THE ENGINE ACCELERATOR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Community Operations Associate
Alec completed his undergraduate studies in Management & Innovation at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. While at Champlain, he focused his studies around community-based coworking. His previous work experiences include coworking operations, event production, and marketing. He has also worked on creative projects including interactive installation art and laser-cut relief-style sculpting. In his spare time, Alec likes to get outside - anything from rock climbing to skiing to biking
Alex Grant is the Program Manager for The Engine. He supports Platform functions and founder programming. Alex started his career managing the development of IOT software. Prior to The Engine, he was involved in the Boston entrepreneurial ecosystem where he organized events and programs to support young founders. He holds a BS in Business Administration from Babson College with dual-concentrations in Information Technology Management and Strategic Management.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Engine Investment Advisory Committee
- Managing Partner in Polaris' Boston
Amir Nashat is a managing partner in Polaris' Boston office. He joined Polaris in 2002 and focuses on investments in healthcare.
Nashat currently represents Polaris as a director of AgBiome, aTyr Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: LIFE), Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FATE), Metacrine, Promedior Pharmaceuticals, Scholar Rock, Selecta Biosciences (NASDAQ: SELB), Sofregen Medical, and Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SYRS). Additionally, Nashat has served as a director of Adnexus Therapeutics (Bristol Myers Squibb), Athenix Corporation (Bayer), Avila Therapeutics (Celgene), Living Proof, Pervasis Therapeutics (Shire Pharmaceuticals), Receptos (Celgene), and Sun Catalytix (Lockheed Martin). He served as the initial CEO for both Living Proof and Sun Catalytix and is currently the acting CEO of Olivo Labs.
Nashat serves on the Partners Innovation Fund and is a catalyst of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT. He previously served on the board of the New England Venture Capital Association. He has been named to the Forbes Midas List of "Top 100 Venture Capitalists."
Prior to joining Polaris, Nashat completed his PhD as a Hertz Fellow in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in biology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. Nashat also earned both his MS and BS in materials science and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Company 's Founder
- Industry
Anantha P. Chandrakasan received the BS, MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, 1990, and 1994, respectively. Since September 1994, he has been with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In July of 2017, Chandrakasan was named the Dean of MIT's School of Engineering.
Chandrakasan is the co-recipient of several awards, including the 2007 ISSCC Beatrice Winner Award for Editorial Excellence and the ISSCC Jack Kilby Award for Outstanding Student Paper (2007, 2008, 2009). He received the 2009 Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award and the 2013 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits. In 2015, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
His research interests include ultra-low-power circuit and system design, energy harvesting, energy efficient RF circuits, and hardware security. He is a co-author of Low Power Digital CMOS Design (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995), Digital Integrated Circuits (Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2003, 2nd edition), and Sub-threshold Design for Ultra Low-Power Systems (Springer 2006).
Chandrakasan is an IEEE Fellow and has served in various roles for the IEEE ISSCC, including conference chair (since 2010), program chair, signal processing subcommittee chair, and technology directions subcommittee chair. He served as director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories from 2006 to 2011, and was named head of the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department in July 2011.
Ann is a General Partner at The Engine. She serves as a Board Member for Biobot Analytics, Cellino, Lucy Therapeutics, Mori, Quaise, Syzygy, and Vaxess Technologies.
Ann was most recently at Sanofi where she held senior roles in business development and strategic venture investment. Prior to Sanofi, she was at Flagship Pioneering. Ann started her career in R&D at 3M Company, working across fields of materials, biology and engineering. Ann holds an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. She served on the Board of Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology and is on the Life Science Council of Springboard Enterprises.
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Operations Manager
Ashley oversees the daily operations of the biology and chemistry laboratories at The Engine, with a focus on supporting residents with material and equipment needs. She coordinates the safety programs and compliance of the lab spaces and works closely with the researchers to continuously develop laboratory best practices. Ashley holds a BS in Biology from Boston University and has experience as a bench and field scientist as well as experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
Baseload Renewables raised a seed round from The Engine in August of 2017, and for a September launch event, they invited, Mateo Jaramillo-a former Tesla executive who initially ran the company's drivetrain business before leading the creation of Tesla's Energy Storage group. "We all had tremendous respect for Mateo's role in creating the grid scale energy storage industry and were hoping he might sign on as an advisor or even a board member," says Chiang. Jaramillo initially declined, saying that, while honored by the invitation, he was already working on his own battery company devoted to multi-day energy storage using a combination of chemicals different from Baseload. He had been working with renowned battery researcher Ian Mckay to refine the thinking and in fact, the idea had progressed to the point where Jaramillo had received a term sheet for investment for his company, Verse Energy, the day before and was planning on finalizing it later that week.
