Deep Tech Ventures Summit

Satyajeet leads the Product Management and User Experience teams for Applied AI team within Google Research. His teams focus on driving cutting-edge research across applications in domains like human interaction and understanding  (e.g. learning, speech, video, movement) and understanding the physical world (e.g. weather, spaces).

In past roles at Google, Satyajeet was responsible for YouTube Shopping, founding YouTube Live and Play Games, as well as building the teams on Google Search responsible for Media (e.g. TV, Movies, Music, Books, Games etc.), the Google Knowledge Graph and Doodles.

He mentors and advises startups,  and guest lectures at a few graduate schools on product, business and technology. He is a 2007 MBA graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Sheila Mikhail has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience and is a Co-Founder of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio), a company she started in 2001. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of AskBio until March 2023 and currently serves in the role of Advisor/Co-Founder. During her tenure as CEO, she built three GMP manufacturing facilities in Spain and AskBio’s excess capacity is sold under the tradename Viralgen for CDMO services and TAAV for plasmid supply.  With $235m in Series A funding, she built the company to over 349 employees operating in five countries. Under her leadership, AskBio has advanced programs into the clinic for Pompe, late stage Heart Failure, Parkinson’s, Multiple System Atrophy, and Huntington’s. In December 2020, Ms. Mikhail led the negotiation of the $4b AskBio acquisition by Bayer AG and has since grown the company to over 800 employees worldwide.  Prior to her role at AskBio, she served as Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Bamboo Therapeutics which, in 20 months, raised $50m, advanced a therapeutic for GAN into the clinic, completed pre-IND studies for a Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutic, and built a GMP manufacturing facility. Bamboo was acquired by Pfizer in August 2016 in a deal valued at $827m. Prior to that, she was part of the management team at Chatham Therapeutics which was acquired by Baxter in 2014. Ms. Mikhail practiced law for more than 15 years. During that time, she founded Life Sciences Law which serviced clients including Bayer, Gilead, GSK, Sanofi and Aventis. She also practiced with Ropes and Gray in Boston. She earned a JD with honors from Northwestern University, a finance MBA with honors from the University of Chicago, and a BS with highest honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

David Uminsky joined the University of Chicago in September 2020 as a senior research associate and Executive Director of the Data Science Institute. He was previously an associate professor of Mathematics and Executive Director of the Data Institute at University of San Francisco (USF). His research interests are in machine learning, signal processing, pattern formation, and dynamical systems.  David is an associate editor of the Harvard Data Science Review.  He was selected in 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences as a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow. He is also the founding Director of the BS in Data Science at USF and served as Director of the MS in Data Science program from 2014-2019. During the summer of 2018, David served as the Director of Research for the Mathematical Science Research Institute Undergrad Program on the topic of Mathematical Data Science.

Before joining USF he was a combined NSF and UC President’s Fellow at UCLA, where he was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for outstanding postdoctoral research. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Boston University and a BS in Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.

Jennifer Fried is the CEO and Co-Founder of Flow Medical.  Jennifer earned a BA in mathematical methods in the social sciences and economics, and financial economics from Northwestern University. She also earned an MBA from the Chicago Booth. While at Booth, she led ExplORer Surgical to a second place finish in the New Venture Challenge where the team earned $50,000. ExplORer Surgical was recently the recipient of a $500,000 investment from the University of Chicago Startup Investment Program as a part of its recent series A financing round.

Juan de Pablo helps drive and support the expanding reach of the University’s science, technology, and innovation efforts, along with their connection to policy and industry in his role as the Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories, and Global Initiatives. In that role, he conceives and shapes emerging strategic scientific and technological initiatives and provides oversight of entrepreneurship and innovation activities at the Polsky Center. He also works with faculty, deans, and administrators to build global academic partnerships and international research collaborations while overseeing the University’s international centers.

Juan de Pablo provides leadership for the University’s stewardship of two U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories — Argonne (through UChicago Argonne, LLC) and Fermilab (through Fermi Research Alliance, LLC) — as institutions to advance science and technology in support of the nation’s interest. He collaborates with other leaders in research and innovation to build programs and links between and among the national laboratories and the University, as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory, and he plays a central role in the University’s partnership with the Department of Energy.

