Pedro Celis is Mexican engineer. He is a retired Distinguished Engineer from

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. He served at the

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 2003 to 2005. PITAC advises the president on policies and investments that the federal government should pursue to enhance and maintain the preeminence of the U.S. in information technology. He holds over 15 US

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s. In 2009 the ''Hispanic Business Magazine'' named him one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States. In February 2014, he announced a bid for U.S. Congress in Washington state's 1st Congressional District to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep.

Suzan DelBene Suzan Kay DelBene (; ; born February 17, 1962) is an American politician and businesswoman who has been the United States representative for Washington's 1st congressional district since 2012. DelBene was the 2010 Democratic nominee for U.S. ...

. In August 2014, Celis narrowly advanced through the primary election before falling to DelBene in the November general.

Education and career

Celis was born in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from the

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM; ), also known as Technological Institute of Monterrey () or just Tec, is aresearch university based in Monterrey, Mexico, which has grown to include 35 campuses located across 25 cit ...

(ITESM) and received both a master's degree in Mathematics (1982) and a doctorate in Computer Science (1986) from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

. He worked as an assistant professor at the Computer Science Department of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. He later worked as a software designer at Britton Lee, Inc. He worked at

Tandem Computers Tandem Computers, Inc. was the dominant manufacturer of fault-tolerant computer systems for Automated teller machine, ATM networks, banks, stock exchanges, telephone switching centers, 911 systems, and other similar commercial transaction proc ...

from 1989 to 1998 where he became Technical Director of the

NonStop SQL NonStop SQL is a commercial relational database management system that is designed for fault tolerance and scalability, currently offered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The latest version is SQL/MX 3.4. The product was originally developed by Tan ...

team. At Microsoft from 1998 to 2012, Celis held several positions in the SQL Server group, including leading the

WinFS WinFS (short for Windows Future Storage) was the code name for a canceled data storage and management system project based on relational databases, developed by Microsoft and first demonstrated in 2003. It was intended as an advanced storage subsy ...

team at its creation and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for SQL Server. He worked in the

Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...

organization from 2009 to 2011. He was considered a senior technical leader in the company. The Hispanic IT Executive Council named Celis as one of the most influential Hispanics in the IT industry in 2009 and 2010.

Other activities

Celis is an organizer, founder and member of the board of directors of Plaza Bank, a Latino business focused bank that opened in 2006 in Seattle, Washington. He is a board member of Stronger Families and the Washington News Council. He has climbed

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

to benefit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's ''Climb to Fight

Breast Cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. He is the founder of the Washington State chapter of the

Republican National Hispanic Assembly The Republican National Hispanic Assembly is an American political organization founded in 1967 which seeks to promote Hispanic-American issues and interests within the Republican Party, and the Party's interests and candidates within the Hisp ...

and served as its first chairman from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007 he served as National Chairman of the RNHA. In the 2008 presidential primary campaign, Celis served as Co-Chair of the

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

for President Washington Steering Committee.

References

External links

Official campaign website of Pedro Celis for CongressMicrosoft PressPass page on Pedro CelisCommercial racial profiling: Mexican truckers singled out, Seattle Times, August 27, 2004Es Mexicano la base de SQL en Microsoft, El Norte, Sept. 13, 2004

Social Security: A Tale of Two Problems

Washington Policy Center The Washington Policy Center (WPC) is a think tank based in the state of Washington. The organization's stated mission is "to advocate for government transparency and accountability, as well as to improve lives by promoting sound public policy bas ...

, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Celis, Pedro Living people 21st-century American engineers Mexican engineers Microsoft employees Database researchers Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education alumni University of Waterloo alumni Indiana University faculty Mexican emigrants to the United States Washington (state) Republicans Politicians from Monterrey Year of birth missing (living people)