Prior to her time at The Engine, Bela had various roles in research, operations, and fundraising. She holds a BA in Global Studies and Chinese from the University of Vermont and received her MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, UK.
Job Titles:
- Community Operations Associate
Benjamin brings a decade of diverse experience working in Facilities/Operations, Inventory Management, Human Resources, and Team Leadership at Whole Foods Market. He has received global company awards for operational excellence and team building. Benjamin specializes in launching and managing effective, long-term, standard operating procedures alongside building strong relationships with team members and vendors. Outside of his professional life, Benjamin is pursuing a BS in Information Technology with a concentration in Computer Forensics and System Administration.
Job Titles:
- VP Investor Relations and Operations
Bettina is the VP Investor Relations and Operations. She brings over a decade of venture fund operation experience to The Engine. Bettina was most recently with VC firm RockPort Capital, where she was responsible for investor relations, fund operations and marketing. Bettina received her BA and MBA from the Martin Luther University in Halle/Germany and attended the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota under the year-long German academic exchange program.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Investments for Emerson Collective
Brad Powell is the managing director of investments for Emerson Collective. In this position, he oversees Emerson's financial and investment activity. This requires directing diligence work, coordinating research and advising the founders and entrepreneurs who operate the companies within Emerson's portfolio. He is a member of and advisor to several boards of both private for-profit and non-profit organizations. In addition to this role, Powell has primary responsibility for driving the community impact work of the Collective.
Prior to joining Emerson, Powell's career spanned many different sectors, including public accounting, management consulting, financial services and commercial real estate. He has launched and built several startups and worked in large corporate and multinational organizations. He has undergraduate degrees in accounting and computer science and was a certified public accountant. Powell has two graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-a master's of science in real estate and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management.
Martin, Seaspire's CEO, had long known that she would pursue some type of novel cosmetics and skincare. A chemist by training, she completed her PhD in co-founder Deravi's lab where she helped synthesize and process xanthochrome. While at Northeastern, Martin was also inducted into the Huntington 100 - one of the university's most prestigious student awards - in recognition of her dedication to entrepreneurship.
Carlos Araque, co-founder and CEO, was introduced to the experimental work of Paul Woskov (a scientific co-founder) in 2017. Woskov, working at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, pioneered a technique of using electromagnetic waves to blast through rock. The waves are generated by a gyrotron - a large machine that is frequently used in industrial settings for heating and curing processes, as well as in nuclear fusion experiments, and for defense purposes.
Araque, who holds an engineering degree from MIT, spent nearly 15 years working for Schlumberger, one of the world's foremost providers of drilling services to the oil and gas industry. It was his time in the traditional energy industry - seeing its consequences from the inside - that drove him to lead a clean energy company. And his technical expertise helped him recognize the potential of Woskov's innovations and the possibilities of a hybrid boring platform.
"We're not replacing what currently exists, instead we are using it to our advantage to give us a 100-year head start," Araque notes. "We're also building a global team, leveraging the best drilling, plasma physics, and gyrotron experts in the world - with members and partners in Boston, Houston, US National Labs and Cambridge, UK."
Cesar will be focused on building out and maintaining the machine shop space at The Engine. In managing the space, Cesar is able to provide both engineering support as well as machine assistance for all of the companies that call The Engine home.Cesar has a background in mechanical engineering and is particularly interested in product development and design for manufacturing. Leveraging his expertise, companies are able to quickly and effectively go from idea to working prototype. Cesar holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.
Chloe is an Investment Associate at The Engine, to which she brings her experience working in and around the global battery industry. Prior to joining The Engine, Chloe held market research positions at IHS Markit and Lux Research, where she advised clients on the global Li-ion battery supply chain, the battery systems powering the e-mobility and energy transition, and the startups developing these next-generation technologies. She also worked as a mechanical engineer at aluminum-water battery developer Open Water Power, where she co-invented the company's static cell system and built prototypes for US defense contract milestones, leading to the company's acquisition by L3 Technologies. Chloe holds a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a BS in Marine Chemistry from Eckerd College.
