Advisors

Chairman Mark N. Fox

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, MHA Nation Tribal Chairman

Mark N. Fox is the Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. Fox is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and earned his law degree in 1993 from the University of North Dakota. First elected Chairman in 2014, Fox is currently serving his third term.

Chairman Fox currently serves on three federal advisory boards for the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency. He previously served on advisory boards with the Internal Revenue Service and the National Indian Gaming Commission as well. Chairman Fox also served on various national and tribal boards, including the Intertribal Monitoring Association on Trust Funds (ITMA), and four terms as Treasurer of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA).

Chairman Fox has also been the Vice Chairman of the United Tribes Technical Center and the United Tribes of North Dakota. He was recently elected Chairman of the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT).

A fierce proponent of tribal sovereignty, Chairman Fox has dedicated his administration to improving the lives of all MHA Nation members. Under his leadership, tribal members have received increased education, addiction services, and health services. Chairman Fox has also expanded and enhanced tribal infrastructure and transparency in governmental affairs.

Chairman Fox is renowned for his work in the areas of taxation, gaming, energy, and economic development. In his personal time, Chairman Fox enjoys participating in events that endorse good health and endurance challenges.

Hon. Aurelia Skipwith, J.D.

Regulatory Affairs Lead

The Honorable Aurelia S. Giacometto is the General Counsel and co-founder of AVC Global. A premier logistics company that works with National governments to secure the entry and sale of pharmaceuticals into their countries. She recently served as CEO of the International Order of T. Roosevelt, a start-up not-for-profit conservation organization, where she was responsible for establishing their infrastructure and developing their programs that aligned with the mission to preserve Nature’s precious resources through conservation, education, and ingenuity through science and stewardship. Aurelia has over 15 years of experience in regulatory compliance in various fields of agriculture, environmental stewardship, and management of fish and wildlife populations. She worked as a biologist developing sustainable crops at Monsanto, and as a legal counsel at Alltech Inc., an all-natural livestock feed operation. In 2017, she was appointed by President Trump as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of the Interior and 2019, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 22nd Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where she led the 8500-employee agency with over 850 million acres of land and water to revolutionize business operations, improve service and grant more access to the American people. Aurelia is passionate and committed to wildlife, the environment, science, and sustainable development. In her spare time, she works on various projects, including applying new digital technologies toward conserving plants and wildlife and operating a thriving real estate rental business in Missouri, Indiana, and South Dakota. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Howard University, Master’s degree from Purdue University and law degree from University of Kentucky’s College of Law. She serves on several boards, including Ramaco Resources, a publicly-traded metallurgical coal company, Steamboat Institute, Rubicon Institute, and Ducks Unlimited’s Conservation Program Committee. Aurelia enjoys the outdoors and you will usually find her outside fishing, hunting, or running. She holds a sub-3-hour marathon time.

Mayor Francis Suarez

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Mayor of Miami

Francis X. Suarez is the 43rd Mayor of Miami. As the first Miami-born mayor, he is committed to building a Miami that lasts forever and that welcomes everyone. First elected with a mandate of 86 percent and then re-elected with a mandate of nearly 79 percent, Mayor Suarez has championed the integration of climate adaptive policies, Web 3.0 technology, and a free-market approach to all facets of government as part of his Miami Forever Agenda.

Under his leadership, Miami has cut crime and cut taxes to one of their lowest points in over fifty years, spurring a broad-based economic expansion across Miami. Mayor Suarez has also pursued a package of affordable housing reforms—Miami For-Everyone—that leverages federal opportunity zones with the activation of underutilized land to the supply and overall access to affordable housing for working people and communities of color.

Most recently, Mayor Suarez has championed the development of Miami’s tech economy through Venture Miami along with initiatives that connect education and job training to Miami’s new emerging economic sectors such as Fintech, Medtech, and Greentech. As the son of former Miami Mayor, Xavier L. Suarez, Mayor Suarez learned the values of inclusive, servant-leadership to drive economic prosperity, personal opportunity, fairness, equal rights, and reconciliation for all.

Mayor Suarez earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida International University, graduating in the top ten percent of his class, and then received his law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he graduated cum laude. Mayor Suarez was recently selected to serve as an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow and was also named as a Time Future 100 Leader. He was also named the 20th Greatest Leader in the World by Forbes Top 50. Mayor Suarez currently serves as President of the US Conference of Mayors. He also practices law as Of Counsel for Quinn Emmanuel LLP, an international law firm. Mayor Suarez is married to Gloria Fonts Suarez. They have a son, Andrew Xavier, and a daughter, Gloriana Pilar. They love Miami and consider themselves blessed to raise their family in the Magic City.

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.

Professor Carolyn Bertozzi’s research interests span the disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on studies of cell surface sugars important to human health and disease. Her research group profiles changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and uses this information to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology.

Dr. Bertozzi completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Harvard University and her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, focusing on the chemical synthesis of oligosaccharide analogs. During postdoctoral work at UC San Francisco, she studied the activity of endothelial oligosaccharides in promoting cell adhesion at sites of inflammation. She joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1996. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 2000, she came to Stanford University in June 2015, among the first faculty to join the interdisciplinary institute ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health). She is now the Baker Family Director of Stanford ChEM-H.

Named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999, Dr. Bertozzi has received many awards for her dedication to chemistry, and to training a new generation of scientists fluent in both chemistry and biology. She has been elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and received the Lemelson-MIT Prize, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, and the Chemistry of the Future Solvay Prize, among others.

