Speakers

Dr. David Kirtley is the founder and CEO at Helion, a privately funded fusion company focused on magneto-inertial fusion generators. He is passionate about inventing and developing disruptive technologies that will improve access to energy, reduce carbon emissions, and provide a better future for following generations. Dr. Kirtley is an NSF and NASA Advanced Concepts Fellow with expertise in high-Beta plasmas for energy and space propulsion applications.

Mike Schroepfer is a Founder and Partner at Gigascale Capital. He brings a 25-year track record in technology and science as an executive, entrepreneur, and investor to backing early-stage climate technology companies that are modernizing the world’s biggest sectors and making clean options a no-brainer choice.

As Meta's CTO, he scaled products to billions of users, shipped millions of units of consumer hardware, constructed tens of millions of square feet of data centers, built teams of up to 35,000, and made breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. He’s currently a Senior Fellow focused on AI and developing technical talent.

Schrep’s philanthropic work includes Additional Ventures, the Carbon-to-Sea Initiative, and Outlier Projects, which funds grants aimed at accelerating climate science and policy responses to the climate crisis. He’s a Stanford computer science graduate, led engineering at Mozilla, founded a company acquired by Sun Microsystems, and is a decent skier and mediocre surfer.

Milo plays a leading role in DCVC’s climate investments, identifying and nurturing breakthrough deep tech ventures that address the world’s pressing climate challenges. She focuses on solutions that go beyond emissions reduction to revolutionize value chains, decarbonize high-emitting industries, and advance both mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Milo’s blend of investment insight and hands-on industry experience equips her to effectively identify promising climate technologies and guide them from concept to commercialization. Her investment background includes partner positions at MIT’s The Engine, Ajax Strategies, and Khosla Ventures, while her operational experience is highlighted by her tenure at Tesla, where she contributed to bringing innovative electric vehicles to market, and at Zola, a solar-battery startup providing distributed energy to over a million families in Africa. She holds a bachelor’s degree in geology and civil & environmental engineering from the University of Vermont, and a master’s degree in civil engineering and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Leveraging her extensive industrial experience, Milo founded The NextGen Industry Group to support companies commercializing advanced manufacturing technologies. The group brings together leaders, operators, industry experts, and capital providers to develop thought leadership and best practices in manufacturing strategy, capital stack construction, industrial policy, and strategic partnerships.

Dr. Michelle Rozo serves as a Senior Vice President, Mission at IQT, where she leads mission investing across operational technology — such as contested communications, autonomous systems, and forward-deployed capabilities — as well as emerging technologies with potential to reshape national security. In this role, she translates national security priorities into investment strategy, technology delivery, and measurable mission outcomes.

Michelle has served in senior national security roles, including as Vice Chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology and as Director for Technology & National Security Policy at the National Security Council. She brings deep experience coordinating executive priorities, shaping organizational strategy, and leading complex cross-functional initiatives across government and technology communities.

Dan Barouch received his Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is currently the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. His laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies. His group has led the development of vaccine candidates for HIV-1, Zika, SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis, and influenza.  His work contributed to the development of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the evaluation of multiple COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2009), Association of American Physicians (2013), and National Academy of Medicine (2020), and he received the King Faisal Prize in Medicine (2023).

Professor Thomas Oxley MBBS BMedSc FRACP PhD is a vascular and interventional neurologist and world expert in brain computer interfaces. Dr Oxley is the founding CEO of Synchron, a neurotechnology company based in New York City, having raised over USD$345 million in capital. Synchron is a clinical stage company developing an endovascular implantable brain computer interface, Stentrode. The Synchron BCI is a minimally invasive brain implant for people with debilitating medical illnesses designed to restore autonomy by reconnecting them online in ways that can dramatically improve their lives.

He is a Clinical Instructor and Director of Research and Development at Mount Sinai. Attending in the Department of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City. Dr Oxley has performed over 1600 endovascular neurosurgical procedures, including cerebral aneurysm coiling and clot retrievals in acute stroke. Dr Oxley has published over 120 internationally peer reviewed articles in journals including JAMA Neurology, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. He has over 100 patents filed. He is also Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Australia.