A prominent molecular engineer, de Pablo focuses his research on macromolecular materials, including synthetic and biological polymers, proteins and enzymes, glasses, and liquid crystalline systems. He is a leader in developing molecular models and computer simulations of complex molecular processes over wide ranges of length and time scales. He heads a research group that develops advanced algorithms to design and predict the structure and properties of complex fluids and solids at a molecular level and has been a pioneer in the use of data-driven machine learning approaches for materials design. He is the author of well over 700 publications, and is one of the most widely cited authors in the field of computational materials design. He holds more than 30 patents on multiple technologies, many of which are now licensed to industry for a wide range of applications, from semiconductor to pharmaceutical technologies.

As a key leader for the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, de Pablo has been essential to the School’s development and remarkable growth. He joined the University in 2012 as one of the first PME faculty appointments, and established graduate and undergraduate education programs for the School, which now boast more than 500 students. He came from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he served as the Howard Curler Distinguished Professor and Hilldale Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Juan de Pablo earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California – Berkeley. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. Juan de Pablo received the Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society in 2018, the DuPont Medal for Excellence in Nutrition and Health Sciences in 2016, the Intel Patterning Science Award in 2015, and the Charles Stine Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2011. In 2016, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering for the “design of macromolecular products and processes via scientific computation.” In 2022, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and is a foreign correspondent member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences.

Samir is an accomplished leader with a track record of driving innovation and impact across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Most recently, he was deputy mayor for the city of Chicago, where he focused on economic and neighborhood development. He was a driving force behind initiatives such as INVEST South/West, the city’s signature community development initiative that marshaled resources from across city departments, community organizations, and corporate and philanthropic partners to support commercial corridors across several South and West Side neighborhoods. Before that, he served in the U.S. government during the Obama Administration, where he was part of the White House’s national security team and on the executive staff at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

Samir also co-founded and served as CEO of NanoGraf Corporation, a global manufacturer of advanced materials for the lithium-ion battery industry that has raised over $100 million in funding and was spun out of Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University. He holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Northwestern, where he served as a trustee, and he is active in the Chicago civic community, serving on the boards of the Metropolitan Pier and Exhibition Authority, Lyric Opera, and other organizations. He is also a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and is an alumnus of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

As head of the Polsky Center, Samir plays a pivotal role in advancing the University’s innovation, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and partnership priorities. He fosters connections across the University, our city, region, and world that enable the Polsky Center to accelerate the commercialization of critical technologies to help solve some of society’s most urgent challenges. He also elevates efforts to help drive economic development on the South Side and strengthen partnerships that bolster the university’s and Chicago’s upward trajectory as hubs of world-class innovation.

Victoria D. Bills serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Strategist at Banrion Capital Management, where her multifaceted role encompasses leading strategic initiatives and serving as a prominent financial and market commentator. With a focus on developing and maintaining investment models, conducting rigorous due diligence on private investment funds, and nurturing relationships with Banríon’s OCIO clients. Renowned for her insightful business and market analyses, Victoria’s expertise is globally recognized, frequently showcased on prestigious platforms including Yahoo! Finance, Reuters Market Insights, Coindesk, and Bloomberg. Her astute commentary offers invaluable perspectives on market trends, investment strategies, and emerging opportunities, enriching the broader discourse within the financial community while collaborating closely with the CEO to drive strategic initiatives forward.

Victoria’s journey into finance began at an early age when she delved into value-based investing and economics at the age of 11. She was a student at the Ariel Community Academy, a magnet school located on Chicago’s south side, founded by Ariel Investments. At Ariel Community Academy, students are empowered with financial knowledge and given $20,000 as a class to invest in the stock market at their discretion, with the profits distributed among students upon graduation to be invested in 529-Plans. This early exposure ignited Victoria’s passion for finance, setting the stage for her remarkable career trajectory in the industry.

Prior to her current role at Banrion, she served as an Associate at Allos Ventures, where she played a pivotal role in managing deal flows and conducting due diligence, with an emphasis on identifying investment opportunities within Illinois-based companies. Preceding her tenure at Allos, Victoria held the position of Investment Analyst at the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, where she contributed to investment due diligence, analysis, and monitoring of external program managers for the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund. Earlier in her career, Victoria held a significant role at Ariel Investments as a Client Service and Investor Relations Associate.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Victoria leads a vibrant lifestyle. She finds solace and inspiration in her passions as an Argentine tango dancer, aerial circus artist, and a lover of the art of storytelling through the medium of anime and dungeons and dragons which serve as outlets for creative expression.

