innovation labs
Our Staff: Helping you and your ideas go further, faster.
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Matt Segneri is the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, which includes the Harvard i-lab, Launch Lab X GEO for alumni, and the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab. He oversees the i-lab’s strategy and operations and acts as the primary liaison to the i-lab’s key stakeholders and the local, national, and global innovation community.
He has more than 15 years of leadership experience in organizations of different sizes and stages of development across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Prior to joining the i-lab, he was the director of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. During that time, he served as co-lead of the HBS New Venture Competition and as a judge for the President’s Innovation Challenge, MassChallenge, and the MIT $100K. He also played a lead role in developing the proposal that established the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
Previously, he was a senior leader on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies. He co-led the inaugural Mayors Challenge, a $9 million competition to inspire American cities to develop bold solutions to common challenges, and oversaw initiatives on cross-sector collaboration and innovation teams around the world. In addition, he served as a senior advisor to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. In the Mayor’s Office, he focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, service and civic engagement, and safety and security. He also led projects at the Monitor Group and worked in the Special Advisor Program at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He holds an A.B. in psychology from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of Boston’s “40 Under 40” and by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders.” He lives in Newton with his wife and three children.
Rebecca Xiong is managing director of programs and engagement. She spearheads a strategic portfolio of programming and resources for the Harvard Innovation Labs’ community of student and alumni innovators across industry sectors, including health and life sciences, social impact, consumer products and services, business-to-business, and technology.
Becca brings two decades of experience in the MIT startup ecosystem. She previously served as the program director of MIT Startup Exchange, which promotes collaboration and partnerships between 2,000 MIT-connected startups and industry. Prior to that, Becca co-founded two startups: social analytics and marketing startup SocMetrics, and Going.com, an events social network that grew to one million members and was acquired by AOL. Becca has also held positions at DataPower (acquired by IBM) and Akamai Technologies.
Becca has a PhD in computer science from MIT, and did her thesis research at the MIT Media Lab. Becca has been an active member of her community including president of the MIT Club of Boston (the largest alumni club serving 17,000 area alumni) and lead organizer of Cambridge Parent Summit.
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Meagan Hall is senior director of administration. In this role, she leads the Harvard Innovation Labs’ core business operations and oversees key systems and annual planning processes.
For the past 15 years, Meagan has worked as a programmatic and operational intrapreneur in higher education and professional learning, including previous roles at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Division of Continuing Education, Harvard Business School, and Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. In her leadership roles, she has operationalized new degree programs, designed professional education offerings, led organization design and engagement strategies, and developed operational infrastructure, including operating principles, policies, and practices.
Meagan holds an MBA from Babson College and a bachelor’s degree in communication from Cornell University. Prior to business school, she began her career managing performance operations within the performing arts industry. When not working, Meagan enjoys traveling and staying active with her husband and two children.
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Jorge Cortell is the senior advisor for health care and life sciences. A serial entrepreneur, Jorge has founded six bootstrapped and profitable startups (five exits and one shutdown, including a paper unicorn) in three countries and across five industries. His pioneering innovations in health care technology—used by hospitals in 15 countries to diagnose and treat millions of patients—span the areas of AI, precision medicine, clinical genomics, medical imaging, digital pathology, and augmented reality. During his time as venture partner at NLC, the largest health tech venture studio in Europe, Jorge also co-built seven startups.
As an educator, Jorge has delivered keynote talks at events like HIMSS and RSNA; given guest lectures at institutions like Oxford, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford; and taught innovation at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Open University of Catalonia. He was also an Innovation Fellow at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Technology and Entrepreneurship Center.
Jorge is also a former professional basketball player and member of the European Commission Expert Group on Venture Philanthropy and Social Investments.
A first-generation college graduate from the University of Oxford (computer science), MIT (Entrepreneurship Development Program), and the University of Valencia (postgraduate in Medical Genetics), Jorge has received innovation and academic awards from NASA, California Governor, HIMSS, IBM, Digital Pathology Association, Frost & Sullivan, and the Wall Street Journal.
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Rebekah Emanuel is the senior advisor for social impact. A McKinsey alum and Harvard Business School grad, Rebekah has started flagship organizations across the private, public, and social sectors. While a student at HBS, she incubated a startup at the i-lab, took her startup to a residency at MassChallenge, and was invited to the second class of the Harvard Launch Lab.
