Kaya T.

Kaya T. has a diverse work experience spanning multiple industries and roles. They are currently serving as the CEO of Lava Labs since 2022. Prior to that, Kaya held the role of Partner at Sparrow Funds starting from 2020.

In 2017, Kaya co-founded and served as the President of OccamzRazor (Razor, inc), a deep learning NLP focused biotech company. Their responsibilities included utilizing natural language processing to discover new targets in the domain of research, particularly related to Parkinson's disease. This venture was funded by private investors and the MJF Foundation and Sergey Brin Family foundation.

From 2015 to 2016, Kaya worked at Microsoft as the North America East Coast Leader for Microsoft Startups. In this role, they were responsible for Microsoft's business with startups across the East Coast and actively sought out bold teams solving problems, providing support and resources for accelerated growth.

Before that, Kaya worked as a Proprietary Trader at First New York Securities from 2009 to 2012. They managed a concentrated, event-driven equity portfolio with a focus on company-specific investment ideas related to M&A, corporate actions, and changes in government regulation.

Prior to that, Kaya worked at BNP Paribas as a Quant, where they handled the Fortis BNP Paribas CDS portfolio and MBS portfolio liquidation. They were also involved in creating proprietary option pricing models for wind energy and gas-fired turbine plants, selling them to ERCOT.

Kaya started their career as an Associate at BNP Paribas Fortis from 2006 to 2008. They also had an internship at Redpoint Ventures in 2006.

Overall, Kaya T. has a strong background in leadership, entrepreneurship, finance, and technology, with a focus on biotech and startups.

Kaya T. completed a Master of Science (MS) in Business Administration and Management, General from Stanford University Graduate School of Business from 2016 to 2017. Prior to that, they pursued a Master of Science (MS) in Molecular Biology from Harvard University between 2014 and 2015. Kaya T. had their high school education at Lake Washington High School, though the specific years are unspecified. Additionally, they obtained Series 55 and Series 7 certifications from FINRA in March and April 2010, respectively.