Joining MIT as a faculty member in 2010 should have been a joyful time in Associate Professor Cullen Buie's life but he was devastated by the loss of his sister in June that year. She passed away suddenly from sepsis caused by a bacterial infection. After his loss, he became fascinated with bacteria and began pursuing research in biotechnology. Cullen's journey was aided by successfully obtained grants from DARPA and the NSF. Recognizing his next focus, a mentor at Virginia Tech recommended Paulo Garcia as a postdoc due to his pioneering work on using electric fields to treat spontaneous brain tumors. Dr. Garcia is a Research Scientist and past Translational Fellow at MIT. The two share an endless fascination with developing game-changing tools with high societal impact. They are taking on the challenging task of innovating the process for genetic engineering using electric fields.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Engine Investment Advisory Committee
- Co - Founder and Managing Director of General Catalyst
David Fialkow is a co-founder and managing director of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm with offices in Boston, New York, and Palo Alto, and approximately $3.75 billion in total capital. Fialkow's focus areas include travel, financial services, and e-commerce, as well as leading General Catalyst's XIR program. Prior to co-founding General Catalyst with Joel Cutler, Fialkow and Cutler built and sold four companies, including National Leisure Group (sold to World Travel Holdings), Alliance Development Group (sold to MyPoints.com), Retail Growth ATM Systems (sold to PNC Bank), and Starboard Cruise Services (sold to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Inc.).
Over the last few years, he has raised millions of dollars for children's programs by biking, running, climbing, and rowing. He and his wife Nina make documentaries focused on healthcare and social justice. Fialkow is chairman of the board of The Pan-Mass Challenge and serves on several other non-profit boards as well, including Facing History and Ourselves and Debate Mate. He also is on the board of The Boston Beer Company.
Job Titles:
- Operating Partner & Head of Partnerships
- Partner & Head of Partnerships
Dulcie is an Operating Partner & Head of Partnerships. Prior to joining The Engine, Dulcie was a co-founder and the CEO of Rest Devices, a startup that used sensors, hardware, and data-driven software to help families sleep better. Prior to Rest, she also worked on the ground in India for five years, developing and scaling programs supporting maternal health and women's livelihood development. She has a BS in Biology from Georgetown University, an MPH from Boston University, and half of an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Emily oversees the operations and expansion of The Engine. She focuses on providing our portfolio companies with resources including space and a network of shared resources. Prior to joining the team, she spent three years overseeing general operations, strategy and product management at Workbar co-working spaces. She has spent the last few years working with startups, and connecting them to resources in the innovation ecosystem. Emily holds a BS from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, where she was also captain of the Women's Soccer Team.
Enter Matthias Wagner, who joined the team shortly after the competition. Wagner, a successful entrepreneur and founder in his own right, is an expert in photonics, machine learning, and bringing early-stage hardware technologies to market. After their first meeting, Madrid and Saklayen knew that Wagner had to be a part of Cellino. Matthias' engineering skills have made Cellino's technology commercialization-ready.
Cellino's leadership - Saklayen, Madrid, and Wagner - share a vision for the impact of a technology platform built from convergent disciplines. It's a vision of a world in which any tissue can be produced on demand for any therapy in areas such as ophthalmology, heart disease, and neurological disorders to name a few. Cellino's vision is bold, it is big, and it will take the team time and effort to realize. But, as Saklayen says, "we're absolutely committed to doing it."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Engine Investment Advisory Committee
- Co - Founder of Rodina
Felipe Chico Hernández is the co-founder of Rodina, a private investment firm and family office based in Mexico City, focused on mid-sized investment projects, providing strong financial and operational support.
Mr. Chico has been in charge, along with his brother, of their family's office, where he led the efforts in a significant number of transactions, mainly in the infrastructure, environmental, real estate, construction, and tourism industries. He is an independent member of the investment committee of one of Mexico's leading early-stage venture and growth equity capital firms. Additionally, he is a board member in a real estate firm and a US regional banking conglomerate, as well as in Veolia Mexico, a French energy, water, and waste management company.
Felipe Chico holds a finance degree with honors from Universidad Iberoamericana and an MBA from Stanford University. He continues to teach finance at his alma mater, and contributes to education and environmental causes in Mexico.
Job Titles:
- Chief Design Officer
- Partner
Fran is an Operating Partner and The Engine Chief Design Officer. She serves as a board member for E25Bio.