The Bertozzi Group develops chemical tools to study the glycobiology underlying diseases such as cancer, inflammation, tuberculosis and most recently COVID-19. She is the inventor of “bioorthogonal chemistry”, a class of chemical reactions compatible with living systems that enable molecular imaging and drug targeting. Her group also developed new therapeutic modalities for targeted degradation of extracellular biomolecules, such as antibody-enzyme conjugates and Lysosome Targeting Chimeras (LYTACs). As well, her group studies NGly1 deficiency, a rare genetic disease characterized by loss of the human N-glycanase.

Several of the technologies developed in the Bertozzi lab have been adapted for commercial use. Actively engaged with several biotechnology start-ups, Dr. Bertozzi cofounded Redwood Bioscience, Enable Biosciences, Palleon Pharmaceuticals, InterVenn Bio, OliLux Bio, Grace Science LLC and Lycia Therapeutics. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Lilly.

Steve Aoki

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, American DJ and Record Producer

Counting nearly 3 billion music streams to his name, Steve Aoki is a true visionary. Billboard described the 2x-GRAMMY-nominated music producer, artist, fashion designer, entrepreneur, NFT futurist, and Dim Mak Records founder as “one of the most in-demand entertainers in the world.” A Guinness World Record holder for the “Most Traveled Musician in a Single Calendar Year,” Aoki has performed at nearly every top festival around the world, including Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock Festival, Tomorrowland, and Electric Daisy Carnival. In 2022, Aoki also graced recent covers of Entrepreneur Magazine, Success Magazine, Electronic Musician, and Adweek as their “Visionary of the Year.”

As a globally successful cross-genre solo artist, Aoki has collaborated with an impressive list of varied artists, including BTS, Maluma, Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park, blink-182, One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Uzi Vert, 2 Chainz and Daddy Yankee, on top of having released three Platinum singles, six Gold singles, and over ten Top 10 radio records. After unveiling four Neon Future albums, Aoki recently released HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix, the second in his HIROQUEST series, featuring collaborations with Paris Hilton, Galantis, ERNEST, Akon and more.

Aoki approaches each new endeavor with the same sense of dedication he’s put into his past achievements, including the Grammy-nominated Netflix documentary I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2016) and his memoir BLUE: The Color of Noise (2019). In 2012, he also founded THE AOKI FOUNDATION to support organizations in brain science and its research. His influential record label Dim Mak, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021, is known for being a launching pad for the careers of prominent acts like Bloc Party, The Chainsmokers, Bloody Beetroots, The Kills, Zedd, and Diplo. Most recently, Aoki created the A0K1VERSE, an NFT membership community, powered by the Passport, that welcomes his fans to both virtual and real-world experiences. In whatever space Steve Aoki enters, the multi-hyphenate innovator continues to set trends and inspire creativity on a global level.

Florian Hollfelder, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Professor of Chemical and Synthetic Biology University of Cambridge, UK

Florian Hollfelder was educated at the Technical University of Berlin (Diplom-Chemiker) and Cambridge University (MPhil). After a formative stay at Stanford (with Dan Herschlag) on free-energy relationships in enzymes) he joined Tony Kirby’s group at the Chemistry Department of Cambridge University working on enzyme models and physical-organic chemistry. During his PhD he also collaborated with Dan Tawfik (on the mechanism and evaluation of model enzymes such as catalytic antibodies). His postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School (with Chris T. Walsh) was concerned with the biosynthesis and action of the natural antibiotic microcin B17.

In 2001 he returned to Cambridge to start his own research group in the Biochemistry Department, where he is Professor in Chemical and Synthetic Biology. The group’s research centres around quantitative and mechanistic questions at the chemistry/biology interface, involving low- and high-throughput approaches. Mechanistic work focuses on enzymatic bioreactions and their organic chemical counterparts, on strategies for finding and creating enzymes with novel reactions and on the pathways by which these can be enhanced by directed evolution. Most recently this approach has been extended to mechanisms of cellular development and embryology. A key technology under development in the group are ultrahigh throughput approaches for directed evolution, cell development in 3D and single cell transcriptomics.

Florian has held ERC Advanced and Starting Grants and coordinated several EU-funded trans-national collaborative initiatives, e.g. the H2020 research training networks MMBio (‘Molecular Tools for Nucleic Acid Manipulation for Biological Intervention‘) and ES-Cat (‘Directed Protein Evolution for Synthetic Biology and Biocatalysis’), ENDIRPRO & ENEFP on directed evolution of functional proteins, ProSA on protein-protein interactions and PhosChemRec on the chemical biology of phosphates. He is coordinator of the BBSRC sLOLA grant “Novel Plastizymes”, member of the EU Horizon Europe projects “BlueTools “and “BlueRemediomics” (on metagenomic exploration of marine biospheres) and co-founder of the companies DropTech and Evoralis. Florian is a Staff Fellow at Trinity Hall, where he acted as Tutor, Director of Studies and Graduate Mentor.

Joanna Lambert, Ph.D.

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member, Professor, University of Colorado - Boulder, Director of the American Canid Project

Dr. Joanna Lambert is a scientist and tenured professor of evolutionary ecology and conservation biology at the University of Colorado – Boulder, where she also serves as Director of the American Canid Project. Born and raised in industrial England and an immigrant to the Rust Belt of the United States, Joanna Lambert spent her formative years observing wildlife in heavily urbanized landscapes. She has spent her adult life making up for this by traveling to some of the planet’s most remote regions to study wild animals in wild places. Her research has now taken her to all seven continents, but a major focus has been on equatorial Africa, where she studies primates such as chimpanzees, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where she studies carnivores such as grey wolves.