Alongside startups, Rebekah has also spent significant time guiding mature organizations. As a director at the City of Boston, Rebekah wrote the long-term growth plan for the city, including exciting plans for the Allston area where the i-lab is situated. The first long-term plan completed in 50 years, she helped solicit and integrate over 14k constituent voices and align the city’s budget against the strategic priorities. The metrics she designed to track progress attracted media attention for their cutting-edge public accountability.
Rebekah holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an LLM in Law from the National University of Ireland Galway as a Mitchell Scholar, and a BA from Yale University. She also serves as a chaplain.
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As the senior advisor, B2C, Peter Gladstone leads programming and mentoring for all consumer-facing ventures at the Harvard Innovation Labs. Peter has over 20 years of consumer marketing experience having held marketing jobs of varying responsibilities for Gillette, P&G, and The Boston Beer Company. Peter will be working in a part-time capacity. When not working at the Harvard Innovation Labs, he can be found shipping blue socks all over the world for his two sons (ask him about it), training his family’s new puppy, or mentoring consumer start-ups outside of the Harvard community.
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As senior advisor, B2B and technology, Phil Green’s mentoring is focused on B2B, as well as teams where engineering/product development choices are critical to the venture.
Phil brings 30 years of experience in building products, services, teams, and companies. As a former CTO, he has built web-based enterprise applications, as well as consumer mobile apps for iOS and Android. As a former CEO, he built a customer base of 5,000 organizations, in 50 countries, serving over one million users. This B2B venture used a direct sales channel to penetrate F1000 accounts such as Bank of America, NASA, Owens Corning, Pfizer, and Kraft Foods, and used an indirect partner channel to penetrate international markets as well as small to midsize U.S. businesses. As a COO, he has improved operations and profitability, and has led the company’s push to establish an inbound marketing strategy focused on generating B2B leads. Phil has experience in conversational AI, search, database systems, agile development, no-code product development solutions, such as Bubble & Glide, and has worked at venture-backed startups, self-funded startups, and publically traded companies. Phil can also advise on how to approach angel investors, and he is a Boston Techstars alumnus. Phil holds an MBA from HBS and graduated from Harvard College with an AB in economics.
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As director of alumni programs and engagement, Thara pilots programs and extends the reach of the Harvard Innovation Labs – both to provide ongoing support to Harvard Innovation Labs’ alumni ventures, and to bring together Harvard’s global community of alumni entrepreneurs.
Thara is a veteran marketing and business development professional who has mentored and advised early-stage ventures in Boston and beyond. She is a board member at TiE Boston, a mentor at Founder Institute, and the founder of a networking and mentoring group for female entrepreneurs, RebelWomen. Prior to joining the i-lab, she held roles at Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, overseeing programs to support alumni founders, from building community to developing programs to advance their ventures.
Thara holds an MBA from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; a master’s in journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; and a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
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As the manager of alumni and student programs at Harvard Innovation Labs, Alexa works closely with the i-lab’s network of ventures and founders to make connections to valuable resources and experiences.
Prior to joining the Harvard Innovation Labs team, Alexa worked for the YMCA of San Francisco at an educational nonprofit where she developed workforce development programming for high school aged youth in partnership with the Bay Area’s business community. Alexa graduated from Bowdoin College where she studied history.
Outside of her time at the i-lab, Alexa loves to play basketball, explore nature, experiment in baking, and travel.
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Leo Guyshan is the director of programs and engagement. Previously, he was chief operating officer of Open Avenues, a social-impact startup driving narrative change around immigration. Leo has worked throughout the Boston startup ecosystem. He was the program director at MassChallenge Boston, where he helped design the accelerator while streamlining operations for the Boston program and site. Before MassChallenge, Leo worked at the Harvard Business School Rock Center for Entrepreneurship where he managed the HBS Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, developed alumni entrepreneurship programming, and supported the New Venture Competition and Rock Accelerator.
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Kim Willette is the assistant director of student programs at the Harvard Innovation Labs. In her role, she works closely with her i-lab colleagues to design and execute program offerings and funding opportunities to support student innovators and entrepreneurs.
Prior to joining the i-lab team, Kim worked at Harvard Business School for five years in event, community, and business operation roles within the HBS Operations and Initiatives teams. Prior to joining the Harvard community in 2015, Kim worked at Bryant University in Rhode Island.
Kim holds an MBA and a BS in business administration from Bryant University. She also holds the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation from the Events Industry Council. Outside of work, Kim enjoys reading on rainy days, hosting fun gatherings, and advocating for clean personal care products.
