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General Partners

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Maurizio Vecchione 
General Partner & Co-Founder

Maurizio Vecchione is the co-founder and co-General partner of AdAstral. He is moved by a vision that access to effective and quality healthcare is a human right and critical to equity and progress around the world.


He is jointly also serving as the president and CEO of Washington Global Health
Alliance, a non-profit organization that plays a pivotal role in fostering collaboration among leading global health institutions. He also serves as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, (TIBI), a non-profit research organization conducting leading-edge research in biomedicine. 


Maurizio has spent the last 30 years at the forefront of biomedicine in global and public health, focusing on innovation to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. From 2014 until 2020, he was the executive vice president for Global Good and Research at Intellectual Ventures (IV) where he oversaw collaboration with Bill Gates to invent and deploy technology to address some of humanity’s most daunting challenges. He simultaneously managed the Global Good Fund, the research programs of the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory and the Institute for Disease Modeling.

 

Maurizio has built global alliances for breakthrough programs in women’s health, infectious disease prevention and elimination, primary care, and chronic disease management as well as cancer. He has been a pioneer of the use of Artificial Intelligence in medical applications, including being involved in breakthroughs in cervical cancer screening through machine learning as well as automatic interpretation of ultrasound images via AI. He serves on the Leadership Board of the University of Washington Department of Global Health and the Advisory Board of the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center; he is on the governing board of the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation; on the Advisory Board of the Performance Theater; the editorial Board of IEEE Spectrum; an Advisor to Bill Gate’s private office Gates Ventures; an executive partner in Ethos Capital. He also has been from time to time an advisor to the US Government, the EU and multilateral organizations such as WHO and UNICEF in matters of innovation and population health.


Throughout his career, Maurizio has blended scientific research and innovation with impact investing delivering a double bottom lines of investor return and social impact.

Alex Goldberg
Alex Goldberg 
General Partner & Co-Founder

As a serial entrepreneur & technology investor for more than two decades, Alex has deep domain expertise in enterprise software, artificial intelligence, and a wide range of emerging technologies. He spent the earlier part of his career working in strategic product management and business development roles at two of the earliest Unicorn tech startups that spawned from MIT, followed by a role working for one of the top executives at a Fortune 500 company, serving in the Office of the CTO. Subsequently, as an investor-operator, Alex has acquired & operated several technology-based businesses as CEO or Executive Chairman. 

 

Alex has had a commitment to social impact, throughout his career, via both his investing activities, and leadership across many philanthropic projects.  His venture capital investments in cellphone technologies were among the earliest to target Financial Inclusion in the developing world.  And his philanthropic work with Boston-based Social Venture Partners, in its inaugural year, led to a unique partnership between Boston-area executives and a major Food & Environment nonprofit.

 

Alex is an active member of the New York Angels, a regular mentor to more than a dozen startup incubators in NYC, and is frequently a speaker & panelist at a range of industry events.  

He has served on the Advisory Board at the Nantucket Conference, the founding board of the World Frontiers Forum, and is a longtime active participant in the TED Conference community.​  Alex has an MBA from Columbia Business School and studied finance in Mumbai, Buenos Aires, London and New York.

Maurizio Vecchione
Alex Goldberg

AdAstral Labs Management Team  

Megan Bettilyon
Megan Bettilyon 
Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder 

Megan has focused her career on the intersection of technology and social development.  She is a leader in developing sustainable energy and climate programs with extensive experience building and directing complex technical projects in the energy, infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, and conservation fields.  In her career she has developed innovative technology for emerging markets and with a goal toward maximizing global impact.  She brings AdAstral Labs a strong background in bringing to market advanced technologies and will additionally lead our efforts around delivering sustainable and positive social impact.

While at Global Good, Megan directed a portfolio of technology development projects that included leading a team to develop a first-in-class model of the US Electrical Grid based on real-world data that is being used to provide decision support to organizations like Breakthrough Energy, and multiple state governments.  Additionally, she directed a new platform centered on executing co-funded initiatives with US government agencies to develop a remotely deployable lung ultrasound system, as well as a super-donor assay, and a next generation lyophilization device.  Megan led the sub-Saharan field deployment of the Arktek, a passive vaccine storage device for "last-mile" vaccine distribution and directed Global Good’s collaborative efforts with multiple UN agencies to rapidly develop and deploy new products into developed and emerging markets.

Megan earned her master's degree in Climate and Renewable Energy from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and subsequently managed two university technology centers aimed at developing food and fuel from photosynthetic sources and instructing a new generation of clean technology scientists and policy makers.  Additionally she has managed two separate research labs: a BSL3+ facility with a vivarium focused on kidney organogenesis; and a BSL 2 facility focused on indoor and outdoor algae cultivation for biofuel and food. She brings a wealth of scientific and international development expertise to AdAstral’s team.

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Maya Hamda
VP of Operations & Co-Founder

Maya is a dedicated business operations expert who is highly skilled in managing the business needs of executives, lines of business, and staff to ensure seamless operations and business continuity.