Coleman is a professional product manager, semi-professional writer, and intermittent entrepreneur and angel investor. He serves as Director of Product Management at IonQ, the world’s leading public pure-play, full-stack quantum computing company, where he owns the roadmap for all things software and quantum-classical integration focused, including the IonQ Quantum-as-a-Service platform, Quantum OS, and SDKs. He has been at the company since 2018, where he was their first “customer-focused” and 20th overall employee, and has been intimately involved in both their technical and commercial maturation during that period. Before IonQ, he was an innovation- and New Product Innovation (NPI)-focused strategic technology consultant, serving a variety of Fortune 50 and Global 500 clients across the banking, consumer technology, retail, and transportation sectors.

Peter Hoffman is president of Elevated Advisors LLC. Mr. Hoffman possess a wide range of global technology and business experience with emphasis on development of collaborative technology relationships and intellectual property strategies. Elevated Advisors LLC provides management consulting services to clients in the US, Canada, UK, France, and the Middle East.

Before establishing Elevated Advisors LLC in 2020, Mr. Hoffman served for eight years as Vice President, Intellectual Property Management for The Boeing Company, the world’s largest aerospace company. In this leadership role, he was responsible for strategies that protect and generate the highest possible value from this significant corporate asset.

Hoffman managed the company’s patent portfolio; protection of trade secrets; and licensing of all Boeing intellectual property as CEO of Boeing Intellectual Property Licensing Company. His accomplishments included presenting testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on federal trade secret protection.

Prior to leading Intellectual Property Management, Hoffman served as director of global research and development strategy for Boeing Research & Technology, the company’s advanced research organization. In that role, he was responsible for developing technology collaboration relationships between Boeing and companies, universities, and national laboratories around the world.

Hoffman played a leadership role in the expansion of Boeing’s global technology engagement and was instrumental in the establishment of Boeing research centers in Australia, India, and China. He also developed numerous technology relationships across 31 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.

Hoffman joined Boeing in 1984 holding leadership positions in research and development and international business development. He spent 14 years conducting research in advanced materials and structures and was granted four patents, the most recent in 2020.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering technology and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee, a Master of Manufacturing Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master of International Business from St. Louis University.

Hoffman serves as a guest lecturer on international business issues at Saint Louis University’s Chaifetz School of Business and is the incoming Program Director for the Chief Intellectual Property Officer Council at The Conference Board. He is a member of the Board of Advisors to the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property and was recognized with an Accomplished Alumni award from the University of Tennessee in 2013.

As a Director, Advisory Technology Risk, for KPMG, KPMG LLP Dr. Kemp has experience leading and coordinating technology risk engagements at organizations of varying size. He has delivered engagements jointly with multiple KPMG member firms and executed multiple compliance and regulatory assessments, delivered process and technology internal controls assessments, coordinated technology security reviews and implementation reviews as part of digital transformation efforts.

He is Responsible for evaluating and providing recommendations across the following domains: program management and governance, business process and application controls (including segregation of duties), cyber risk governance, information assurance, incident management and general IT controls and data integrity. Leads IT Audit components of multiple global public integrated external and internal audits. Is responsible for day-to-day project management, risk assessment and scoping, global coordination, development, execution, and review of testing procedures (including general IT controls, application/report controls), deficiency evaluation/remediation and communication of issues/risks to key stakeholders. He is also a cyber subject matter expert with significant Risk Management Framework, NIST 800-53, and other information assurance elements.

Dr. Kemp has served as a Classified Cybersecurity Integrator/Senior Manager developing strategy and long-range plans for the execution and enablement of cyber resiliency and risk, lifecycle, battlespace and workforce professionalization and development. He directed geographically dispersed teams and cross-functional teams across multiple integrated systems-of-systems in DoD Collateral, Special Compartmentalized Information (SCI) and Special Access Program (SAP) facilities. He helped develop and define corporate policies, protocols, procedures, guidelines, and program proposal strategies that drove corporate “Win” strategies.

