Michael A. Giardello

Dr. Michael A. Giardello (Mike) is an energetic C-suite executive, passionate entrepreneur, and dedicated mentor with more than 25 years of experience in developing and commercializing industrial technology. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Caltech, Mike was an early employee or consultant at several start-ups before co-founding Materia in 1998. He served as President, CEO & CTO of Materia from February 1999 to November 2015 and then transitioned to the role of Senior Advisor and became a Founding Partner at Mount Wilson Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the physical and data sciences. Mike served as a consultant to Newlight from November 2018 to February 2020 when he became the Chief Operating Officer. He also serves as an advisor or Board member of several early-stage companies and non-profit institutes. Mike is a Co-Founder and the current Chairman of Innovate Pasadena and is on the Advisory Board of the Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative Incubator and served as Vice Chairman of the City of Pasadena’s Economic Development Task Force.