Lambert has published several books and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles on her research on the behavioral ecology, physiology, and evolution of wild mammals. For her efforts, she has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London – the institution where Charles Darwin first presented his theory of evolution. Previous to her position at the University of Colorado – Boulder, Lambert was a Professor at the University of Texas, a Visiting Scientist at Duke University, an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, and Program Director at the National Science Foundation. She is also a Master Instructor at the Yellowstone Institute and teaches intensive field seminars in Yellowstone National Park. She has held numerous Editorial positions for peer-reviewed science journals such as Frontiers in Mammal Science, Oecologia, PLoS ONE, Diversity, Integrative Zoology, Tropical Conservation Science, American Journal of Biological Anthropology, American Journal of Primatology, and African Primates.

Throughout almost 40 years of field research worldwide, she has witnessed extraordinary challenges to biodiversity and human quality of life – realities that have fundamentally impacted her approach to science. She has no patience for scientists who remain cloistered in the Ivory Tower. Now, in addition to being a field scientist and educator, she is also a conservation practitioner and activist. In this capacity, she serves as a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, as a science advisor to the United Nations Environmental Programme, as Chief Science Officer of Conservation Nation, and as Senior Science Advisor and Board Member of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project. One of Joanna’s proudest rewilding accomplishments has been playing a central role in reintroducing endangered gray wolves into Colorado. In her spare time, Joanna spends as much time as she can off-grid in wild and rugged places, preferably on a horse and with her dogs, striving for optimism and solutions in a challenging world.

Suyash Keshari

Suyash Keshari is a 27-year-old Wildlife Presenter, Filmmaker & Conservationist. He is the pioneer of India’s First Virtual Safari Experience hosted on his own OTT Platform – Safari with Suyash – TV, which is also the first of its kind in the world. He has hosted over 250 people on safaris including political figures and celebrities in the last two years.

Suyash was recently awarded the prestigious 30 under 30 award for his work with wildlife conservation, virtual safaris, and eco-tourism. He has been published in over 300 national and international newspapers and magazines. He is also ranked as one of the Top 5 Wildlife Professionals in India for 2022, categorized as the “Young Blood.

Suyash produced his first series in 2019 for WWF International which is a 5-part real-life web series about a young person’s life tracking a tigress named Solo in Bandhavgarh and conservation issues in the area. The finale of this series was launched by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the series itself has been showcased at a United Nations Conference, and by Incredible India, the Ministry of Tourism on several platforms.

Growing up in Central India Suyash was introduced to wildlife and safaris at a very young age, but his professional journey began in the summer of 2019, when he quit his Political Advocacy job in Washington D.C., USA, to follow his lifelong dream to be a full-time wildlife presenter.

Suyash is also an award-winning wildlife photographer. At the age of 19, he became one of the youngest people to win the Nature’s Best Photography Asia Award, for a photograph of a six-month-old tigress. This photo was exhibited for a year at the Smithsonian Natural History
Museum in Washington D.C. Suyash has also recently launched a line of Safari Apparel, where 100% of profits are earmarked for conservation projects such as building waterholes, equipping forest staff with essential gear, and helping locals in conflict-prone areas. He regularly works with anti-poaching units, volunteers during fire season, and is working towards reforestation efforts.

Suyash’s goal is to connect people with wildlife and evoke passion in hearts and minds across the world, urging them to play their part in conserving our natural heritage.

David Spirk

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, AI Commissioner for the Global Tech Security Commission, Former Department of Defense’s first-Chief Data Officer

Dave is a Senior Counselor at Palantir, where he focuses on assisting across the US Government, Allied/Partner, and Commercial business. He is the AI Commissioner for the Global Tech Security Commission and also serves as an Operating Partner at DCVC and as a Senior Advisor to the Founder/CEO of CalypsoAI. Dave is a Board Member at Fortem Technologies, Shift5, and the not-for-profit Special Operations Warrior Golf Foundation. He remains the co-founder and CEO of HoopWERX.

Previously, he served as the Department of Defense’s (DOD) first-Chief Data Officer (CDO). In this role, he stood up DOD’s Chief Data Office and instilled a strong focus on warfighter needs, data governance, and a data ready workforce to inspire a data-driven culture across the department. He developed the DOD’s first Data Strategy, Data Decrees, and Joint All Domain Command and Control Data (JADC2) Implementation Plan. Dave crafted and oversaw the establishment, resourcing, and empowerment of CDOs across the department.

Immediately prior, Dave was the United States Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) first-CDO and the Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the United States’ Special Forces. In this role as a direct report to the USSOCOM Commander, he was responsible for the creation of a data-driven decision-making culture while leading the integration of data-driven technologies across all US Special Operations Forces (SOF).

Dave served as the Associate Director for Technology Investment at the Secretary of the Air Force’s (SAF) Concept Development and Management Office. His primary task was to stand up and lead the DOD’s first training quality data production refinery for the Algorithmic Warfare Cross Functional Team (aka, Project Maven), which was the DoD’s pathfinding AI effort.

Dave was previously the Deputy Director of Intelligence at USSOCOM and the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM). At USSOCOM his primary portfolio was on building partner nation and US interagency support for Operation Gallant Phoenix, which was the SOF effort to stem foreign terrorist fighter flows to Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. At USCENTCOM, Dave led the Intelligence Directorate’s Divisions for Operations, Plans, Intelligence Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, and Foreign Disclosure/Special Security Office. While at USCENTCOM he served in Afghanistan for a year as the Senior Intelligence Advisor to the Commander of the International Security and Assistance Force during 2010/2011.

At the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Dave was the Deputy Associate Director of National Intelligence for Afghanistan and Pakistan (ADNI Af/Pak). In this role, he was responsible for ensuring strategic alignment of the Intelligence Community’s (IC) Af/Pak and counter-terrorism missions. Dave regularly represented the senior-IC position on Af/Pak matters at the White House and with congressional leaders.