He has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, an M.A. in Diplomacy and an M.S. in Information Assurance from Norwich University, an M.S. in Computer Information Systems from Boston University and a D.Sc. in cybersecurity from Capitol Technology University. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Sara is Co-Founder & Managing Director at Earth Foundry, an early-stage venture capital firm which has backed some of the most transformative energy and cleantech companies. Sara is the driving force of the firm, leading investment activity and actively building cutting edge companies including Advanced Diamond Technologies (acquired by SMIN), Azumo, e-Zinc, Intelihot, NanoGraf, Network Perception, Polystyvert, Tank Utility (acquired by Generac), and Volexion.

Prior to Earth Foundry, Sara built government advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and helped climate tech startups raise $300M in non-dilutive funding. She also held roles with GE Energy and environmental consulting firm, GaiaTech.

Sara earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from Emory University. She is an advocate for the ecosystem and serves on the Investment Committee for accelerator Evergreen Climate Innovations, an incubator program at Argonne National Laboratory, and as an Executive-in-Residence at the Rustandy Center-Chicago Booth. Fortune recently recognized Sara as a Top Seed Stage Climate VC to watch, and in 2015 by Midwest Energy News “40 under 40.”

Sara currently sits on the board of Earth Foundry portfolio companies 3E Nano, Azumo, e-Zinc, Harvest Thermal, Polystyvert, and Volexion.

Ashley has spent the entirety of her nearly two-decade career working at the intersection of finance and climate innovation. Prior to joining Breakthrough Energy as a Vice President to lead the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, she spent 15 years at Wells Fargo as a thought leader working across several business units, supporting overall ESG, Cleantech Commercial Banking, and Sustainable Finance strategies. At Wells she pioneered a $100 million impact fund the Innovation Incubator (IN2), focused on speeding up the path to market for early-stage clean technologies. IN2 program’s 72 portfolio companies have gone on to raise $2.3B in follow on funding from external sources.

Today, Ashley leads the BE Discovery and Fellows efforts, continuing to immerse herself among the clean tech ecosystem – working alongside capital partners, entrepreneurs, universities, incubators and national labs. This early-stage, global, effort focuses on funding pre venture stages of innovation, to fill critical scientific gaps where the discovery of new solutions can lead to significant impacts in the hardest to abate sectors. Grosh earned a B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, as a student athlete on the CU NCAA Division One women’s soccer team.

Dr. Johanna Haggstrom is currently the Vice President, R&D Operations, at LanzaTech. She leads the R&D efforts and is responsible for chemical technology products, scale-up of new technologies, processes, measurements and tools, budget and organizational development. In her role, Dr. Haggstrom oversees a global team, across Europe, Asia, and the US.

Johanna is a Research & Development Executive with >20 years of experience conducting and overseeing product development and research. Prior to joining LanzaTech, Dr. Haggstrom spent more than 12 years in the energy industry at Halliburton, and most recently, she was a Director of Technology, based in Houston, TX.

Dr. Haggstrom holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Mälardalen University in Sweden and a PhD in Chemistry from Kansas State University, and she has contributed to more than 35 patents, patent applications and published papers.  Dr. Haggstrom also co-authored a chapter on ‘Environmental Stewardship’ in the book ‘Fracturing Horizontal Wells’, published in 2016.

In 2021, National Diversity Council named Dr. Haggstrom one of “Top 100 Diverse Leaders” in Energy. In 2020, Oil and Gas Investor Magazine named Dr. Haggstrom as one of “25 Influential Women in Energy”, and she was a 2019 Houston Business Journal “Women Who Mean Business – Outstanding Leader in Energy” award winner. Experience Energy, for her work as a “difference maker” in the energy industry, awarded her a coveted “GRIT” award, in the executive leadership category. She was additionally named one of the “Top Female Executives” by the Oil and Gas Council.

Karthee is the Founding Managing Partner at MFV Partners, a Silicon Valley based, early-stage deep tech venture fund targeting technology startups disrupting traditional industries like Logistics, Automotive, Manufacturing, and others. Karthee invests in frontier-tech startups in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Quantum Computing, and data platforms. He represents MFV Partners’ investments in PsiQuantum (Quantum Computing Hardware), Agility Robotics (Humanoid Robotics for Manufacturing), and Sun Mobility (EV Tech platform), among others.