In 2023, Dr Oxley and Synchron completed enrollment in an FDA-approved clinical trial on the Stentrode motor neuroprosthesis that is paving the way towards first FDA marketing approval for an implanted brain computer interface, bringing the total number of patients implanted with the system to 10 worldwide.

John Diener is a driven entrepreneur with a passion for food sustainability. In 2020 he co-founded Vertical Oceans, a vertical aquaculture system revolutionizing seafood production using cutting-edge technologies. Vertical Oceans recently closed an over-subscribed $3.5m Seed Round led by Khosla Ventures. Before founding Vertical Oceans, John held senior positions in the AgriFood Tech industry, including COO of an insect protein startup and CEO of an aquaculture nutrition and genetics company. He is an AgFunder mentor, advising AgriFood Tech startups on technology development and scaling. John is on the Investment Committee of the Trendlines VC fund and a direct investor in several AgriFood Tech startups.

John completed his BA in Economics with Honors from the University of Chicago in just three years. He later obtained an MSc in Sustainable Aquaculture from the University of St.Andrews while working full time as CEO of Gold Coin / SyAqua. With an insatiable curiosity,John constantly explores new technologies applied to food sustainability. He lives in Singapore with his wife and two young girls equally passionate about the ocean and its conservation.

Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship.

Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.

Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual which revolutionized how startups were built. His Harvard Business Review cover story redefined how large companies can innovate at speed. Steve blogs at www.steveblank.com.

Brendan Collins is the Co-Founder and CEO of Avalo. He is a cell biologist, programmer, and lover of nature. Prior to founding Avalo, Brendan co-founded and worked as a software engineer at two early-stage startups. He also played a key role in developing cell-based therapies for treating traumatic spinal cord injuries during his tenure at University College London. Brendan holds a BS from the University of Notre Dame and an MS from University College London.

Marcel Frenkel, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Ten63 Therapeutics, is a biophysicist with expertise in computational drug design and cancer cell biology. Inspired by the loss of his mother to pancreatic cancer, Marcel set out to change the future of cancer treatment by bringing together top scientists and engineers at Ten63. As a Hesburgh International Scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Marcel led research on Niemann-Pick disease and developed biosensors for cholera detection in underprivileged communities such as Haiti. He later earned his PhD from Duke University, contributing to innovative approaches for targeting undruggable cancer proteins like KRas, and collaborated with the NIH on the design of novel  broadly antibodies targeting HIV. Marcel is also a former member of the Brazilian national fencing team and a NCAA Div1 national champion for Notre Dame.

Kelly Sims Gallagher is the tenth Dean of The Fletcher School, Tufts University.  A Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy, she also co-directs the Climate Policy Lab and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at Fletcher.  The Climate Policy Lab is dedicated to identifying which climate policies work, which don’t, and why in countries around the world, with particular emphasis on major emerging economies including China, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil.

Gallagher served in the second term of Obama Administration as a Senior Policy Advisor in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as Senior China Advisor in the Special Envoy for Climate Change office at the U.S. State Department.

Gallagher is a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is a member of the board of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Broadly, she focuses on U.S.-China relations, green industrialization, climate policy, energy innovation, and low-carbon, resilient models for achieving sustainable prosperity. She is the author of Titans of the Climate (The MIT Press 2018), The Global Diffusion of Clean Energy Technologies: Lessons from China (MIT Press 2014),China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development (The MIT Press 2006), and dozens of other articles and book chapters.

Deniz Kent, PhD is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prolific Machines, the photomolecular biology innovator ushering in a new era of biotechnology using light. Prolific harnesses light to produce everyday essentials more efficiently, from food and lifesaving drugs to novel biosolutions. The Bay Area company’s first-of-its-kind platform delivers unprecedented molecular control, precisely guiding cellular behavior when and where it matters most. Unlike existing tools used to control biology, Prolific’s technology unlocks direct and dynamic control over virtually any cellular function in any cell type. The company enables innovators across pharmaceuticals, nutritional and therapeutic protein production, and cellular agriculture to unlock robust efficiency, quality, reproducibility, and sustainability advantages.

During his PhD, Deniz first conceived of the idea to use light to build the future of biomanufacturing. Soon after, he brought in the expertise of co-founders Declan Jones and Max Huisman, and the trio founded the company in 2020. Inspired by the burgeoning field of optogenetics, the team then set out to commercially harness light — an abundant, safe, and versatile input — to control cellular behavior with unparalleled precision and optimize this over time using AI technology.