 

She led the office administration for Al-Ghad, Jordan's premier daily newspaper, helping it to become the MENA region's 10th most viewed website.  Maya then led Business Administration for all of Global Good including directing a team of administrators who managed the daily operations of the office.  She liaised directly with the Gates' offices to coordinate numerous high-level learning sessions, project updates, and brainstorming meetings with global experts.  Additionally, she created a wealth of marketing collateral to highlight Global Good's humanitarian mission and created compliance and operating standards for Global Good's business activities.


Maya brings her superb communication and organizational skills to AdAstral and is passionate about creating positive social impact on a global scale.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA), English Literature and is fluent in Arabic.

Megan Bettilyon
Maya Hamda

AdAstral Labs Venture Partners and Advisors  

Kenton Gregory
Kristie L. Ebi
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Kristie L. Ebi Ph.D., MPH
Venture Partner 
  • Deep expertise in Global Health and Environment focusing on assessing the health risks of climate variability and change. 

  • Co-chair for process developing scenarios of future development patterns that can provide insights into needed innovations.

  • Author on multiple national and international climate change assessments, including the fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment and the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C.

  • Received multiple honors and awards. Recently named as National Associate to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, January 2020.

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Mark Minevich
Special Advisor
  • Influential public authority, author, and world-renowned visionary strategist in the fields of digitization and artificial intelligence.

  • Principal founder of Going Global Ventures, a New York-based investment, technology, and strategic advisory firm dedicated to guiding leaders and high-growth tech clients success in the global knowledge economy.

  • Digital Fellow and Advisor to CEO of IPsoft Inc, a global leader in digital labor.

  • Senior Advisor on Global Innovation and Technology of UN – UNOPS and charter member of the B20’s Digital Task Force as an expert in digitization, advanced autonomous systems, and the future of AI for 2017 and 2018 in Germany and Argentina.

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Kenton Gregory, M.D.
Venture Advisor 
  • Engineer and practicing cardiologist. Entrepreneur, founded 7 companies based upon his inventions.

  • Inventor with over 50 U.S and international patents, recipient of over $100M in government grants, Principal Investigator on multiple FDA clinical trials.

  • Chief Medical Officer RevMedX Inc, ObstetRx Inc.

  • Founding Director OHSU Center for Regenerative Medicine and Program Director Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

Mark Minevich
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Stefano Gurciullo
Venture Advisor  
  • Expert in deep technology investing and sustainable finance as an investor and former academic.

  • Developing evidence-based, data-driven investing at Redstone, a leading European corporate VC platform.

  • Member of the Steering Committee of Kairos Europe, one of the largest impact entrepreneurship communities in the world.

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David Edwards
Venture Advisor 
  • Harvard Professor and an experienced scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur.

  • Led the development of novel inhaled drugs, from inhaled insulin for diabetes to the FDA-approved Inbrija for Parkinson’s Disease, to his recent pioneering of airway hygiene in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Co-founder of the World Frontiers Forum, which sparks change toward the sustaining of the human condition through the encounter of pioneering science and art at frontiers of tomorrow.

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Stephen Shaya 
Venture Advisor 
  • Business Leader, innovator, entrepreneur. Received many recognitions and awards including the Global Medical Innovation and Leadership Award at the United Nations.

  • Executive Servant Leader at J & B Medical, a global healthcare solutions company, bringing many new ideas and solutions to improve patient access and quality.

  • Managing Director of Akkad Holdings, his family office that invests in health care companies around the world which can leverage the J & B Medical platform.

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Doug Wilson 
Venture Advisor 
  • Deep expertise in assessing talent and teams.

  • An experienced entrepreneur and business builder.

  • A leader in building partnerships to advance both economic and social impact.

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Stephen Ibaraki
Venture Advisor 
  • Founder UN ITU AI for Good Global Summit, world’s largest SDG & ESG focused AI solutions, innovation startups (Innovation Factory), and investment program adopted by governments, industry, academia, and 38 United Nations agencies.

  • Founder, Chairman, and Managing General Partner of REDDS Capital VC spanning US, Canada, EU, Israel, Asia.

  • Founder, Chairman EU YPO Impact Summit Advisory Board scaling to Earth Impact, executing as the steering and program committee for the largest CEO-led social impact solutions program.

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Alfred Watkins 
Venture Advisor 
  • Extensive domain knowledge in promoting the large-scale deployment of financially viable, disruptive technology for potable water, off-grid electricity, food security, climate adaptation and mitigation, and health care.

  • Chairman of the Global Solutions Summit and member of the Governing Council of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries.

  • Previously served as Science and Technology Program Coordinator at the World Bank and head of the World Bank’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Global Expert Team.  

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George Sifakis
Venture Advisor 
  • Founding Global chairman and CEO of Ideagen, a platform focused on developing partnerships and solutions to the world's most vexing issues.

  • Deep expertise in crafting successful policy, strategic partnership, global cross-sector collaboration, grassroots and executive communications strategies with the world's leading companies, NGO's and public sector.

  • Served as Assistant to the President of the United States and Director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House.

David Edwards
Stefano Gurciullo
Doug Wilson
Stephen Ibaraki
Alfred Watkins
George Sifakis
Stephen Shaya
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