Dave is a former-Marine who served across echelons at various east coast United States Marine Corps (USMC) elements setting the stage for numerous deployments throughout the US Africa Command (USAFRICOM), US Central Command (USCENTCOM) US European Command (USEUCOM), US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), and US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).

Robin Ganzert, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, President and CEO of American Humane

Robin Ganzert, Ph.D., serves as president and CEO of American Humane, the country’s first national humane organization and the first to serve animals, whenever and wherever they are in need of rescue, shelter or protection. She is the executive producer of the full-length, award-winning documentary, Escape from Extinction, narrated by Dame Helen Mirren, as well as the executive producer of the annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards which aired for ten years on Hallmark Channel and most recently aired on A&E and fyi networks. Additionally, she is the author of The Humane Table: Cooking with Compassion, Mission Metamorphosis and Animal Stars. Her next book, Escape from Extinction, is set to come out in 2025. Dr. Ganzert serves on the board of Loro Parque Foundation, the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation and is a member of The Explorers Club, the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Trustee Program, and the International Women’s Forum. She has been awarded the prestigious Gorilla Prize by world-renowned zoological organization Loro Parque for her efforts in conservation.

Dr. Ganzert is frequently highlighted in prominent national news and media platforms as an authoritative advocate for animals. In the recent season, she made appearances on shows like Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Fox News Saturday Night, and America’s Newsroom, among others. During her tenure at American Humane, she has been a guest on broadcast outlets such as the TODAY Show, MSNBC, World News Tonight, CNN, and Fox Business News, to name a few. Additionally, her insights have been featured in major newspapers, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe.

Under her leadership, American Humane continues to earn recognition for its commitment to transparency, accountability, efficiency, and financial responsibility. Thanks to this dedication, American Humane is a top- rated charity having earned, for six years, Charity Navigator’s “Four-Star” rating; the “Seal of Excellence” from Independent Charities of America – awarded to fewer than three percent of charities nationwide; an “A” rating from Great Nonprofits; and is one of the few charities that meet all of the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance 20 Standards for charity accountability.

Since her appointment in 2010, Dr. Ganzert has spearheaded unprecedented growth and transformational change at the historic 145-year-old nonprofit, which has reemerged as the most effective humane organization, directly impacting the lives of more animals around the world than any other organization through innovative, life-changing and life-saving programs that set the gold standard in animal welfare and protection. Dr. Ganzert has dramatically expanded the scope and scale of the organization’s programs globally with a presence in 40 countries making American Humane the largest certifier of animal welfare in the world. In addition to this growth she has provided oversight for iconic humane programs such as No Animals Were Harmed®, protecting animals in film and entertainment; and, American Humane Certified®, helping to ensure humane treatment of animals in agriculture. She launched a first-of-its-kind humane certification in global conservation for animals in zoos and aquariums and an innovative humane certification effort for the airline industry to help improve the safety and protection of companion animals in transportation. Most recently, Dr. Ganzert launched a new Humane Certified Pet Provider program focused on assessing the condition, well-being and welfare of small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and aquatic life at pet provider locations and animal suppliers. Dr. Ganzert is also responsible for the creation of American Humane’s famed Pups4PatriotsTM program that provides lifesaving service dogs for wounded warriors facing Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury.

American Humane is now the largest certifier of animal welfare in the world, overseeing the care of more than 1 billion animals annually. This represents more than a 2,000 percent increase during her tenure in the number of animals protected every year.

Additional programmatic efforts include leading American Humane’s emergency rescue missions to help the animal victims of catastrophic disasters from Superstorm Sandy to Hurricanes Harvey and Ian; creating a groundbreaking clinical trial documenting the efficacy of therapy dogs in helping childhood cancer patients; founding the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for the Humane Bond; and, securing a major legislative victory with the passage of language in the National Defense Authorization Act mandating that all American military working dogs must retire on U.S. soil.

Dr. Ganzert holds a B.S. in Business & Accounting, an MBA and a Ph.D. She previously served as the vice chair of the governing board of the National ALS Association. Prior to her appointment at American Humane, Dr. Ganzert directed philanthropic services and charitable giving at The Pew Charitable Trusts and Wachovia Wealth Management.

Dr. Ganzert resides in South Florida and Washington D.C. with her beloved cats and dogs and enjoys spending time with her three wonderful children.

Hon. Mead Treadwell

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member, Former Lt. Governor of Alaska

