MORE ABOUT ME

My parents were big into national parks. While my friends' families were on vacations to the beach, my family vacations brought me to Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, and dozens of other national and state parks around the US. These experiences gave me a deep appreciation for the awe-inspiring beauty of the natural world - an appreciation that has profoundly impacted the direction of my career.

​

After graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from Notre Dame, my interests led me to exciting roles exploring the future of mobility, including electric vehicles, connected infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles. These experiences culminated in a role where I helped find exciting mobility startups, evaluate them, and help select a few to fund. In this role, I realized two things: I was most energized when I felt deeply connected to the impact of my work, and I loved the passion, creativity, and excitement that startup founders and joiners brought to their work.

​

This realization led me to pursue my MBA at Harvard. I wanted to shift my career slightly to be more directly involved in sustainability and climate tech, and I wanted to pivot into the startup world - which, as you can imagine, is not an easy transition from a massive, global corporation like Ford.

​

My business school experience was incredibly rewarding. I co-founded Gaia AI with a few friends passionate about sustainability and AI; I interned at Fifth Wall's $500M Climate Tech fund; and I worked with serial entrepreneur Adam Braun and Phil Charm to build out business operations at their startup, Climate Club.

​

After business school, I landed a role at an exciting team within Re:Build Manufacturing, a new brand of industrial conglomerate (think Danaher or GE) looking to revitalize American industry. At Re:Build, my team is exploring opportunities in the electric vehicle space - the perfect intersection of my passion for sustainability with my fundamental belief in the importance of a strong middle class and an industrial economic engine in the US. Stay tuned on this - lots more to come!On the side, I stay actively involved in the climate tech VC and startup ecosystem. I enjoy making connections between startup founders and the climate VC's I've met over the last few years, and I've also started analyzing and writing about climate tech startups through Contrary Research.I love connecting with new folks in the climate tech space - connect with me on LinkedIn or drop me a line at mikelly@mba2022.hbs.edu if you want to chat!