07/19/2022

A Special Message from Activate Board Chair Liesl Schindler

Friends and colleagues,

On behalf of the Activate board and team, we are proud to announce the appointment of our founder and CEO, Ilan Gur, to become the first 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 support high-risk, high-reward innovation.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will expand on Activate’s work to forge new ways to empower scientists and engineers, catalyze game-changing technologies, and create a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable world.

We are very excited for Ilan and for the tremendous 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 his work at ARIA will help further Activate’s vision and mission to help scientists move critical innovation from lab to market.

Ilan has been essential to the creation of Activate and the reality is that we will miss him. Full stop. But 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.

Over the past seven years, Activate has grown into one of the strongest science innovation communities in the world. We have supported over 140 entrepreneurial fellows and catalyzed the creation of over 100 science-based startups that have collectively raised nearly $1 billion and created over 700 jobs. Most importantly, Activate Fellows have emerged as leading global innovators accelerating the invention and deployment of climate technology solutions.

Activate is now built for scale, with the talent, resources, and infrastructure in place to operate with far greater reach and impact. The extraordinary people and culture at the heart of Activate give us nothing but confidence and excitement for the organization's next phase of leadership and growth. As a sign of our increased national leadership, Activate’s executive managing director, Aimee Rose, was recently appointed to serve on the Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Innovation And Entrepreneurship (NACIE), and Activate’s VP of finance and Contracts, Steven Tran, has recently been appointed to the board of advisors for the National Contract Management Association.

While conducting a comprehensive search for our new CEO, the board has named Todd Johnson as interim CEO effective August 15th. Todd has been a trusted advisor and mentor to Activate since the very beginning and has served the organization as counsel, advisor, consultant, board chair, and chair of the board’s executive committee. Todd built and led the Renewable Energy and Sustainability practice at Jones Day and is a globally recognized social entrepreneurship leader. Ilan will continue to support Activate during a phased transition as executive advisor. He is committed to the long-term success of Activate and will remain a member of the Activate community.

In closing, I couldn’t say it better than our friend and founding board member Arun Majumdar: “The urgency and gravity of the world’s most pressing problems demand that both Activate and Ilan seize this new opportunity to expand the reach and impact of science innovation. As Activate’s motto says, the world needs scientists now more than ever. Both Activate and ARIA are critical to the future of this planet.”

Onward!

Liesl Schindler
Board chair, Activate

Additional Information:

Activate press release
ARIA press release
We know you may have questions about this transition and have pulled together some questions and answers.

Thank You, Sponsors and Partners

Activate’s dedicated, forward-thinking network of sponsors and partners makes the fellowship possible through direct funding, donations of time, money, equipment, or services. In addition to generous support from philanthropic partners, Activate is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the California Energy Commission, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Without these collaborations, Activate could not provide fellows such comprehensive financial, community, technical, and career support.