We are expanding our unique ecosystem-building capabilities. If you bring senior, practitioner-level experience in innovation ecosystem development, we invite you to reach out to explore becoming a Senior Expert on our global delivery bench.
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Globally-recognized impact:
Introducing the leaders powering our work
Meet the leaders advancing innovation ecosystem development through rigorous research, global collaboration, and deep expertise.
Leadership
Startup Genome's core team is composed of passionate innovators and experts dedicated to empowering startup ecosystems worldwide. With diverse backgrounds in entrepreneurship, policy, data science, and community building, we deliver data-driven insights and actionable strategies to accelerate global economic growth and innovation from around the world.
JF Gauthier
FOUNDER & CEO
Marc Penzel
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Stephan Kuester
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Samantha Evans
Managing Director, Middle East & North Africa
Franzis Walther
Head of Operations
Gary Oliver
President
Joanne Fedeyko
Head of Mentorship
Hiro Nishiguchi
President, Startup Genome Japan
Ravi Narayan
President, Startup Genome India
Houssein El Sayed
Director, Middle East
Marina Krizman
Director, Startup Genome Eastern Europe
Christopher Haley
Director of Research
Pranav Arya
Sr. Director, Ecosystem Strategy
Parshant Sharma
Director of Data Science
Experts
Startup Genome is further strengthened by a unique global network of senior experts and ecosystem leaders, whom we engage selectively across strategy design and on-the-ground implementation. This bench brings deep, practitioner-level experience spanning policy execution, venture capital ecosystem development, global talent and investment activation, program design, and more. Together, we bring clients the most credible, evidence-led perspectives worldwide — while staying at the frontier of the transition to AI-Native economies and startup ecosystems. Through this network, we tailor each engagement with the right expertise at the right depth, accelerating outcomes with insight that is globally informed and locally actionable.
Ziv Katzir
VP, Head of the National Plan for AI Infrastructure
Israel Innovation Authority
Johannes Velling
Director General
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy
Daria Siegel
SVP, Innovation Industries, NYCEDC
Startup ecosystem builder driving innovation and growth in NYC
Kate Cornick
CEO, Tech Council of Australia
Startup and tech strategist supporting ecosystem growth
Yael Mazuz-Harpaz
VP & Head of Policy Division
Israel Innovation Authority
Hyun Woo Kim
CEO
Seoul Business Agency
Josh Lerner
Professor
Harvard Business School
Dan Herman, PhD
Former Head of Canada’s Innovation Strategy, ISED
Innovation policy expert focused on policy development for startup ecosystem growth
Bjoern Herrmann
Former head of AI for Sage
AI entrepreneur and startup ecosystem architect advising globally
Jongwoo Kim
Director, Seoul Business Agency
Strategic innovator advancing startup discovery, incubation, acceleration, and scale
Philip Gaskin
Founder, The Gaskin Group
Renowned Ecosystem Architect and former VP, The Kauffman Foundation
Jens Ingelstedt
Founder
Builderbase
Christian Rangen
Founder, Strategy Tools
Trusted strategy advisor, business school faculty
Manuel Kilian
Managing Director, Global Government Technology Centre
Strategist & GovTech founder bridging government and tech ecosystems