Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith and his wife Kathy Surace-Smith have purchased a stake in the Seattle Mariners, becoming just the third additions since the team formed a partnership group in 1992.
Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton announced the news Wednesday, saying that the goal of the group has been to find “partners who both love baseball and are passionate about public service.”
Stanton is a wireless industry pioneer who sits on the Microsoft board of directors. He took over as Mariners CEO in 2016.
The Smiths are the first new additions since Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. joined in 2021.
Brad Smith joined Microsoft in 1993 after leaving private practice as an attorney. He’s held his leadership position at the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant for the past nine years. He serves as chair of the Board of the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship program, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University.
Surace-Smith is senior vice president of human resources and legal affairs at Seattle-based biotech company NanoString Technologies. She was previously VP and general counsel at SonoSite and Metawave Communications. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and of Columbia University.
In 2022, the Smiths committed $5 million to a campaign to restore the 104-year-old ASUW Shell House at the University of Washington in Seattle. Brad Smith also helped lead fundraising efforts for The Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering at the UW, which opened in 2019.
“We’re excited to join the partnership group and support the Mariners success, both on the field and in service to the community,” the couple said in a statement, via MLB.com.
