Jason Holt

Jason has served in various capacities in his career, including entrepreneur, R&D leader, and investment advisor.  He is particularly interested in taking basic science to create new companies that address large markets in energy production and efficiency, air and water quality and agriculture.  His expertise includes business plan development and evaluation, team building, VC and government financing, IP strategy, market analysis, product development, and strategic partnering. 

He was previously Vice President and Co-Founder of Heliotrope, a startup developing next-generation smart windows.  Prior to that he was a Co-Founder and CTO of NanOasis, developer of high-efficiency membranes for water purification (acquired in 2012).  Earlier in his career he was a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab for 5 years, where he led various projects in water/gas purification, energy harvesting and composite materials.

Jason has provided diligence to VC firms and government agencies and served as a proposal reviewer for the NSF and ARPA-E (DOE).  He has been an invited and keynote speaker on nanotechnology and entrepreneurship, served on a PhD thesis committee (MIT), and serves as a mentor for business plan competitions such as the Cleantech Open.  He has also been quoted in leading technology publications such as Venture Beat and MIT Tech Review.

In 2011, he was recognized by the Kauffman Foundation as one of two Emerging Entrepreneurs of the Year and was a Finalist in 2012 in the Society of Kaufman Fellows.

He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a BS in Chemical Engineering (Phi Beta Kappa/Summa Cum Laude) from UC Irvine.