CITRIS Foundry | Team

CITRIS Foundry is the University of California accelerator for founders building deep technology startups. We bring extensive experience at the leading edge of university-driven innovation and entrepreneurship to guide startups and institutional partners in bridging the gap from lab to market.

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Team

MEET THE CITRIS FOUNDRY TEAM

We are dedicated to helping you build the next transformational innovation.

INNOVATION HUB

Kira Gardner

Director

Kira currently leads the CITRIS Foundry. Her background includes expertise in design thinking, grant writing, and clean energy technology. As the senior scientist at advanced materials start-up, and Cyclotron Road company Sepion Technologies, she tackled technical roadmapping and materials development for next-gen electric vehicle batteries. She earned her MSc. in Materials Science at Stanford University, where she studied non-hazardous thin-film solar cells, and was a design thinking lead for industry partners via the Stanford design school.

Mikhail Holst

Manager

Mikhail Holst supports teams at the CITRIS Foundry Incubator and intra-UC connections. Mikhail’s expertise lies in entrepreneurship at the intersection of technology and social impact. He brings a decade of experience working with and within early-stage companies in go-to-market strategy, business development, fundraising, partnerships, and communications. Previously he was the Senior Portfolio Manager at Singularity University Ventures, a startup ecosystem that funded, supported, and coached over 70 startups focused on global issues that raised over $1B in funding.

ADVISORS

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Thomas Azwell

X-Labs

Thomas Azwell is an experienced scientist with a demonstrated history of working in higher education. He is skilled in corporate sustainability, remediation, agriculture, and oceanography. Thomas is a strong research professional with a Masters in Science Education and a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Maher Hakim

Program Advisor

Dr. Maher Hakim has spent 25+ years launching tech startups, leading software product development, teaching, and building innovation ecosystems. He is currently the Chief Innovation Advisor at Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council, and a partner with 212.vc – a venture capital firm based in Istanbul. He has been a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University since 2012.

Dan Gillette

Principle, Berkeley School of Public Health

Dan Gillette has spent his career mapping pathways between what technology and creativity allow and what real-world users appreciate. Since earning his master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on cognition and instructional design, Dan has developed technology products to assist individuals with autism, led the design of VR therapies for children with psychiatric disabilities, and more.

STUDENT ASSOCIATES

Sarah Parkes

Research & Operations

Sarah is an undergraduate Industrial Engineering & Operations Research student at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. In addition to collaborating on CITRIS data projects, Sarah aims to build community among and facilitate the productivity of incubator cohorts by planning events and workshops for founders.

Janhavi Pillai

Design & Media

Janhavi is a second year studying Cognitive Science at UC Berkeley. She is from San Jose, CA. She currently works on outreach to faculty/student departments and creating collateral to help develop a consistent aesthetic for the Foundry, overall helping strengthen the CITRIS brand across web, print, data, and media.