Before MFV, Karthee spent 11 years as a Corporate Vice President and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures, where he invested across the US, Israel, and India. He started Qualcomm Ventures’ investment activities in both Israel and India. Some of his notable investments include Waze (acquired by Google), MapMyIndia (NSE: MAPMYINDIA), Validity Sensors (acquired by Synaptics), and BORQS (NASDAQ IPO), among others. He continues as an independent director at MapMyIndia.

Before Qualcomm Ventures, Karthee led technical and product marketing roles in three semiconductor and wireless startups in Silicon Valley, specializing in 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth.

Karthee has a bachelor’s in electronics and communication engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai, India, and a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. Karthee also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Karthee is also a Kauffman Fellow.

Saurabh is a General Partner at Jump Capital and leads Jump’s investments in tech infrastructure, intelligent software, and decentralized networks. Previously Saurabh led various product management roles at Groupon, was a quant algo trader at Lehman Brothers and started his career as a high-performance computing researcher at French National research Institute. Saurabh holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and Master’s in computer Science from Cornell University.

Brian Coe began his entrepreneurial career in 1995 as co-founder and CEO of Litholink Corporation, a CLIA laboratory with integrated clinical decision support software that grew to serve approximately 25% of the US urology market and 10% of the nephrology market with national payer coverage before its acquisition by LabCorp in 2006. At LabCorp (NYSE: LH), Brian was promoted to Senior Vice President and led the expansion of the programs to other diseases that eventually included chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, bone disease, coagulation disorders, and diabetes as the platform fully integrated into the broader organization. Litholink’s programs currently serve ~9MM pts/yr.

Brian left LabCorp to serve as co-founder and CEO of Talis Biomedical (NASDAQ:TLIS) (FKA SlipChip), a point-of-care molecular diagnostics platform for infectious disease. He led the company from conception through its IPO, led by JPM and BAML, raising approximately $500MM in equity capital over 9 years, with an additional $50MM in non-dilutive grant funding. Brian currently serves as an adjunct professor at Chicago Booth, where he previously co-created and taught Entrepreneurial Discovery course with Prof Mark Tebbe, instructs the I-Corps course at the Polsky Center, and serves as an active advisor in multiple life science start-up companies.

Lisa Dhar is the associate vice president for innovation and oversees Northwestern’s Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO), which includes The Garage and The Querrey InQbation Lab.  Previously at INVO she was the director of new business ventures and the interim executive director of the Querrey InQbation Lab.  INVO supports the translation of Northwestern innovations to the public and the development of the next generation of entrepreneurs. In addition to her work at INVO, she has taught in the McCormick School of Engineering and Kellogg School of Management.

Prior to joining Northwestern in 2016, Dhar held various leadership roles in the Office of Technology Management at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) from 2009. Earlier in her career, she was co-founder and vice president of media development for InPhase Technologies, a Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies startup that raised more than $90 million in total funding. There, she led a team of chemical engineers, chemists and optical engineers to commercialize high-performance recording media for holographic data storage. Dhar has been awarded nearly a dozen patents, has coedited a book on holographic data storage and has authored or coauthored more than 25 journal articles. Dhar earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from University of Chicago and her doctorate degree in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. New is the founder and CEO of Radyus Research. As an experienced drug developer with a background in early-stage venture capital, large pharma R&D, and university technology transfer, she brings invaluable business acumen and extensive international connections to Radyus.

Dr. New’s previous roles as a partner at Agent Capital, principal investor at Baxalta Ventures, commercial lead at Baxter International’s renal franchise, and entrepreneur in residence at Northwestern University have helped her establish the foundation for the work done at Radyus.

Dr. New received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern and received an MBA at Kellogg School of Management.

Nancy joined Illinois Ventures as CEO and Managing Director in 2013. Under her leadership, Illinois Ventures has invested in over 30 life science and technology ventures including Sfunga Therapeutics, Cystetic medicines, Actuate, Photonicare, Keywise AI, Psyonic, and Revolution Medicines (RVMD) which entered the public market in 2020. Nancy spent her early career in startup formation and technology commercialization with a focus on business development and deal generation. She is a graduate of Northwestern University where she earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, as well as a MS in Biotechnology. She earned her BA from Loyola University.