Press Release

This press release published via Globe Newswire. Read the original post here

Today, 12 September 2022, the board of directors of Activate Global, Inc. (“Activate”) launched its search for the next CEO of Activate, appointing a national search committee and Diversified Search Group, a global executive search firm. The search committee and search firm will support the board and its executive committee by spearheading the critical process of identifying the next leader of Activate, a unique organization achieving game-changing science innovation the world urgently needs.

Over the past seven years, Activate has grown into one of the strongest science innovation communities, empowering scientists to reinvent the world by launching startups to address climate change and other global challenges. Working in partnership with government, philanthropy, universities, family offices, and the private sector, Activate transforms scientists into high-impact entrepreneurs through the Activate Fellowship, a two-year immersive community experience that provides funding and fosters the resources, knowledge, networks, investors, partnerships, and time that fellows need to succeed. To date, Activate has supported over 140 entrepreneurial fellows and catalyzed more than 100 science-based startups that have collectively raised more than $1 billion and created over 1,100 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.

On July 22, Activate announced that Ilan Gur, Activate’s founding CEO, had accepted a position as the founding chief executive officer of the newly established UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). At that time, Activate’s board announced that its executive committee, chaired by long-time board member, R. Todd Johnson, would conduct a national search and that Johnson would step into the role of interim CEO until the selection of Activate’s next leader.

Johnson will chair the search committee and the following leaders will also serve on the committee:

• Morrow (“Morry”) Cater, Activate board member and strategic communications expert and entrepreneur;
• Etosha Cave, chief science officer at Twelve and alumna of the Activate Fellowship;
• Arun Majumdar, dean of Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, former division director for environmental energy technologies at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), acting under secretary of energy, vice president for energy at Google, and co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, among many other leadership roles;
• Craig Peters, serial entrepreneur in deep tech who was co-founder and CEO of Plant-PV, which was acquired by Hitachi Chemical, and most recently served as CEO of Raxium, which was recently acquired by Google;
• Liesl Schindler, chair of the Activate Board, vice president of technology development at Trillium and a former executive at Shell.

“Activate is a critically important organization for the science innovation ecosystem,” said Johnson. “We are honored to have this incredible responsibility to choose a leader who will shepherd the organization during its next era of impact.”

“The urgency and gravity of the world’s most pressing problems demand that Activate seize this opportunity to expand the reach and impact of science innovation,” said Arun Majumdar, a founding Activate board member. “As Activate’s motto says, ‘the world needs scientists now more than ever.’ Activate is critical to the future of this planet.”

Diversified Search Group has developed a position description that can be found here. To express interest in this role, please submit your resumé and cover letter via email at Activateceo@divsearch.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

About Diversified Search Group

Diversified Search Group is the largest woman-founded and woman-led executive search firm in the world, and for nearly five decades, has been driven by purpose, progress, and performance. Consistently recognized by Forbes as one of the nation’s top retained executive search firms, Diversified Search Group is an industry leader in recruiting diverse, inclusive, and transformational leadership for clients. The firm is deliberately different in its approach and is comprised of a combination of specialty practices with deep industry expertise, that together harness their collective resources to identify new leaders to meet the needs of our changing world: Diversified Search, Alta Associates, BioQuest, Koya Partners, Grant Cooper, and Storbeck Search. For more information, visit diversifiedsearchgroup.com.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, DSG operates in over a dozen offices nationwide and offers global services as the exclusive U.S. partner of AltoPartners, the international alliance of independent executive search firms.

About AltoPartners

Established in 2006, AltoPartners is a leading international alliance of retained executive search and leadership consulting firms that combines the reach of a global network with the local knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit of independent partners working together to find the client’s perfect candidate fit. Today the alliance covers 64 offices in 37 countries and is ranked in the Top 10 Global Search Firms.

The AltoPartners alliance has created a distinctive force in executive search worldwide, giving global coverage across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. For more information about the work we do and the countries we cover, please visit altopartners.com.

About Activate

Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by launching startups to address climate change and other global challenges. Working between government, philanthropy, universities, and the private sector, Activate transforms scientists into high-impact entrepreneurs through the Activate Fellowship, a two-year immersive experience that provides funding and fosters the resources, knowledge, networks, investors, and partnerships that fellows need to succeed. Activate’s entrepreneurial fellowship model originated at Cyclotron Road, a division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and founding Activate partner. Cyclotron Road is also supported by the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office as one of four Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs. Activate supports fellows in communities across the United States: Activate Berkeley, Activate Boston, Activate New York, and Activate Anywhere. Learn more at Activate.org.