently working on a re-launch of a startup. In 1998, he founded UTM Systems Corp., the first - and still the only - company to successfully process network-certified PIN-based debit transactions online. Lee holds several patents in the field of payment transactions and digital imaging.

Lee is an entrepreneur whose diverse background encompasses computer programming and hardware design, marketing consulting, advertising and electronic payment systems. As the founder and chief strategist behind successful businesses in both the U.S. and Canada, Lee and his companies have received national media exposure that included coverage in the New York Times and the front page of PC Week (now eWeek).

Having witnessed firsthand the remarkable transformation of technology in the last 40 years, Lee is known for his unique ability to put high-tech concepts into application. Some of his inventions have included the first color digital scanners for PCs and MAC’s, PC fax modems, and POS terminals for Internet credit and debit transactions. He has worked alternately in digital imaging, banking and transactions, as well as the computer industry at large, starting and building a number of successful businesses in the United States and Canada.

In 1983, Lee launched his technology career with SpectraFAX Corp., a developer, manufacturer and marketer of color image processing products for office automation, computer graphics and desktop publishing applications. SpectraFAX digital scanners were designed to convert color or black-and-white photographic images and text into a digital format that could be entered into, and stored on, a personal computer. Also while at SpectraFAX, Mr. Lee conceptualized and oversaw the development of the first PC-based facsimile modems. The FAXcard consisted of a PC-based board and software that allowed PCs to send scanned images and text to Group III facsimile machines, as well as to receive transmissions from fax machines for storage, display and printing. Mr. Lee used the prototype of the FAXcard to successfully close joint venture development contracts for the technology with a Japanese multi-national company and a major domestic manufacturer.

Robert currently lives and works in Seattle, WA.