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As the Harvard Innovation Labs’ community manager, Emmy works closely with student founders, joiners, and anyone involved with or interested in the i-lab. In this role, Emmy helps support i-lab users on their entrepreneurial journeys by connecting them to resources, opportunities, and each other.
Before joining the i-lab team, Emmy worked at Netcapital, a Boston-based fintech startup. At Netcapital, she led digital and social media marketing efforts for clients, in addition to assisting with Netcapital’s own PR, email, and event marketing strategies. Prior to her time at Netcapital, Emmy worked at Wellesley College as both a public speaking tutor and a marketing and administrative assistant in the Office of International Study. She graduated from Wellesley with a BA in English and minor in economics.
In her free time, Emmy enjoys hiking, going for runs along the Esplanade, and exploring Boston’s live music scene.
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Tracy is the programs assistant at Harvard Innovation Labs. In this role, she assists and supports the team in providing the i-lab’s many programs and offerings to our members. A self-described jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none (yet), Tracy brings a wealth of information from her diverse background in education, urban planning, data science, and immigration law. She earned her bachelor’s degree in urban planning from MIT while tutoring high school students in a variety of subjects. Prior to joining the i-lab, she provided zoning guidance and reviews while working for the City of Cambridge, and was a paralegal for an immigration law firm. She loves finding new ways to apply her varied skills and knowledge to help people and learn new things.
In her free time, Tracy enjoys trying new foods, watching anime and sitcoms, kickboxing, baking, and getting her steps in at Target!
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Alexandra Stephens oversees the communications and marketing strategy for the Harvard Innovation Labs. She and her team work to increase awareness, usage, and advocacy of all i-lab programs, and proudly communicate about the world-changing work of Harvard student and alumni innovators.
Prior to joining the i-lab, Alexandra led the advancement communications team at Brandeis University where she engaged alumni, donors, families, and friends as lifelong members of the Brandeis community. Before working in Institutional Advancement, Alexandra created and implemented a scalable alumni engagement program at Brandeis’ Hiatt Career Center including a robust career webinar series, meaningful volunteer placements, numerous online and in-person mentorship programs, and networking nights across the country that brought together the Brandeis community around career success.
Alexandra holds a BA in communication studies from Northeastern University where she learned about the power of experiential learning through co-op and study abroad. When not working, Alexandra enjoys traveling and staying active with her husband and two children.
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As the marketing manager at Harvard Innovation Labs, Isabel develops and implements communication plans and marketing campaigns to engage students and alumni in the i-lab community.
Isabel joined the i-lab after three years at Harvard Kennedy School, where she was most recently the communications specialist at the Center for Public Leadership. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor’s in political science.
In her free time, Isabel enjoys travel, art, and learning about culture and history. You might find her memorizing geography trivia or watching the latest HBO drama with her cat.
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Aruna Rajan is the associate director of technology strategy and operations at Harvard Innovation Labs. In this role, she oversees strategic digital initiatives and technology development for the organization. Prior to joining the i-lab, Aruna worked on the Enterprise Student Systems team at Harvard University. Aruna has a global background in information systems and technology, working in the United States, Switzerland, and Thailand. Her areas of expertise include data analytics, cloud technologies, project management, and systems support covering student information, commercial operations, and finance. Prior to working at Harvard University, Aruna worked as a consultant with clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Swissport, a global aviation services company.
Aruna holds a master’s degree in information management systems from Harvard University Extension School, a bachelor’s in computer science from Seton Hall University, and an advanced project management certificate from Stanford University.
In her spare time, Aruna taught at a culinary school in Singapore and also undertook a menu design project for a famous restaurant there. Passionate about preserving our planet, Aruna enjoys baking, cooking global vegetarian cuisines, and traveling the world – there’s Bali, and there’s the rest of the world!
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As the technology operations coordinator, Shelby provides systems support and administration for the software platforms used by staff across the i-lab.
Before coming to the i-lab, Shelby worked in operations, supporting scientists and entrepreneurs at LabCentral, a co-working and wet lab space servicing high-potential biotech startups in Cambridge. While there, she gained experience alongside the IT team in tackling issues related to software integration and automation, customer relationship management platforms, and data reporting. Shelby holds a BA in psychology from Boston College and is pursuing graduate education in software engineering at the Harvard Extension School.