Deniz cultivated expertise in biological systems through academic research and professional innovation. Deniz earned his PhD in the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London, where he co-discovered a new human liver stem cell population and conducted the world’s first high throughput small molecule screen using IPS-derived hepatocytes. Prior to his PhD, Deniz had worked in a cancer immunotherapy lab at the University of Bristol and worked on a single-dose cure for Asthma at GlaxoSmithKline.

Deniz also received his Master’s degree in biomedical and translational science from King’s College London and his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Bristol.

A Partner at Khosla Ventures, Rajesh has two decades of experience assisting and investing in deep tech startups. He manages many of the firm’s investments across renewables generation, storage, hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, plastics, foodtech, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Previously, Rajesh was the head of Applied Ventures LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, where he managed a portfolio of 85 deep-tech startups globally, as well as two deep-tech funds in Korea and Taiwan. He led investments and helped build companies, many of which had strong exits, including Enphase Energy, Solid Energy, Rockley, Infinite Power Solutions, Adaptive3D, Tango, Inpria and Norsk Ti. Rajesh was recognized amongst the top 100 global CVCs, on the Global Corporate Venture (GCV) Powerlist.

Earlier, he worked at Third Point Ventures and at Lucent’s Bell Labs, where he drove technical assessments and partnerships for several optical, MEMS, and RF device startups, and also led DFR programs for the successful deployment of Lucent’s 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s systems.

While pursuing his MBA at Harvard Business School, he worked on Deutsche Bank’s cleantech banking team, and also worked with KV on companies in solar and water. Previously, Rajesh earned a master of science degree from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, where he was awarded the Shankar Dayal Sharma (President of India) Medal for overall excellence.

Duncan is a General Partner at SOSV, and the Global Managing Director of HAX, the world’s first and largest VC-backed program for hard tech, based in Newark, NJ. He has invested in over 100 hard tech companies and serves on multiple boards in the climate, industrial and healthcare sectors.

Duncan has an extensive entrepreneurial background and deep experience fundraising and growing businesses across the globe. He has taken numerous technologies to market in various industries. Before joining SOSV, he led design and engineering strategy projects for Fortune 500 companies at the global innovation firm IDEO.

Duncan obtained his Master’s from the Royal College of Art & Imperial College. His design and engineering work has won multiple awards and is included in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art. He has a deep passion for new technologies and engineering breakthroughs that can benefit our planet.

Vijay is the Global Energy & Climate Innovation Editor of The Economist. He has produced numerous cover stories and won awards for his reporting. He is an accomplished public speaker and his three books have created a stir, with accolades ranging from lengthy reviews in The New Yorker to shortlisting for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year prize. The Financial Times has declared him to be “a writer to whom it is worth paying attention.”

From 2017 to 2021, he served as the New York-based US Business Editor. He opened the magazine’s first Shanghai bureau in 2012 and served as its China Business Editor until mid-2017. Prior to that, he covered biotechnology, healthcare and global innovation. He also opened the Mexico City bureau, the publication’s first in Latin America.

His opinion pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times and Foreign Policy, and his commentaries on CNBC and Bloomberg. He has addressed groups ranging from the US National Governors’ Association and the UN General Assembly to the TED and Aspen Ideas conferences. He also serves as chairman of sustainability & innovation summits organised by The Economist, held annually in New York, London, Bangkok and Cape Town.

Vijay is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves as an advisor on innovation to the World Economic Forum/Davos, and has taught at NYU Stern Business School and Northwestern University. Vijay is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pae is a General Partner at SOSV and CTO at IndieBio, where she is responsible for portfolio management and technical oversight. Prior to joining IndieBio, Pae served as the Scientific Director of Telefónica’s moonshot factory, Alpha (in Barcelona). She was Science Director at the US Office of Naval Research – Global (out of Singapore), and technical consultant at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Her whole career, Pae has been investing in high risk solutions to intractable problems for national defense, humanity, and the planet. Pae earned her PhD at Duke in Electrical Engineering and her BSE from Princeton.

Alex Wilhelm is a journalist who covers technology and business. He co-hosts the popular This Week in Startups podcast, and is the founder of Cautious Optimism, a new publication focus on tech, money, and power.