Mead Treadwell, Fellow National ’02, is former Lt. Governor of Alaska, 2010-2014, and has been involved in Arctic exploration and political/economic/environmental cooperation in the region since the late 1970’s when he focused his undergraduate work in history and policy at Yale on Law of the Sea and developing better methods to manage fisheries in the North Pacific and Bering Seas. In the early 1980’s he traveled extensively
in the then-Soviet Arctic region and across the Canadian North, worked to organize the 1988 Friendship Flight which opened the border between Alaska and Eastern Russia and brought families divided by the Cold War back together. In 1990, he led two expeditions to Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic, and traveled the Chukotka coastline to pioneer Arctic ecotourism in the Bering Sea region. During his work with the community of Cordova, Alaska during the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, 1989-1990, he was a co-founder of the Alaska-based Prince William Sound Science Center. He later served as Deputy Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and was the state’s representative to the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, precursor to the eight-nation Arctic Council. In 2001, Treadwell was serving as Managing Director of the Institute of the North at Alaska Pacific University, continuing work with Russia on environmental cooperation, when President George W. Bush appointed him to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. From 2006-2010, he was designated chair under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The Commission set goals for billions of dollars of funding for field research in the Arctic, advocated for other new science infrastructure worldwide, and helped launch the 2006-2008 International Polar Year. In the private sector, he is a serial entrepreneur. He chaired Immersive Media, the TVX-listed spherical camera company which pioneered StreetView for Google, and chairs the Polar Advisory Board for global satellite network Iridium (NASDAQ:IRDM), used by explorers worldwide. He is chairman of Qilak LNG, a firm working to export LNG by icebreaking tankers through the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Straits, and a member of the board of Alaska cargo airline Ryan Air. He is a Board Member and former President of Pt Capital, an Arctic focused private equity firm, with investment and advisory work in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Finland. He was a founding officer of the NASDAQ listed Digimarc, the world’s leader in digital watermarking. He is co-chair of the Polar Institute Advisory Board of the Washington, DC based Wilson Center, and is active with the NGO Arctic Circle based in Iceland, the Alaska-based Arctic Encounter, the UK based Polar Research and Policy Institute, and the news site Arctic Today. He was appointed to the Explorers Club board in 2020 and elected by the membership to the board in 2021. He chairs an ad hoc planning effort for the Club’s World Center for Exploration and serves on the Audit Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative of the Club. He has chaired the North Pacific Alaska Chapter and the Alaska Chapter of the Club. Treadwell was awarded Japan’s Foreign Ministers Award in 2005 and was made a member of the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon by the Government of Japan in 2020; the Northern Forum Walter J. Hickel Award, the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Lifetime Ocean Leadership Award and the Alaska Outdoor Council’s Sidney Huntington Award. He has been selected as a Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow, and a Japan Society Business Fellow. He is a graduate of Yale University (BA) and Harvard Business School (MBA).

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Ph.D.

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, D.Phil., CBE, is an authority on elephant behaviour and conservation. He attended Gordonstoun School, and later Oxford University where he earned a degree in Zoology and a D.Phil studying the Ecology and Behaviour of the African Elephant. His work in the 1960s paved the way for much of today’s understanding of elephants and current conservation practices. During the 1970s, he investigated the status of elephants throughout Africa and was the first to alert the world to the ivory poaching crisis. He chronicled the diminution of Africa’s elephant population by half between 1979 and 1989 and was instrumental in bringing about the world ivory trade ban. In 1993, Douglas-Hamilton founded Save the Elephants (STE) a charity dedicated specifically to elephants. Since that time Save the Elephants has conducted research on elephants across Africa and has increased public awareness of the many dangers that threaten elephants and the habitats in which they live. Fundamental to his work at STE, Douglas-Hamilton pioneered GPS tracking of elephants in Africa, which has become a standard and widely emulated survey technique; it also guides the deployment of rangers to protect vulnerable and key elephant populations. Douglas-Hamilton and his wife, Oria, have co-authored two award-winning books, Among the Elephants (1975) and Battle for the Elephants (1992), and have made several television films. Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton was awarded the 2010 Indianapolis Prize, one of the world’s leading awards for animal conservation. In 2013 The Elephant Crisis Fund (a joint initiative between Save the Elephants and San Francisco based NGO Wildlife Conservation Network) was established to confront the threat to elephants by supporting the most urgent, important and catalytic projects across the crisis to stop the killing, stop the trafficking and end the demand for ivory. In October 2014 he was presented with the George B Rabb Conservation Medal by the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) for his authoritative work to benefit African elephants. In 2015 he was awarded the Commander of the British Empire and was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by San Diego Zoological Society with most recently being awarded the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute’s (TAWIRI) Tanzania Wildlife Research Award for his lifelong devotion to elephants. Currently, he is focused on winning hearts and minds to help reduce the demand for ivory, and focus on understanding elephant’s reasons for movements, and their deep history in time.

Erik Anderson

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Founder and CEO of WestRiver Group, Chairman and CEO of Singularity Group, Vice Chairman of Callaway Golf Company

Erik Anderson is a global innovation leader, investor and philanthropist. He is Founder and CEO of WestRiver Group, a thematically-driven investment platform that manages funds and builds companies in the global innovation economy.

Anderson has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, was named by Goldman Sachs as one of the Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs and was also awarded the Transformative CEO Award by The CEO Forum Group. Early in his career, Seattle’s Puget Sound Business Journal recognized Anderson as one of the Top “40 under 40” young achievers and emerging leaders.

He is also Chief Executive Officer of the DCRB+ Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), which seek to identify impactful companies with scalable solutions to decarbonize the global economy. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Hyzon Motors Inc., a zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle company with leading fuel cell technology, as well as serving on the board of Solid Power, an industry-leading developer of all-solid-state battery cells

Anderson became Vice Chairman of Callaway Golf Company in March 2021. Prior to Callaway, he served as the Executive Chairman of Topgolf Entertainment Group. Under his leadership, Topgolf became one of the fastest-growing sports and entertainment brands in the world. In 2020, he was ranked by Golf Inc. as the No. 4 Most Powerful Person in the Golf Industry and was No. 3 in 2019 and 2018

In November 2020, Anderson joined Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as the Executive Chairman of the SVB Capital Credit Platform and serves as Chair of the SVB Capital Advisory Committee.

Anderson also serves as Chairman and CEO of Singularity Group, a global community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. He is also Vice Chairman of ONEHOPE, a cause-centric consumer brand and technology company, known for their award-winning wine and world-class vineyard in Napa, Calif. He is also Co-Chairman of TOCA, the world’s first technology-enabled soccer experience company. Additionally, Anderson is the founder of America’s Foundation for Chess, currently serving 160,000 children in the United States with its First Move curriculum. For more than 10 years he served on the Board of Play Magnus, an interactive chess app inspired by Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Chess Champion.

