Deep Tech Symposium

Andy is a leader in the Southern Californian innovation ecosystem and has started, led or invested in more than two dozen tech start-ups. In addition to leading the Alliance as its Executive Director, he served on the City Council for the City of Pasadena for almost 8 years (2 years as vice mayor) and he is a founder of Innovate Pasadena (www.innovatepasadena.org), which is dedicated to advancing the Eastside of Los Angeles as a vibrant innovation center for deep tech.

Previously, as founder of Momentum Ventures, an early stage tech accelerator and venture fund, he personally led more than a half dozen SoCal tech start-ups and invested in almost a dozen others. He previously held senior executive roles (President, SVP Product, CIO, COO) at Overture Services/Yahoo!, RiverOne, Bowne & Co and RR Donnelley & Sons. He has extensive board experience in not-for-profit and community organizations such as Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena Heritage, STEAMCODERS, and currently serves on the Hollywood-Burbank Airport Authority. He has a deep track record of community service including the Pasadena Design Commission, the Pasadena Planning Commission, Pasadena Operating Company and the Burbank Airport.

He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurs’ events and business schools and was named one of the 50 Most Innovative Men in the San Gabriel Valley. Andy holds an engineering degree with honors from Dartmouth College and received his MBA with a concentration in operations and technology management from Harvard Business School.

Drew Busbee is the Chief Operations Officer of DTI. He has spent the better part of the last decade supporting early-stage dual-use startups to navigate the federal funding landscape and has helped portfolio companies secure 500+ million in government contracts and non-dilutive financing. He is a founding member of several government innovation organizations, secured multiple cooperative research and development agreements between venture firms and the DOD, and has spent time as a Defense Ventures Fellow. He holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a master’s in international real estate from Florida International University.

In addition to serving as El Segundo’s Mayor since 2018, Drew Boyles is an entrepreneur and CEO of businesses in multiple states with several hundred employees. Drew achieved his Bachelor’s Degree by the age of 21, while fully enlisted in the US Navy. After the military, Drew quickly progressed through the leadership ranks at Brunswick Corporation and Starbucks Coffee, while solely raising his two sons. Drew went on to get his MBA in Finance from USC and became a Big 5 Management Consultant.

On the entrepreneurial front, Drew has owned and operated as many as three dozen 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchises.  Drew founded HazAwayToday.com, which provides the first of its kind residential and commercial hazardous waste removal services. Drew’s latest ventures involve a patented consumer product for the action sports industry and wave pool, surfing centric large real estate developments. Drew believes building great relationships is even more valuable than building businesses, taking great pride in the dozens of leadership and company ownership opportunities he has created for his employees.

Beyond the world of his businesses, Drew has served in various leadership capacities with Entrepreneurs’ Organization, including President of the LA Chapter and the U.S. West Regional Director. He is a Board Member of The World Is Just a Book Away, which builds libraries for impoverished children in Mexico and Indonesia. Drew served as Co-Chairperson of the Surfrider Foundation Malibu/Santa Monica chapter.

In government capacities, Drew served as Chairman of the El Segundo Economic Development Advisory Council from 2014 through 2016. He was then elected to the El Segundo City Council in 2016, immediately voted in as Mayor Pro Tem and then voted in as Mayor in 2018, where he has served since. During his time on the Council, Drew has emphasized bringing performance-based and private industry techniques to government, driving economic development and fostering nimble, effective communication and leading responsible fiscal strategy, while ensuring our residents and businesses love where they live and work.

Drew’s personal passions are spending time with his wife, Lee and his five children, working to leave the world a better place, and surfing, skiing and snowboarding as hard and as often as possible. Drew has a goal of surfing every country in the world; somehow, even the land locked ones! As of 2024, he has surfed 25 countries.

Stephen Cheung is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and its subsidiary, the World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA).  As CEO of the LAEDC, Mr. Cheung leads LAEDC’s efforts to drive equitable economic growth in the Los Angeles Region.