Fran is a formally trained designer with over 15 years of experience. Prior to joining, Fran spent five years at IDEO, where she was a project leader developing brand, strategy, and service design for startups and corporate ventures. At The Engine, she works on overall strategy, and directly with the founders. She holds a BA in Design from Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Chile and Graduate Degree in Entrepreneurship from Boston University. She serves on the Advisory Board of Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- MIT in 2015 As Vice President for Finance
Glen Shor was appointed Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in October 2020. In this role, he is the chief steward of MIT's $24 billion in financial assets and $4 billion operating budget, responsible for financial strategy development, operations, and capital budget planning, debt issuance, and maintenance of the integrity of financial information for the Institute. He also leads the administrative functions at MIT including operating units focused on finance, human resources, information systems and technology, campus services and stewardship, security and safety, and campus medical care.
Shor joined MIT in 2015 as Vice President for Finance. Prior to that, he served as Secretary of Administration and Finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under former Governor Deval Patrick, and was the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. He also held roles as Senior Policy Counsel and Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, a senior policy aide to former U.S. Representative Martin T. Meehan, Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, and a public interest attorney who participated in the McConnell v. FEC campaign finance case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Shor holds a BA in history from Yale University, awarded in 1993, and a JD from Harvard Law School, awarded in 1996.
Hayden brings more than 15 years of Sales and Customer Service experience to The Engine having worked previously in the Luxury Travel industry, both on land and at sea, as well as working for Panasonic New Zealand as the National Product Training Manager. Originally from Waitara, New Zealand, Hayden quickly found his way into a Community Manager role at Workbar Boston where he helped build out the sales process while opening Workbar Back Bay. Combining the Sales, Operations and Community aspects of the roles, Hayden will be building the residents list for our new building at 750 Main St. Hayden is a big sports fan having played soccer and basketball growing up.
Ian has a background in biomedical engineering and life sciences consulting. Coming from his prior position at Putnam Associates, Ian brings experience in addressing key business and therapeutic development questions for biopharmaceutical and health-care clients. He also holds a PhD in Pharmacology from UPenn where his research focused on the microfluidic modeling of the cardiovascular system to understand various hematologic pathologies and investigate novel therapeutics. Additionally, during this time, Ian worked at the Penn Center of Innovation assessing technologies from the UPenn community for their patent-ability and market potential; these technologies spanned realms such as diagnostics, digital health, medical devices, research tools, and novel therapeutic platforms. Ian also functioned as the vice president of consulting for the UPenn-Wharton health-care consulting club. Ian received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University where he served on the engineering class government.
Job Titles:
- Founding Chairman
- WoHo 's CEO
Ruiz, WoHo's CEO and an engineer, met Mesa and García-Abril at MIT where he served as the Executive Vice President and Treasurer. While at MIT, Ruiz oversaw the capital renewal and construction program of over one thousand residential units and over two million square feet of labs and offices. Ruiz was also instrumental to the real estate development of Kendall Square.
Israel Ruiz is the former Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While at MIT, Ruiz was the Institute's chief financial officer, a former trustee of the MIT Corporation, and a member of its executive committee. He was the chief steward of over $17 billion in financial assets and $3.4 billion in operating revenues, making him responsible for administering the Institute's $5 billion capital plan through 2030.
Ruiz helped grow the university's innovation ecosystem and was instrumental in the orchestration conception and launch of The Engine.
Jeremy Wertheimer received a BE in electrical engineering from Cooper Union and an SM in computer science and PhD in artificial intelligence from MIT. He started ITA Software when he graduated from MIT, and grew it to a company with more than 400 employees. Google acquired ITA Software in 2011. Jeremy is now vice president for engineering at Google. He serves on the board of trustees of Cooper Union, on several visiting and advisory committees at MIT, and on the boards of several biotech startups.
Jim is a Special Partner at The Engine. He also serves as a member of the Harvard Business School faculty and teaches the EC courses Entrepreneurial Finance and Tough Tech Ventures and is a faculty affiliate of the Business & Environment Initiative.
From 2000-2018, Jim was one of the four General Partners who launched Flagship Pioneering and helped grow the firm to over $3 billion+ AUM. From 2013-2018, Jim also served as President and CEO of Oasys Water, having also been the company's founding Chairman and Lead Investor since 2008. As CEO, he led the global expansion of Oasys' award-winning industrial wastewater treatment platform and the sale of the business to their Asian partner in 2018.
Before embarking on a second career in entrepreneurship and investing, Jim was a Navy F-14/18 pilot with significant combat experience and tours as a TOPGUN Instructor and Officer-in-Charge of the Navy's Nevada-based Adversary Squadron before retiring in 2008 as Commander. He earned his BS (with honors) from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Global Policy at the Semiconductor Industry Association
Job Titles:
- Member of the Engine Investment Advisory Committee
- President of the Kraft Group
As president of The Kraft Group, a private holding company with significant positions in the paper and packaging industry, sports and entertainment, real estate, and with numerous private equity and early-stage venture capital investments, Jonathan Kraft oversees the day-to-day operations of all the group's companies while maintaining a focus on driving the growth and diversification of the group.