On a productive day, Shelby likes learning about web development and tackling sewing projects. When left completely to her own devices, she enjoys sipping jasmine tea, gazing at raindrops, and drafting pieces of fiction.
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Jennifer Noon is the assistant director of events and operations, supporting the everyday events that take place within the space and leading on the project management of Harvard Innovation Labs events. Jennifer holds a BA (Hons) in festival, events and marketing management from Edinburgh Napier University. After graduating university, she set out on a successful career in the UK charity sector, working in her native Scotland for the UK’s largest children’s charity and then relocating to London to work for Parkinson’s UK. Her professional portfolio includes a variety of events from small high-profile receptions to large-scale awareness and fundraising events. In 2018, she relocated from London to Boston with her fiancé to explore life in the USA. She is enjoying the highs and lows of Boston weather!
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As the operations manager at the i-lab, Shuntaro supports the Operations team with a variety of functions, including finance, events, and facilities. He graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in history and from Mount Ida College with a master’s in management. Prior to his time at Harvard, Shuntaro worked in Student Financial Services at Mount Ida, where he counseled students and families on financing their education. When not at the i-lab, he loves spending quality time with friends, preferably in the outdoors, and traveling to Japan to see his family.
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As the operations coordinator, Destiny supports the daily operations of the i-lab, including event coordination, facilities, human resources activities, and community engagement.
Previously, Destiny worked at Jomoworks, LLC, a company that supports community-engaged faculty researchers in developing and implementing dissemination and communication strategy. Throughout her time there, she aided in social media consulting with professors and faculty members in various research topics. She graduated in May 2023 from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in management and organization.
In her free time, Destiny enjoys dancing, watching what’s new on Netflix, trying new foods, and spending time with her friends and family.
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Ken provides general laboratory equipment maintenance and manages the supplies provided to the shared laboratory space. He also assists in the development and modification of standard operating procedures for the Life Lab. Previously, Ken worked for many years at Grass Instrument/Astro-Med/Natus Neurology, which manufactures clinical and research neurodiagnostic recording equipment and supplies.
Ken earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Anna Maria College and has also studied marketing and electronics. When not at the Life Lab, you can find Ken around a fire pit, hiking along the ocean, or discovering a new craft beer.
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Penina is the operations associate at the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab, where she works to build a strong and collaborative community among residents and ensures the smooth day-to-day operations of the space. Prior to her role at the Life Lab, she worked as a staff writer for The Trek, a premier online outdoor publication. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University where she studied comparative literature with a focus on literary translation.
Outside of work, you can find Penina hiking, cooking, or curled up on the couch with a good book.
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Thomas R. Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Peter O. Crisp Chair, Harvard Innovation Labs, and Faculty Co-Chair of the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, the Harvard MS/MBA Program, and the Harvard College Technology Innovation Fellows Program. Eisenmann teaches the MBA elective Entrepreneurial Failure and the MS/MBA core courses Technology Venture Immersion and Launch Lab.
He twice co-led a Harvard Innovation Lab course, Cultural Entrepreneurship in New York City, in which students from across Harvard spent a winter break week in New York exploring new ventures in fashion, food, and fine arts, and co-led four similar winter break trips to study entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.
Professor Eisenmann received his Doctorate in Business Administration (’98), MBA (’83), and BA (’79) from Harvard University. Prior to entering the HBS Doctoral Program, Eisenmann spent eleven years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he was co-head of the Media and Entertainment Practice. He currently serves as a director on the board of Harvard Business Publishing.
Amitabh Chandra is the Henry and Allison McCance Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the Faculty Chair of the Leading an Enduring Science-Based Business executive education program, and the Ethel Zimmerman Wiener Professor of Public Policy and Director of Health Policy Research at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Professor Chandra is a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) Panel of Health Advisors, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His research focuses on innovation and pricing in the biopharmaceutical industry, value in health care, medical malpractice, and racial disparities in healthcare. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Aging, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Health Affairs. He is the Chair Editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics.
Professor Chandra is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the first-prize recipient of the Upjohn Institute’s Dissertation Award, the NIHCM Foundation Health Care Research Award, the Kenneth Arrow Award for best paper in health economics, and the Eugene Garfield Award for the impact of medical research. In 2012, he was awarded American Society of Health Economists (ASHE) medal. The ASHE Medal is awarded biennially to the economist age 40 or under who has made the most significant contributions to the field of health economics.