Prior to joining LAEDC and WTCLA, Cheung was the Secretary General and Managing Director of International Trade and Foreign Affairs for Los Angeles Mayors Eric Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa and was responsible for managing policies and programs related to the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, International Affairs, Global Trade and Clean Technology.

Cheung currently sits on the Board of Advisors of UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, UCLA Extension, Coro Southern California and Sister Cities of Los Angeles, while also serving on the Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board.

As the Managing Director of Starburst’s US business, Elizabeth Reynolds is championing today’s aerospace renaissance, aligning early-stage technology innovators with government and commercial stakeholders and investors to modernize infrastructure in space, transportation, communications, and intelligence. Her team works alongside hundreds of technology startups developing new aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, drones, sensors, autonomy, robotics, and much more.

Elizabeth brings 15 years of experience in deep tech entrepreneurship, growth, business operations, and strategy to the team. Prior to joining Starburst, she served as an executive for biotech, medtech, mobility, and interactive media companies, from founding through IPO. She is also an advisor to a number of startups and nonprofits supporting STEM education.

Erin Hammons is the Director and Program Manager for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications System (ESS) program within the Military Space Systems (MSS) Business Unit of Northrop Grumman Space Systems. In this role, Erin is responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of the ESS Rapid Protype (RP) effort as well as the ESS Production contract slated for award later this year.

Prior to her current position, Erin was the Business Development Director for the National Security Space (NSS) Business Unit, formulating and executing growth strategies in support of NSS core programs and new business, including the management of all NSS strategic investments and partnerships. She was also responsible for leading NSS engagement with senior USG and international customers as well as industry partners.

Erin previously worked a number of years within various Restricted portfolios at Space Park, holding leadership roles in program management, integrated planning, risk management, and new business. Most recently, she was the Director of Operations for a large-scale Class A program, leading the team through multiple critical milestones in both design and production phases.

Prior to joining Northrop Grumman, Erin was with Boeing Space and Launch, occupying roles of increasing responsibility within Systems Engineering, Mechanical Design, and Business Development organizations.

Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree in management from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.

Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.

Zane is Co-Founder and CEO at Picogrid, a defense technology company building a command and control technology for unmanned systems. Prior to Picogrid, Zane started his career developing autonomous vehicles and field sensors for the US Army and US Navy.

Jordan Noone is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Embedded Ventures, along with Co-Founder Jenna Bryant. Launched in 2020, Embedded Ventures is a next generation venture capital firm investing in early-stage deep tech startups. With a thesis that takes a commercial-first approach to investing in early-stage startups with applications that can serve the Department of Defense, Embedded has a first-of-its-kind partnership with the United States Space Force. In addition to his role at Embedded, Jordan is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of portfolio company Zoo, the world’s only company to develop advanced tools for hardware design.

Jordan and Jenna both have nontraditional industry experiences and strong passions for the communities they represent. The firm invests in the pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds for startups focused on space operations, digital engineering, and advanced manufacturing. To date, Embedded Ventures has announced investments in Akash Systems, Anduril, Chromatic 3D Materials, Inversion, OurSky, Slingshot Aerospace, Skyryse and Zoo.

In 2015, at 22 years old, Jordan started Relativity Space, which was most recently valued at $4.2B. As Relativity’s CTO for five years, Jordan focused on technical direction and engineering design, including: developing printing technology, launch vehicle design, propulsion design, software development, infrastructure development, and government affairs. Jordan also led many Relativity initiatives including: expansion of Relativity’s Stargate Factory into the rest of aerospace manufacturing, Relativity’s strategy for expanding printing technology off-planet; and the ability of Relativity’s factory to flexibly scale to a wide range of rocket sizes.

Jordan has had a lifelong interest in aerospace and began designing and building spaceflight hardware at the University of Southern California. Jordan led USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab and became the first student and youngest individual in the world to receive Federal Aviation Administration clearance to fly a rocket into space.

