FAQs Regarding Activate CEO Ilan Gur’s Transition to Lead UK Science Innovation Agency
Q: What is happening at Activate?
A: Activate’s founder and CEO, Ilan Gur, will become the founding chief executive officer of the newly established UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). With a billion-dollar initial funding commitment, ARIA is designed to accelerate the scientific and technological breakthroughs the world needs. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will expand on Activate’s work to forge new ways for empowering scientists and engineers to realize game-changing technologies to build a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world.
Q: How does the Activate team feel about this transition?
A: We will miss Ilan tremendously, but we are also very excited for him and for the incredible potential to affect change that his new role represents. Ilan’s selection is a huge endorsement at the global level of the work we do at Activate and furthers Activate’s vision and mission to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy.
Q: What does this transition mean for Activate?
A: We are confident that this moment of change, which we all know is inevitable in the life of an organization, is happening at the right time. Activate is now built to scale, with the talent, resources, and infrastructure in place to achieve that expansion. We are excited to find our new CEO to help lead this organization’s next chapter.
Q: When and how does this transition happen?
A: On August 15th, Ilan will become Activate’s executive advisor and Todd Johnson will become interim CEO. As executive advisor, Ilan will be working for Activate [from the UK] through the end of the year to support Todd and the executive team to ensure a smooth transition. The scope of Ilan’s work will depend on needs that Todd and the executive team identify.
The Activate board named Todd Johnson as interim CEO because he has been a trusted advisor and mentor to Activate and Ilan since the very beginning, and has served the organization as counsel, advisor, consultant, board chair, and chair of the board’s executive committee. Todd, who built and led the Renewable Energy and Sustainability practice at Jones Day, is a globally recognized social entrepreneurship leader. He knows Activate inside and out, has worked with and is trusted by the Executive Team. Todd is not interested in being the permanent CEO and has no other motive than his desire to see Activate and the executive team succeed. He is the perfect interim CEO in the board’s view.
Q: Does this transition affect Activate’s strategic goals or plan?
A: The board enthusiastically supports Activate’s strategic vision, mission, goals, and plan, which will inform the choice of CEO. The board is committed to bringing on a CEO who is aligned on Activate's mission and values and who will bring the professional experience and vision to continue developing Activate's strategy in collaboration with the Activate team and board.
Q: What is Activate’s current status?
A: In just seven years, Activate has developed the seminal model for supporting scientists who want to turn their research into impact, built a robust organization with a strong foundation of expertise, experience, and resources, created a thriving science fellowship community, supported over 140 entrepreneurial fellows and catalyzed more than 100 science-based startups that have collectively raised nearly $1 billion and created over 700 jobs. Most importantly, Activate Fellows have emerged as global leaders accelerating the invention and deployment of climate-tech solutions in areas ranging from energy storage to carbon capture, advanced geothermal, and beyond.
Activate just announced its 2022 cohort of nearly 40 fellows and is well on its way to achieving its goal of empowering 100 scientists and engineers per year across multiple communities within the next five years.
Q: What are you looking for in the next CEO?
A: The Board is committed to conducting an extensive search for the right leader to carry Activate's mission and vision forward in this next stage. While we don't yet have a full spec for the position, we can say two things for certain:
Activate is no longer a fledgling startup but rather a robust organization with a strong foundation of expertise, experience, and resources. We are not looking for a carbon copy of our Founding CEO, but rather someone who is optimally suited to meet the organization where it is today and lead its next stage of success.
Activate's extraordinary people, culture, and community are its greatest assets, and the next CEO will value and continue to strengthen those assets by recognizing and empowering individual leaders and the team collectively to enable our expansion.
Q: Will there be any relationship between Activate and ARIA?
A: Since Activate is currently exclusively focused on U.S. operations, there is no anticipated relationship between Activate and ARIA at this time, and as a result, Ilan can continue supporting Activate through the end of the calendar year without concern of any conflict-of-interest. That said, nothing prevents Activate from engaging with ARIA in the future so long as that engagement happens in an open and fair manner.
Q: How will this impact Activate’s ability to address the world’s most challenging problems?
A: By appointing Ilan to become the founding CEO of a multibillion-dollar research agency with tremendous reach and potential for advancing applied science, the UK government is also validating Activate's unique model for supporting scientists and engineers.
Society urgently needs ambitious scientists to turn their innovations into products that will power a speedy, secure, and just transition to a zero-carbon economy. Those scientists need Activate. Now, more than ever.
Have other questions? Contact MC O’Connor, 415-497-0568, mc.oconnor@activate.org