Biography
Mike joins the Breakthrough Energy Business Fellows program from Madison, New Jersey. He is a R&D executive who has spent his career developing cutting-edge technologies and delivering market-leading products. Currently, he is the principal at Industrion Technologies LLC, which provides advisory services and angel-round investments in tough tech. Prior to starting Industrion, Mike spent 20 years at Corning in a variety of executive roles.
Mike has extensive experience identifying emerging technologies, building teams, and influencing business leaders and customers. He also has deep expertise in advanced functional materials across a wide spectrum of industries, including telecom, semiconductors, sensors, energy, consumer electronics, and pharmaceutical packaging.
In his free time, Mike enjoys sailing, small-scale farming, making wood-fired pizza, going to jazz clubs, and spending time with his wife Christy and their four kids. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a doctorate in condensed matter physics from the University of Maryland.
Q&A
01 What inspired you to go into your field?
I am interested in how we can use science and financial tools to solve some of the environmental and energy challenges we face as the world grows.
02 What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
No matter what you do — work hard on good problems with good people for the first 10 years of your career. Make sure you open doors — don’t close them. Everything else after that will work out well.
03 What is the most impactful book that you have read?
“How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed,” by Ray Kurzweil — it showed me the possibility that a machine could be a person.