Jordan has been chosen for “30 Under 30” lists by Forbes, Business Insider, and Inc. Magazine. He received a BS in Aerospace Engineering, and dropped out of a BS in Biophysics, both from University of Southern California. Jordan lives in the greater Los Angeles area and is still involved with USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab advising student members.

Conn Doherty is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in the defense and aerospace industries. Currently serving as Vice President and General Manager of Strategic Solutions at RTX, Conn has held key leadership roles at Collins Aerospace, including Vice President and General Manager of BMC2 and Autonomy Solutions. Prior experience at Raytheon Intelligence & Space includes positions as Vice President of Strategic Campaigns, Vice President of Future Assured Systems & Technology, and Deputy Vice President of Advanced Concepts & Technology. Conn’s educational background includes an MBA in International Business from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Adrienne Lindgren joined LACI in January 2024 as the Senior Vice President of Unlocking Innovation. In this role, she is responsible for incubation and investment services, overseeing the development, delivery, and execution of LACI’s founder-facing programs, in addition to the administration of LACI’s in-house debt and equity financing vehicles. A dynamic professional with a mix of skills and expertise spanning policy analysis, project finance, partnerships, and go-to-market strategies, she brings demonstrable success in industries including zero-emissions transportation, sustainable aviation tech, consulting, banking, and municipal government. Prior to joining the team at LACI, she held key positions at Hyundai Motor Group, WSP USA, the City of Los Angeles, and Goldman Sachs. She is a graduate of London Business School (Ex. Ed. – Project Finance), the University of Southern California (M.A. – Urban Planning), and Scripps College (B.A. – Political Economy).

Jess Adkins is the Smits Family Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science in the Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences at Caltech.  He is a member of the Linde Center for Global Environmental Sciences and on the faculty of the Department of Engineering and Applied Science.  Jess started at Caltech in 2000 after receiving a BS in Chemistry from Haverford College in 1990 and a PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in 1998.  The Adkins lab studies the history of earth’s climate on a variety of timescales and biogeochemical cycles in the modern ocean.  They use stable isotopes and trace metals in deep-sea corals to understand the mechanisms of rapid climate change during the last glacial cycle.  Uranium series and radiocarbon dating provide constraints on the rate of the ocean’s overturning circulation in the past.  Pore water measurements from sediments retrieved by the IODP constrain the temperature and salinity of the glacial deep ocean and lead to theories and models of the density structure of the past deep ocean.  The group has also worked on stalagmite records of tropical climate change, biomineralization mechanisms in corals, and iron isotopes in the modern ocean.  A recent innovation has lowered the detection limit for sulfur isotopes by 1,000x and has led to work on the sulfur cycle more generally, investigating the modern budget of river sulfur isotopes, ice core records of volcanic eruptions, and measuring the history of marine sulfate isotopic change from the Archean to the Cenozoic.  With Will Berelson at USC, the Adkins lab has measured the dissolution rate of calcite in seawater with a new technique that is very precise even close to equilibrium.  They have unpacked the dual effects of solution chemistry and surface energy on carbonate dissolution in the lab and in the ocean water column, leading to the first physical chemistry-based understanding of carbonate dissolution mechanisms in seawater.  This work pushed Jess to start a company, Calcarea, that is focused on using the accelerated weathering of limestone to decarbonize the ocean shipping industry and participate in the larger decarbonization economy.

Jess was awarded the Houtermans medal from the European Association of Geochemistry in 2003.  He received the Ruth and Paul Fye MIT/WHOI and the Geochemical Society Best Paper Awards in 2005 and 2009 respectively.  He was the Chow Lecturer at The Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 2017.  Adkins won the Shackleton Medal of the EAG and was named a fellow of the AGU and Geochemical Societies in 2018.