A 1986 graduate of Williams College, Kraft is a trustee emeritus of the school and also chairs its investment committee. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School (1990), where he currently serves on the board of dean's advisors. Kraft is also on the board of trustees for Belmont Hill School, Dexter Southfield, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and chairs MGH's finance committee. In addition, he serves as a member of the Partners HealthCare Finance Committee and is a member of the advisory board for the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.
Katie serves as the CEO & Managing Partner of The Engine, a venture capital fund built by MIT, that invests in early-stage companies solving the world's biggest problems through the convergence of breakthrough science, engineering and leadership. She serves as a Board Member for Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Form Energy, Via Separations, Lilac Solutions, Sublime Systems, WoHo, and VEIR.
Katie has advised hundreds of founders and invested in over 100 companies. Key investments include Pillpack (acquired by Amazon for $1 billion), Bevi, GrabCad, Synack, Zagster, NBD Nano, Neurala and Amino.
She holds an MBA from Yale and BA in Biology from Oberlin College.
Kerry has more than 20 years of experience working with startups and established brands on strategic planning, media and analyst relations, customer and partner activities, event planning, and content creation.
Prior to founding Walker Communications, she spent 11 years at The OutCast Agency, most recently as Executive Vice President and a member of its management team overseeing client service. Her prior agency time was spent at Porter Novelli and Bridgeman Communications and she did an in-house stint at Abt Associates. She advises budding entrepreneurs during Specialist Office Hours at the Harvard Innovation Lab. Kerry earned a BA in Journalism from University of South Carolina.
Lakshana is an Investment Associate at The Engine, where she brings over a decade of experience in academic research and commercialization of climate focused technologies. She helped build Activate Boston, an entrepreneurial fellowship program supporting science innovators from concept to first product. She was involved in selecting promising individuals from academia and guiding them through the early stages of building a startup, providing technical, fundraising, team building and market support. Prior to that Lakshana was a fellow at ARPA-E, a high-risk high-impact funding agency within the Department of Energy. She developed and evaluated new technical spaces that merited funding, exploring and funding projects in a number of sectors including enhanced geothermal systems, nuclear fission and fusion, as well as robust supply chains for climatetech through deep-sea mining.
Lakshana holds a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Job Titles:
- Seaspire 's Co - Founders
- Specialist
Deravi, a cephalopod specialist, is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University, where she focuses on understanding the role of pigments and proteins involved in the dynamic color change of living systems. Her team's research has received support from the US Army, US Navy, and the National Science Foundation. It has also been published in leading academic journals, and featured in The New York Times and Chemical and Engineering News.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Boston Globe Media Partners
- Trustee of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation
Linda Pizzuti Henry is the managing director of Boston Globe Media Partners, a 144-year-old print, digital, event, publishing, and marketing company with 26 Pulitzer Prizes. She is a co-founder of HUBweek, a collaboration among the Boston Globe, Harvard University, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital that explores the intersection of art, science, and technology. Pizzuti Henry is also an early-stage-impact investor, an Emmy-winning television producer with two shows currently airing, and a community activist.
Pizzuti Henry serves as a trustee of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation, a director of the Red Sox Foundation, chair of the Boston Globe Foundation, and chair of the John W. Henry Family Foundation. In addition, Pizzuti Henry is a founder of the Boston Public Market and serves on the advisory board of MassChallenge.
Pizzuti Henry received her BS from Babson College and a master's degree in real estate development from MIT. She spends a lot of time questioning referee and umpire decisions, is surprisingly knowledgeable about team mascots, and passionately believes in the bright future of Boston.
Lizzie is a Massachusetts native who received her BA in Sociology at Northeastern. She has lived in Italy, France and England, the longest stint being in London where she earned a MA in Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions (which might be the longest master's degree title ever). She has worked in support and operational roles in a variety of industries, including startups, higher ed and media. Lizzie moved to Cambridge five years ago and loves discovering new food and new music.
Matthew Houde, a co-founder and geologist, remains undaunted. He notes that for millennia the Earth has shown us that stable holes of incredible depth are possible. Volcanoes draw their power from far deeper.
