Meet Our Board: General Elected Directors
Jay Rubinstein, MD, PhD
Jay Rubinstein has been serving on the Board at SightLife since 2006. He also serves as Chair of the Board of AUDIENT, LLC, a subsidiary of SightLife. At the University of Washington, Rubinstein is a Professor of bioengineering; Professor of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery; and is Professor and Director of the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center. His clinical activities include weekly surgery and outpatient appointments.
He is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and is currently licensed to practice in the states of Washington and Iowa. Rubinstein earned his PhD in bioengineering in 1988 and his Doctor in Medicine with honors in 1987, both at the University of Washington. He completed his Sc.B. in electrical engineering with honors in 1981 and Sc.M. in electrical engineering, both at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Rubinstein was a Clinical Fellow in Otology/Neurotology, Department of Otolaryngology, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He was a Research Fellow at the Department of Otology and Laryngology at Harvard Medical School as well as at the University of Washington's Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He served his residency in otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and did his surgery internship at Beth Israel Hospital, both in Boston.
He was listed in The Best Doctors in America in 2005-2006 and 2007-2008. Rubinstein holds affiliations with almost a dozen professional associations including IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Association for Research in Otolaryngology, American Academy of Otolaryngology, American Neurotology Society, American Auditory Society, and American Otological Society.
Rubinstein has served on 38 collegiate, university, and national committees, has directed Master's and PhD theses and has supervised postdoctoral Fellows. He has co-authored/authored numerous published papers, books/chapters, extracts, and National Institutes of Health reports in his field. He is an invited speaker at international, collegiate, and national conferences. Notably, Dr. Rubinstein has four patents.
His areas of research are functional electrical stimulation of the auditory system; treatment of hearing loss, tinnitus, and vestibular dysfunction; and high performance computing.
Jay and his wife, Kate, have 12-year old twins. His personal interests are finger style guitar, hiking, and skiing.
Lance Olson, MD, PhD
Lance E. Olson, MD, PhD, has been serving on the board at SightLife since 2006. He is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and retired in 2002 after a 25-year career with the Spokane Eye Clinic. He used his subspecialty in cornea and external disease to maintain an active cornea transplant practice in the Inland Empire Region.
Shortly after his arrival in Spokane, he organized the local hospitals, with assistance of the local Lions Club, to increase the amount of cornea donor tissue available to surgeons. This became the Eastern Washington retrieval branch of the Lions Eye Bank of Washington.
Throughout his career he also volunteered for multiple medical mission trips for ophthalmology to many foreign countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.
He was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, attended Michigan State University on a basketball scholarship, and was a member of the 1959 Big Ten Championship Team. He graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1960, and, undecided regarding careers, he chose to play basketball in the National Industrial Basketball League. Later, he returned to Michigan State University to enter graduate school in Physiology while acting as an assistant men's basketball coach. He received a PhD in Physiology in 1968 and moved to Boston where he graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1971. His intern year was at Harbor General Los Angeles County Hospital in Torrance, California, where he met his wife, Marie. They then traveled to Iowa for his residency in Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. His training was completed as a fellow in Cornea and External Disease at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England, in 1976.
With his wife Marie of 37 years, they have two daughters, a son, and two grandchildren. He enjoys family activities, golf, woodworking, fishing, hiking, biking, and traveling.
Linda Jones, CFP®
Linda P. Jones, CFP®, enjoyed a 24-year career in investments and financial services. In 2007 she decided to leave her position as a regional vice president with Morgan Stanley in institutional funds and hedge funds to pursue charitable interests. Linda is a member of SightLife's Investment Committee and is dedicated to helping the Committee further its cause.
She also is a speaker and community advocate for the Living Legacy Foundation for organ donation. On December 13, 2005, Linda's husband, Roger W. Jones, Jr., an attorney, suddenly collapsed from a brain aneurysm and cardiac arrest. He never regained consciousness and remained on life support until December 27, 2005. Roger had indicated on his driver's license he wanted to be an organ donor, and his wishes were fulfilled. So far more than 60 people have benefitted from Roger's organ, ligament, bone, and skin donations.
Linda is a Pacific Northwest native and graduated from Mercer Island High School and the University of Washington. She currently lives in Bellevue.
Roger Eigsti
Roger Eigsti is the retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Safeco Corporation. He joined the SightLife Board of Directors in 2005. Community service has always been important to Eigsti. He currently serves on Inrix and Gladiator Technologies, Inc., Boards of Directors. In the past, he has served on numerous Seattle-area non-profit and commercial boards, including the Seattle Foundation, Security Pacific Bank, Seattle Pacific University, the University of Washington's Business School Advisory Board, the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Eigsti received his CPA designation in 1966. He began his 29-year career at Safeco Corporation as Assistant to the CFO, rising to the positions of Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. He retired in 2000. Prior to his tenure at Safeco, he worked for eight years at Deloitte & Touche in their Portland office.
Eigsti is the recipient of many civic and business awards, including the YMCA's A. K. Guy Award for Community Service, the Puget Sound Business Journal's Executive of the Year in 1998; and the Wall Street Journal's award given for outstanding business student, which he received as a college senior at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.
Roger and his wife of 45 years, Mary Lou, reside in Seattle and retreat to Rancho Mirage, California, where in the winter he pursues one his sports passions — golf. Roger and Mary Lou have two children and five grandchildren.