Sergej Mahnovski is a member of Evergreen Climate Innovations’ Investment Committee. Sergej is Director of Growth and Innovation at Edison International,  where he leads a team focused on identifying, incubating, and commercializing growth opportunities in four key focus areas of clean energy, transportation electrification, grid edge, and customer choice.

Prior to Edison, Sergej served as the Director of the Utility of the Future team at Consolidated Edison and as the Director of the Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Under Mayor Bloomberg, Sergej and his team managed citywide energy and sustainability policy, developing a strategy for reducing carbon emissions in NYC by 80 percent by 2050, and a comprehensive evaluation and approach to resilience of regional energy infrastructure after Superstorm Sandy. The team was awarded the Citizens Budget Commission Prize for Public Service Innovation for developing new approaches to reducing air pollution in NYC through the Clean Heat program.

Sergej previously served as a Chair of the NYC Energy Efficiency Corporation. Sergej has served as Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He was previously Director for the Global Power Group at IHS CERA and Doctoral Fellow at RAND Corporation.

Sergej holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and B.A. in History from Stanford University, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School.

Dr. Alice Liu is a partner at ID8 Innovation, an innovation strategy consultancy. She has a diverse background spanning technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship across academia, corporations, and start-ups. At Stanley Black and Decker, she led the venture studio where tangible innovation was created through the launch of new ventures. At University of Southern California (USC), she helped lead Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering. Under her leadership the school launched its first deep technology incubator, the Viterbi Startup Garage, where she created an ecosystem for venture acceleration and training to rapidly launch technology companies. She was named an Amazon Alexa Innovation Fellow in 2018. Prior to this, Alice was Director of Business Development and Strategy at Applied Minds, a multidisciplinary innovation company that designs, builds, and creates new technologies and companies in partnership with leading corporations and entrepreneurs. Alice started her career in management strategy consulting at Bain and Company and Boston Consulting Group.

Alice holds a B.S. in Biology and Ph.D. in Computational Neural Systems from Caltech, where she also taught data science and machine learning and served on the Board of Directors of the Caltech Y and the Caltech Alumni Association.

Edward Mehr is an entrepreneur and engineer with the background in smart manufacturing and artificial intelligence. He is the cofounder and CEO of Machina Labs, a company that is developing next generation of manufacturing plants through use of robotics and artificial intelligence. Previously at Relativity Space, He led a team, in charge of developing the world’s largest metal 3D printer. Relativity Space is working to become the first company to print a rocket on Mars. Before Relativity Space, he was CTO and founding member of Averon. Averon develops fully automated internet authentication solutions that don’t require any human intervention. His work has been featured, on the main stage of TED, TechCrunch Disrupt, and Cable Lab’s invocation showcase. Early in his career, he worked as an engineer in companies such as SpaceX, Google, and Microsoft.

Peter Lee is the Founding Managing Partner at Embark Ventures, a seed stage deep-tech venture capital fund based in Los Angeles. At Embark, Peter primarily focuses on robotics and autonomy sectors having made over a dozen robotics investments in the space. Prior to entering venture capital, he was the VP of Product at a venture backed startup. Peter was a manager with McKinsey and also worked as a product manager at Microsoft. Peter earned his BS and MS at MIT in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on robotics and product development and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

For the last two decades, Krisztina Holly—aka “Z”—has been scouting, cultivating, and investing in innovators at the frontier. She is currently a venture partner at Good Growth Capital, investing in early-stage complex science and technology ventures. An MIT-trained engineer and serial tech entrepreneur, Z is probably best known as the curator of the first-ever TEDx event and the former vice provost for innovation at the University of Southern California. She built pioneering innovation centers at MIT and USC and started her career as a founder and key team member at tech companies in Boston and Silicon Valley. Since then, she has advised hundreds of leaders across the private sector, academia, and government, including entrepreneurs who have raised over $1B in capital. An instrument-rated private pilot and avid backcountry skier, Z has B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering and is based in Los Angeles.