Anderson was on the Board of Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA), an energy management company for more than sixteen years and served as Chairman of the Finance Committee for most of his tenure. His investment experience includes being Partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners, CEO of Matthew G. Norton Co. and Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

He holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management Engineering from Claremont McKenna College.

Austin Gallagher, Ph.D.

Dr. Austin Gallagher is a globally-activated marine biologist and social entrepreneur, best known for his research on megafauna, particularly sharks. He is the founder of The Beneath the Waves Group, which controls 6 companies engaged in cutting-edge marine research and exploration, technology, climate solutions, and carbon finance. He serves as CEO to core asset Beneath the Waves Inc., a next-generation NGO research institute engaged in marine projects worldwide, with a focus on North America and The Caribbean. Gallagher’s approach combines research, private sector collaboration, local engagement, and media – to create effective partnerships.

Dr. Gallagher has worked diligently studying and advocating for highly migratory species and their habitats around the world, directly supporting the protection of species and hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of ocean. He has served as the lead scientist on 50+ global scientific expeditions across 6 continents, and is broadly trained with expertise spanning large animal tracking, behavioral ecology, physiology, genetics, plant biology, and socioeconomics. He has published over 100 scientific papers, spanning research on the migrations of ocean giants, blue carbon, deep-sea exploration, and marine policy, and sits on the Editorial Board of Endangered Species Research.

He has forged dozens of firsts in the marine industry, ranging from the identification of new species and geographic records, to implementing new technologies to accelerate conservation solutions. In 2020, he partnered with wild tiger sharks to discover the world’s largest seagrass meadow, an area over 93,000 sq. km representing the ocean’s largest carbon sink, a discovery valued at over $0.4T. This discovery paved the way for his founding of Blueprint, a company focused on providing governments and corporations an end-to-end solution for blue carbon project management – from science to credits.

Dr. Gallagher is regularly consulted by US Congress, international governments, and he has briefed and collaborated with over 10 Heads of State to prompt and develop legislation and policies to protect threatened ocean habitat, species, and the communities that depend on them. He is a National Geographic Explorer, Fellow of the Explorer’s Club, Fulbright Scholar, former Forbes 30 Under 30 Winner, and is an Adjunct Professor at both The University of Exeter and Northeastern University.

Lauren Knausenberger

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Chief Information Officer for the Department of the Air Force

Lauren Barrett Knausenberger is the Chief Information Officer for the Department of the Air Force, comprised of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. Ms. Knausenberger leads two directorates and supports 20,000 cyber operations and support personnel around the globe with a portfolio valued at $17 billion. She provides oversight of the Air Force’s Information Technology portfolio including the Information Technology investment strategy from networks to cloud computing, Enterprise policies, information resources management, IT innovation initiatives, information assurance, and related matters for the Department of the Air Force. As Chief Information Officer (CIO), Ms. Knausenberger delivers cyber security, and enforces Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act laws. She integrates Air Force warfighting and mission support capabilities by networking and securing air, space, and terrestrial assets. Ms. Knausenberger also leads career management initiatives for 10,000 IT/Cyber civilian personnel across all human resources facets from recruiting to professional development.In 2017, Ms. Knausenberger joined the U.S. Air Force to drive innovation across the Department of Defense, speed adoption of emerging technologies, and create stronger partnerships between DoD, start-ups, and the venture community as the Chief Transformation Officer and Director of Cyberspace Innovation under the Deputy Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining the AirForce, she was the founder and President of Accellint Inc., a consulting firm and Venture Partner with NextGen Angels, specializing in solving problems of national security importance, and investing in commercial technologies that could be applied to a government mission. As CIO, she continues to go after hard problems, calculates risk differently, and ensures to keep a constant pulse on the voice of the Airmen.Prior to her time as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Ms. Knausenberger held positions of increasing responsibility at American Management Systems and CACI, beginning as a systems analyst and designer, then as a go-to project manager for program turnarounds, a program manager for large IT and finance programs, and finally as a division manager overseeing much of the company’s Intelligence Community portfolio. During this time, Ms. Knausenberger had the pleasure of serving the mission of the CIA directly as well as leading and mentoring cross-functional teams and organizations supporting national security missions.Ms.Knausenberger earned a Bachelor of Science degree in decision and information sciences from University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration from University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

Doris A. Taylor, Ph.D.

Dr. Taylor is a dynamic innovator, scientist and entrepreneur and a global thought leader and speaker in regenerative medicine. She is recognized as a thought leader in biomanufacturing as evidenced by her recent service on a White House panel, has published over 180 papers, holds over 30 patents, and is the founder of multiple companies, one of which went public last year (MIRO;NASDAQ). She has trained hundreds of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate fellows worldwide in her laboratories in the U.S. and Europe. Although she held academic positions for over 20 years, she recently founded RegenMedix Consulting LLC to enable academic and commercial enterprises in the regenerative medicine space. In 2021she founded a new biotech Organamet Bio Inc. to bioengineer personalized replacement hearts on demand. The latest breakthrough in that technology was featured on CNN in September 2022 (https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/09/15/cfc-gupta-taylor.cnn). Taylor is credited with the first functional scientific repair of injured heart with stem cells in 1998. Her group further transformed the field of organ transplantation science in 2008 by developing a unique cell removal (decellularization) method that makes un-transplantable organs into usable scaffold frameworks for building new organs with stem cells. This was so revolutionary it was recognized as one of the “Top 10 Research Advances” by the American Heart Association and Taylor was nominated as one of “100 most influential people in the world” by Time magazine. Next, she turned to disease prevention and has begun to develop “cellular signatures” of heart disease and aging that appear to differ by sex race and ethnicity. Dr. Taylor frequently appears as an expert on molecular biology, biobanking, cell therapy, women’s health, cardiac repair and organ transplantation in the public media. Her work has been recognized and featured by 60 Minutes, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Natonal Geographic, BBC Horizon, BBC News Health, ABC, NBC and CBS News, Associated Press, Good Morning America, , the Oprah Winfrey Show, NOVA Science Now, PBS NOVA Transplanting Hope, Discovery Channel’s Through the Worm Hole with Morgan Freeman, Science Channel’s Stem Cell Universe with Stephen Hawking, NPR’s On Being with Krista Tippet and most other worldwide media outlets. Taylor sits on numerous think tanks and international scientific committees including for the NIH, the FDA, the American Association of Blood Banks, and the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine. She serves as a member of the Leadership Advisory Committee for the Alliance for Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) and sat on the international jury for the Institut de France LeFoulon-Delalande Foundation Grand Prix which is awarded annually to individuals making worldwide contributions to cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Taylor earned a B.S. from Mississippi University for Women (MUW) and a Ph.D. from UT Southwestern Medical Center. She is appointed as a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and European Society for Cardiology. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by MUW and the national Distinguished Alumnus Award by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. In 2019 she was elected as a Senior member of the National Academy of Inventors and in 2020, was elected as a fellow to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Her motto is “Build the Future of Medicine Today.”

