Chris Harker, Ph.D., Founder & Advisor

An active researcher in the 1990s at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Chris Harker, Ph.D., believed there was an easier way to apply for grants than via a paper application. Harker’s Grant Slam software, the precursor to Proposals, became a best seller with Investigators.

In 2002, Harker received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and commercialized the groundbreaking Proposals solution with Grants.gov, which launched in 2006. Today, nearly 1/3 of the top 100 research institutions in the United States use the solution.

Harker sold Cayuse to Evisions in 2012. He then was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives, where he served as Co-Chair of the Joint Legislative Audits and IT and Technology Committee, Vice Chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education.