Tess invests in technology and people who believe as strongly as she does that frontier technology will develop solutions for societal problems. She is a partner based in Silicon Valley fostering entrepreneurship of frontier technology, specifically the commercialization of space, drones, autonomous vehicles, and agriculture and food technology.
Tess currently serves as a board director for DroneDeploy, Iris Automation, Phantom Auto, Spire Global, and as a board observer for Black Sheep Foods, Forever Oceans, Rocket Lab, and Velo3D. She was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital. She speaks and is published regularly on Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and other publications on space and frontier technology.
Tess earned a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. She went on to work for Boeing and then SpaceX where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon9 rocket. She remains close to her alma mater by co-teaching a class at Stanford, serving on the board of advisors for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and founding the Stanford Aero/Astro Alumni Association.
Tess is passionate about space exploration and imagines a future where we all travel to space. She hopes to one day take a trip herself.
“Imagine a future where we travel to space with the same frequency in which we currently travel in an aircraft.”