Virginia Riddle Pearson

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member, Leading EEHV Expert

Virginia Riddle Pearson has been working to save elephants from extinction for more than half a century. Her current research focuses on the critical question of why the elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs), which have co-evolved with elephants for more than sixty million years, are sometimes lethal in juvenile elephants particularly. She has searched for the origins of this devastating disease in Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Gabon, Borneo and throughout America by collecting saliva, blood, and tissues from approximately two hundred and fifty elephants, including EEHV-infected skin nodules from living wild elephants exhibiting no clinical signs of disease. By polymerase chair reaction (PCR) and Sanger sequencing of the DNA from these samples, she has identified elephant herpesviruses, identifying multiple new species and subspecies of EEHVs and elephant gamma herpesviruses (EGHVs,) in almost all the elephants most of which showed no overt disease pathology. Her research shows that the now-known twenty plus EEHVs and EGHVs are endogenous viruses of the three extant species of the Order Proboscidea: Loxodonta africana, the African savannah elephant; Loxodonta cyclotis, the African forest elephant; and Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant. The question remains: what causes these endogenous viruses to become pathogenic usually leading quickly to death of the elephant, and can the severe inflammatory response be prevented by vaccines and therapeutics?

She is a Visiting Scientist at Fox Chase Cancer Institute, Philadelphia, and works closely with the Molecular Virology Group at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, to sequence the genomes of the elephant herpesviruses and to replicate the elephant herpesviruses viruses in vitro for potential vaccine development. She has established numerous primary endothelial and epithelial cell lines from both African and Asian elephant umbilical cords and amniotic sacs for co-culture of EEHV-positive elephant tissues. Virginia’s recent authored publication describes her creation of a novel recombinant plasmid, encoding viral transforming proteins specific to elephants, that can be used to create immortalized elephant cell lines. She derived this plasmid from an isolate of another elephant virus, African Elephant Polyomavirus (AelPyV-1), that she identified also in a skin nodule biopsy that she had collected from a wild Botswanan elephant for her EEHVs research. This plasmid, pAelPyV-1-Tag, has the potential to facilitate durable transformation of primary elephant cells that will be a critical resource for long-study of the elephant-specific herpesviruses in vitro for potential EEHVs vaccine development, as well as investigation of intrinsic cellular response to DNA damage in elephants that have surprisingly little incidence of cancer as compared to humans, potentially relevant for the development of effective cancer therapeutics for humans. She was formerly a Guest Researcher in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, New Jersey, where she began her elephant herpesviruses research in 2006. She is an Honorary Research Associate in Vertebrate Zoology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the oldest scientific institution of its kind in North America, and an Emeritus Trustee of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the oldest zoo in America. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Wellesley College, MA USA.

Paul Ling, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Virology at Baylor College of Medicine; Colossal EEHV Lead

Dr. Ling is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Virology at Baylor College of Medicine. He spent his graduate and postdoctoral careers investigating human herpesviruses Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). He continued his work on EBV and other animal gammaherpesviruses after moving to Baylor College of Medicine to start his own research program. His lab uses a variety of genetic, biochemical and omics approaches to discover and characterize new intrinsic and innate host responses to infection and to identify viral countermeasures against these responses to understand how these viruses establish long-term chronic infections in their hosts.

In 2010, following the death of 2-year old Mac from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) at the Houston zoo, a collaboration was established between the zoo and Dr. Lings lab to address the devastating disease caused by this virus, especially in Asian elephant calves. Since that time, his laboratory has leveraged its experience and knowledge of human herpesviruses to combat the threat of EEHV in endangered Asian and African elephants and has emerged as a leading global expert in the field.

Dr. Ling’s lab has an overarching “Bench to Barn” approach to address the EEHV problem. The major activities include generating diagnostics, evaluating treatments, and generating an effective vaccine. His lab is responsible for generating qPCR tests to detect this family of viruses, which are being used world-wide. More recently his lab generated EEHV-specific serology tests, which have provided important insights into factors that may predict vulnerability of elephants for EEHV hemorrhagic disease. Through collaborations with the Baylor College of Medicine Human genome sequencing center, his lab determined the genomic sequences for almost all the EEHV varieties that are known to cause disease in elephants. He has now generated tools for development and evaluation of an EEHV vaccine, which he hopes to implement in the near future.

In addition to his research activities, Dr. Ling previously served as Secretary of the Epstein-Barr virus association and chaired the Microbial Pathogenesis and Cancer study section for the American Cancer Society. He is a member of the EEHV advisory group Steering committee, and is also an Editor for Plos Pathogens. He has trained several students and postdoctoral fellows who are making significant contributions to science in academia and industry.