Mike is a Partner at the Engine, where he brings over a decade of operational and research experience in commercializing energy technology. He serves on the Board of Osmoses.
Mike's background combines training in economics and systems engineering with expertise in energy technology, market development and operational experience as an entrepreneur. Mike holds a Ph.D. from MIT Sloan School of Management, where his research focused on frictions in the commercialization of science, regulatory barriers to innovation and entrepreneurial strategy. Previously, he was the 1st employee at clean-tech start-up called Ambri, where he led business development efforts for 5 years, working with customers across the U.S. Mike received an MS in Technology and Policy from MIT and a BA from Williams College where he was also captain of the Men's Basketball team.
Michael Schrader, the CEO of Vaxess, was intrigued by the possibilities of silk technology while studying at Harvard Business School in 2011. It was there that he was exposed to the work of David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto's labs.
Michelle Tomasko leads Celestial's software effort, relying on her 20 years of technical leadership experience in the silicon industry as the former the VP of Engineering at Groq and having worked for other leading technology companies including NVIDIA, Google Consumer HW, and Transmeta. At NVIDIA, she drove all aspects of software for the leading GPU architectures. Tomasko delivered Google's first machine learning/image processing accelerator system on a chip, the Pixel Visual Core for the Pixel 2 phone.
Milo Werner is a General Partner at The Engine. She joins us from Ajax Strategies where she was a Partner, leading mid-stage investments across energy, transportation, agriculture and industrial applications. Milo joined Tesla in 2007, at a critical stage in the company's trajectory, where she led New Production Introduction, launching Model S powertrain (battery, drive unit, and all the stuff in between), dual motor, drivers assist and, most importantly, Model X. The company grew from 200 to 12,000 during her tenure. In addition to Tesla, Milo ran New Product Introduction at Fitbit, launching four factories in China and transitioning the company to fully automated production, and led engineering and product for micro-grid company Zola, a startup providing distributed energy to over a million families in Sub Saharan Africa. Milo earned a B.S. in Geology and Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont, as well as a MS in Civil Engineering and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She sits on the boards of the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, AxelHire, Infinitum Electric and is a Board Observer for Lime.
Monique received her MBA from MIT Sloan in the Spring of 2017, where she was involved with the entrepreneurial ecosystem as the Managing Director of the MIT $100K Competition. Prior to Sloan, she was one of the first employees at a social enterprise specializing in healthcare design, MASS Design Group, where she built out operations and expanded the business model abroad. Monique earned a BA in International Health from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Partner & Head of Government Partnerships
Orin is a Partner on the investment team at The Engine where he is also Head of Government Partnerships. He serves as a Board Member for RISE Robotics, Hedron, and Sync Computing.
Orin was most recently a senior government civilian at the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental where he served in both investment and CTO roles. Prior to DIUx, Orin spun out and served as Chief Technologist at Endeavor Robotics, which was later acquired by FLIR systems. Orin started his career in R&D at iRobot, where he led the development and deployment of robotic systems to various disaster and conflict responses. Orin holds BA and MS degrees in Physics and Electrical Computer Engineering as well as several patents.
Paul Le Floch, Axoft's CEO, was Liu's first graduate student. And it was his work in Liu's lab that eventually led to the breakthroughs from which Axoft's core technology was created. His research helped make Axoft's brain implants not only soft but also scalable, capable of integrating many sensors into one implant with the same mechanical properties as the brain. He imagines a future in which at least one million sensors could be integrated into a brain-machine interface, helping the blind with high-resolution artificial eyesight.
Job Titles:
- Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paula T. Hammond is Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. She is a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the MIT Energy Initiative, and a founding member of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology. As of September 2021, she was named to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
The core of her work is the use of electrostatics and other complementary interactions to generate functional materials with highly controlled architecture. Her research in nanomedicine encompasses the development of new biomaterials to enable drug delivery from surfaces with spatio-temporal control. She also investigates novel responsive polymer architectures for targeted nanoparticle drug and gene delivery, and has developed self-assembled materials systems for electrochemical energy devices.
