Financing High Risk - High Reward Technologies

Matt Garrett is the Director of the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The Innovation and Partnerships Office serves as the focal point for LLNL engagement with the private sector and advances the development and commercialization of LLNL scientific discoveries with intellectual property protection, support and structures for effective collaborations, entrepreneurship training, and pursuit of business development activities. The IPO focus is to identify new economic opportunities and potential solutions and to ensure the most promising are transferred to the private sector through licensing or partnerships for the benefit of the U.S. economy. 

Prior to joining LLNL, Matt served as the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Technology Transfer and Private Partnerships at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, managed and operated by Stanford University. Matt managed the technology transfer strategy and mission operations at SLAC and was the focal point for private industry engagement across the SLAC complex. Prior to joining SLAC, Matt served as Commercialization Manager in the Technology Transfer Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he managed the intellectual property portfolio and commercial licensing of technologies. Prior to his roles at ORNL, Matt served as deputy director of the Center for Technical Intelligence Studies and Research at the Air Force Institute of Technology, 

Matt also previously served as a senior scientist/program manager with Nomadics, Inc. While with the company, he participated in the development and manufacturing of handheld and robot-mounted explosives detection platforms, leveraging amplifying fluorescent polymer technology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he served as a visiting scientist in the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The detection platform was named one of the US Army's Top 10 Inventions of 2005, which led to its eventual acquisition by ICx Technologies and FLIR Systems (now Teledyne).

 Matt was a 2022 Department of Energy Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program fellow, a past recipient of an R&D 100 Award, and currently serves on the National Laboratory Technology Transfer Council. Matt received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Florida State University and a master's degree in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University.

Wade is the founder of Energy and Sustainability practice at Plug and Play. Plug and Play is the largest corporate innovation center and one of the most active early stage investors globally. Wade works closely with entrepreneurs, corporate innovation leaders, and investors with a focus on the energy industry value chain. 

Previously, Wade worked in solar, published scientific articles, and led business development efforts in a startup.

Wade holds a master degree in Chemical Engineering and a master degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas engineering. His passion is at the intersection of technology and business.

Marsha Vande Berg is a corporate director and advisor with expertise internationally in governance, sustainability investment and C-suite management. She brings a unique global lens to her appreciation of the dynamic complexities that describe sustainability, corporate governance and new technologies today. She has served as a CEO of an NGO; independent director, Tata Capital, Singapore and London and currently, Quantum Advisors Pte. Ltd. in Mumbai. She has held senior executive roles at large news publications. She is a writer, editor and mentor. Her thought leadership centers on sustainability as an investment management tool. She is lead director of an Atlantic Council project: IndiaG20 in the Limelight: Energy transition and the promise of governments, technology and the US-India Corridor. She authors the Sustainability Stars column for Callaway Climate Insights. As consultant and dba MJGlobal Insights, she counsels mid- to late-stage private companies on sustainability risk management strategies. She holds an IFRS/SASB Level 1 Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting certificate. She is a qualified NYSE/SEC financial expert. 

Recognized as a strategic leader and internationalist, she credits her engagement as a Distinguished Careers Fellow at Stanford University and her nearly decade-long executive leadership role as CEO of the Pacific Pension and Investment Institute. One of several institutional milestones was leading PPI's strategic build-out of its Asia Pacific platform for the benefit of a prominent institutional investor membership and their investment due diligence. Her earlier work as a journalist, culminating in her ownership of a weekly newspaper, likewise proved formative in her career on the global stage. 

Her non-profit engagements are an extension of her professional interests in the Asia Pacific, corporate governance and education generally. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Foundation, she is an advisory director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves as Treasurer and Finance Chair of the Japan Society, Northern California. She is a member of the OMFIF Advisory Council and The Asia Foundation's President's Leadership Council. She is affiliated with a number of prominent organizations that promote corporate board service. 

She holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and an MA from Duke University. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Jim Fuller, and is an avid biker, hiker and cook.