I am an investment professional, board member and executive with 20 years of experience in commercializing semiconductor and MEMS products in automotive, consumer, and medical device industries. Tremendously passionate about innovation and startups, I focus on identifying and evaluating what makes good investments, developing valuation frameworks, coaching and building teams, negotiating deals, enabling partnerships and financing for early ventures.
What are your responsibilities at the Keller Center?
My responsibility in the Keller Center is to work with Princeton community including faculty, staff, and external networks towards developing strategies for innovation and entrepreneurship that are based on the fundamental principles of design. Having worked in many startups over the years gives me unique perspectives around the possible approaches and outcomes in a venture. I believe that the basic principles of design thinking, implemented in the earliest stages of an opportunity development, will often set ventures up for more successful trajectories and outcomes. Ultimately, it is about solving important problems, and creating, protecting and extracting value in the process. This is our focus with Design for Innovation.
What attracted you to the Keller Center?
What attracted me to Keller are the ways in which the Center historically created programs and opportunities for engaging students in innovation and entrepreneurship. I am impressed with the kind of exposure and intellectual growth that these various projects can drive. It is stimulating and incredibly motivating to think about the future of innovation and entrepreneurship at Princeton University that is fueled by this level of awareness, drive, and resources available through the Keller ecosystem.
How are you involved with the Keller Center?
At the Keller Center I lead the Design for Innovation program with focus on STEM. I aim to help identify and evaluate game changing opportunities based on the science and technology developed at our faculty labs.
What do you appreciate most about the Keller Center?
What I appreciate most about the Keller Center is the holistic approach to innovation and entrepreneurship. This approach is built upon the world class research, deep scientific insight, and vast networks and resources on- and off-campus. These resources can be leveraged to make connections between the academic ideas and real world. The Keller Center creates a very unique environment that is built upon the values and culture necessary to consistently and in scalable ways drive success in early ventures.