Professor Paula Hammond was elected into the National Academy of Science in 2019, the National Academy of Engineering in 2017, the National Academy of Medicine in 2016, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. She is one of only 25 distinguished scientists elected to all three national academies. She won the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science in 2018, and she is also the recipient of the 2013 AIChE Charles M. A. Stine Award, which is bestowed annually to a leading researcher in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of materials science and engineering, and the 2014 AIChE Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research. She was selected to receive the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Teal Innovator Award in 2013, which supports a single visionary individual from any field principally outside of ovarian cancer to focus his/her creativity, innovation, and leadership on ovarian cancer research. By developing degradable electrostatically assembled layer-by-layer (LbL) thin films that enable temporal and even sequential controlled release from surfaces, Paula Hammond pioneered a new and rapidly growing area of multicomponent surface delivery of therapeutics that impacts biomedical implants, tissue engineering and nanomedicine. A key contribution is her ability to introduce not only controlled release of sensitive biologics, but her recent advances in actually staging the release of these drugs to attain synergistically timed combination therapies. She has designed multilayered nanoparticles to deliver a synergistic combination of siRNA or inhibitors with chemotherapy drugs in a staged manner to tumors, leading to significant decreases in tumor growth and a great lowering of toxicity. The newest developments from her lab offer a promising approach to messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery, in which she creates pre-complexes of mRNA with its capping protein and synthesized optimized cationic polypeptides structures for the co-complexation and stabilization of the nucleic acid-protein system to gain up to 80-fold increases in mRNA translation efficiency, opening potential for vaccines and immunotherapies. Professor Hammond has published over 320 papers, and over 20 patent applications. She is the co-founder and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of LayerBio, Inc. and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Moderna Therapeutics.
Celestial's CTO Phil Winterbottom brings a unique combination of technical depth across all disciplines required to architect a photonics-based accelerator. Winterbottom's experience and expertise span photonics, AI / machine learning hardware and software, as well as ASIC system architectures. Following his 10+ year tenure at Bell Labs, he led the technical teams at two startups, Entrisphere (acquired by Ericsson) and Gainspeed (acquired by Nokia.) He was most recently VP of Engineering at an optical AI computing startup.
For CEO Prashant Chouta, E25Bio is about detecting diseases, preventing future pandemics, and saving lives. The test, which works with whole blood from a simple finger prick, is the first of its kind to screen for active virus, making it more effective than a traditional blood draw. It is also sold over-the-counter and produces results within a few minutes. The technology was developed in MIT's Gehrke lab with ongoing work now led by CSO Bobby Brooke Herrera. This convenience, accuracy, and inherent affordability is the result of what E25Bio calls an "obsessed, scrappy team, wanting to do something that is, above all, novel and creative."
Preet Virk, the company's COO, brings deep technical expertise and experience managing engineering teams in the semiconductor and data communications sectors. He previously served as SVP at MACOM and Mindspeed Technologies where he drove the initial adoption of electro-optical solutions enabling 100G transceiver deployment data centers. He also co-packaged DSP solutions with photonics for the first 100G single lambda transceivers for data centers.
Job Titles:
- Executive - in - Residence
Rahul Dhanda co-founded Sherlock Biosciences in early 2018, where he initially acquired exclusive rights to CRISPR and SynBio platforms for molecular diagnostics. As the founding CEO, President and Director, Rahul scaled the company by building a diverse and accomplished team to reach commercialization of the first-ever CRISPR product, diagnostic or therapeutic, to be authorized by the FDA. He also directed the rapid advancement of the company's SynBio platform towards the goal of being the first at-home, instrument-free molecular diagnostic. He secured over $55 million in capital, including $25 million in non-dilutive funding in the company's Series A.
Under his leadership, Sherlock Biosciences has been named a Fast Company Most Innovative Company in 2021 (Top 10 in Biotech), a Red Herring Top 100 Company, Fierce15 MedTech, Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and Top 50 Innovative Company by BostonInno, among others. Rahul was named to Boston's Power50 list by the Boston Business Journal in 2020.
As a strong advocate of equity in society and STEM, Rahul founded The 221b Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides access to CRISPR intellectual property for COVID-19 diagnostics, the profits of which are invested in STEM education initiatives promoting gender and racial diversity.
Prior to Sherlock Biosciences, Rahul helped build T2 Biosystems over ten years, resulting in a publicly-traded, commercial leader in infectious disease diagnostics. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Marketing, he led multiple strategic and commercial initiatives including marketing, product management and all partnering activity, including over $40 million in deals. Prior to T2, Rahul worked at various diagnostic and medical device firms, including Boston Scientific where he managed over $100 million in product revenue.
Rahul earned his MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management and his BA from Wesleyan University. He is a former committee member of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. Mr. Dhanda is the author of several publications, an inventor on numerous patents, and has authored the first book to address the crossroads between industry and bioethics/public policy, entitled Guiding Icarus: Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests
Job Titles:
- General Partner
- General Partner on the Investment Team
Reed is a General Partner on the investment team at The Engine. He serves as a Board Member for Celestial AI, Hyperlight, Rise Robotics, C2Sense, The Routing Company, Cambridge Electronics, and Emvolon.
