In 1998, Mike Slade retired as chairman and chief executive officer of Starwave upon its sale to The Walt Disney Company. He has since divided his time between strategic consulting to various high-tech firms and joining with his associates at Second Avenue Partners to provide capital and expertise for high-tech startups.

From 1998 until 2004, Slade consulted for Apple CEO Steve Jobs, where he sat on the executive team. He currently serves on the corporate boards of Azaleos and Newsvine, and he has also been a strategic consultant for the NBA, Starbucks, Real Networks, Disney and the NFL. In 2000, Slade co-founded venture capital company Second Avenue Partners and became co-owner of the Professional Bowlers Association.

Slade joined Starwave in 1993 after briefly serving as vice president of special projects for Asymetrix. During Slade’s tenure, Starwave launched ESPN.com, ABCNews.com and the Go.com network, among other premier Web sites that have become household names. He spent 1991-92 as vice president of marketing for NeXT Computer.

Slade began his career at Microsoft in 1983 and spent seven years there in a variety of product marketing roles. Microsoft products that he helped introduce to the market include Excel (1985), Works (1987) and Office (1989). He served as director of corporate marketing in Microsoft’s systems software division before leaving in late 1990.