Reed was a founder and Managing Director at Project 11 Ventures and Techstars Boston. He attended MIT and has a background in software. He ran Microsoft Startup Labs in Cambridge and was VP of Technology at Idealab, Boston. Early in his career he created Freelance Graphics which was acquired by Lotus Development Corp. He has been a lecturer at MIT Sloan and is a frequent speaker at MIT entrepreneurship courses and programs.
Rhett works on the Infrastructure team and manages all day-to-day operations at the Engine. He focuses his time on optimizing systems, workflows, and people, to provide best-in-class service at all of The Engine's operated sites. Rhett brings over 10 years experience in Operations, Strategy, and Management to the team. Prior to joining the Engine, Rhett was a Director of Operations and co-leader at a middle school in the Boston. He holds a BA in Economics from Sewanee: The University of the South and an MBA from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Kraft Group
Robert Kraft is the founder, chairman, and CEO of The Kraft Group, based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Kraft Group is the holding company of the Kraft family's many businesses, including the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, Patriot Place, International Forest Products, Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard, and a portfolio of more than 200 private equity investments.
As chairman and CEO of the New England Patriots, combined with the New England Revolution, Kraft changed the culture of professional sports in New England by delivering 13 conference titles and five league championships in the past two decades. Since Kraft purchased the Patriots in 1994, the team has won more games, including playoff games (26), division titles (16), conference titles (8) and Super Bowls (5) than any other team in the NFL. Kraft also built the only privately financed, world-class sports and entertainment complex with the construction of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place.
Over the past five decades, the Kraft family has been one of New England's most philanthropic families, donating hundreds of millions of dollars in support of local charities, civic affairs, and health care, including a $25 million pledge to Partners HealthCare to launch the Kraft Center for Community Health and a $20 million pledge to Harvard Business School to establish an endowment for the advancement of precision medicine.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Facilities
Sandy joins the Operations team with over 15 years of facilities, lab operations, and safety experience. As the Senior Director of Facilities, Sandy manages The Engine's expansion project as well as provides facilities leadership at The Engine's various locations. Sandy has worked for multiple private and public biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies as well as the lab co-working incubator, Labcentral. Immediately prior to The Engine, Sandy helped Syros Pharmaceuticals build out its new headquarters and relocate. Sandy holds a BS in Facilities Management from Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Sophie is an executive coordinator at The Engine. She holds a BA from The University of Vermont where she was also the President of the Student Alumni Association. She sat on the UVM Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2020-2021 where she focused on building student-alumni relations and engaging the larger UVM community to build meaningful relationships and foster a sense of pride.
Originally from Northern Virginia, Sophie is passionate about exploring the outdoors, skiing, SCUBA diving, and golf.
Sue Siegel has driven game-changing ideas and powered companies that advance industries and improve lives for more than three decades. As GE's Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of GE Ventures for seven years, Siegel oversaw investment in startups, creating and scaling new companies, and commercializing GE's intellectual property. She also led strategic planning and oversaw the global marketing function.
Before joining GE, Siegel was a General Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, where she spearheaded investments in personalized medicine, digital health and life sciences. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Siegel led Affymetrix as President and a board member. She also held executive leadership roles at Bio-Rad, DuPont and Amersham after transitioning to a corporate career from early work in molecular biology and biochemistry.
Siegel has served on many corporate and non-profit boards and has been recognized as one of the "100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley." Siegel lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and her two sons.
Theresa is a serial entrepreneur and early-stage start-up executive whose focus spans from life sciences to consumer health. She serves as a Board Member of Kytopen.
Theresa co-founded BigHat Bio and Landsdowne Labs. She helped build and grow EverlyWell, SynapDx and several other companies as either an executive or advisor. Theresa started her career as a consultant at Putnam Associates. She holds an MBA from Harvard, where she was a Blavatnik Fellow in Life Science Entrepreneurship, and earned her BA from Wellesley College.
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
Job Titles:
- Director of Research & Analytics
Vinny is Director of Research & Analytics at The Engine. He was previously a consultant in the Private Equity Group at the London and Boston offices of Bain & Company. At Bain, he advised private equity and corporate clients on investments across industry sectors with a primary focus on healthcare.
He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from, the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering, from the Czech Technical University.