Michael Kreger, Ph.D.

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member, Vice President of Conservation and Sustainability at the Columbus Zoo

Dr. Michael Kreger is the Vice President of Conservation and Sustainability at the Columbus
Zoo. He works with all the departments at the Zoo, The Wilds, Safari Golf Club, and Zoombezi
Bay to develop and promote programs that save animals worldwide. He manages the Partners In
Conservation (PIC) Rwanda program and the Columbus Zoo Fund For Conservation grant fund.
He serves on many zoo and wildlife-related committees, including co-chair of the Association of
Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) North American
Songbird program, advisor to SAFE Asian Elephant, member of the AZA Wildlife Conservation
Committee, the Zoo and Aquarium Association’s Animal Management Plan/Conservation
Committee, and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums Science and Government
Affairs committees.

Before joining the Zoo, he had a 20-year career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
International Affairs and Migratory Birds programs. As a biologist in International Affairs, he
worked on wildlife-related international treaties, laws, and regulations including CITES, the
Endangered Species Act, and the Wild Bird Conservation Act. He served on endangered species
recovery teams and U.S. delegations for wildlife-related treaties. Examples of his projects
include listing the addax, dama gazelle, and scimitar-horned oryx as endangered; a special rule
on the wood bison recovery in Alaska; development of elephant policies and positions; and
making CITES non-detriment findings. He later served as Deputy Chief of Bird Habitat
Conservation and Special Assistant to the Assistant Director of Migratory Birds. He managed
two multi-million dollar grant programs that support wetlands and neotropical migratory birds
and worked on complex conservation policy issues including tribal issues and waterfowl hunting
and bird mortality from wind energy facilities. Prior to the FWS, he worked for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture where he was the lead on zoo and wildlife issues and taught an animal
welfare compliance course at the Animal Welfare Information Center.

Kreger’s academic background includes three degrees from the University of Maryland. He
earned his bachelor of science in conservation and resource development, his master’s research
focused on applied ethology and animal welfare, and his doctorate research examined the effects
of the captive rearing methods on the survival of whooping cranes reintroduced in central
Florida. Kreger also served as a Peace Corps volunteer wildlife biologist in Honduras, mammal
keeper at the Bronx Zoo, and as a biological technician at Patuxent Research Refuge.

John McKinley

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Former C-Level Executive at GE Capital, Merrill Lynch, Newscorp, and AOL

John McKinley has a unique background of running huge technology organization as well as startups. John has run technology for such companies as General Electric, Merrill Lynch, AOL, and News Corporation. John has been awarded CTO of the Year, and has received a variety of awards for products he led the development of in the financial services, entertainment, and education sectors.

John was an early champion of new computing models, starting with 18 years ago with one of the first aggressive open source server migrations in financial services while at Merrill Lynch. John also was one of the first large enterprise users of cloud-based security services like Postini, drove the next-gen open platform migration efforts at AOL, and served on the Board of cloud-based security company MessageLabs, which had a very successful exit to Symantec. At Fox/News Corp, John also led the migration to cloud-based media and ad systems that allows the company to deliver 22 different consumer video offerings (American Idol, MasterChef, Fox Sports, etc.) in only 18 months. John’s more recent efforts in the cloud sector include advising players like DigitalOcean on where to take their consumer and SMB cloud computing offerings.

John is also strategic advisor to Workspot, a new DaaS offering that is bringing disruptive technology and economics to the virtual desktop marketplace, competing as a next-gen alternative to VMware and Citrix. He is also involved in a new AI-based crypto-trading platform that is employing advanced pattern recognition and hedging strategies across a variety of cryptocurrencies.

John’s latest focus is in the AI arena. John’s work in the area of artificial intelligence goes back nearly two decades. His initial work in the AI sector was the delivery of the first robo-advisor solution for Merrill Lynch, which allowed the company to better serve a wider range of consumers.

John also has done work in the area of natural language processing. Powerset was one of the first sophisticated commercial NLP offerings in the market. It was sold to Microsoft, and its technology became an integral part of the Bing query parsing solution.

John has also been an advisor to companies in the bot space, most notable Conversable (exit to LivePerson), which has delivered AI-based conversational solutions for such clients as Pizza Hut, Sony, Viacom, P&G, and others. John’s latest efforts involve being strategic advisor to HyperGiant, which has emerged as a market leader in the commercialization of ML/AI technology, working with everyone from NASA to F100 companies.

Over the last several years, companies in his portfolio have very successful exits to such acquirers as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Magic Leap, Symantec, RealPage, LiveAgent, AOL, Zynga, Alarm.com and others. John also helped lead the successful IPO of Proxicom.

John has served on the board of several private and public companies, and has experience servicing on and/or leading Technology and Audit committees of multiple organizations. John currently serves on the board of Equifax, where he chairs the Technology Committee and also serves on the Audit Committee. At EFX, he has worked with management to dramatically improve the security of the company, which has led to one of the largest and fastest improvements in the company’s NIST risk score the company’s independent assessor has ever seen. He is now assisting the firm as it undertakes one of the largest cloud-native software migration in the world.

John is also involved in the construction technology industry. He is on the board of MYRO International, which designs robots for specific use cases in construction, including commercial painting. He is also advisor to a stealth-mode AI-based trading company in the crypto market.

John started his career at Ernst & Young, where he helped establish the computer security practice in the United States. As a partner in the firm, he also co-led the largest outsourcing engagement the firm ever undertook, and helped created the Advanced Development Center, a new model for software development engagements for clients.

Mr. McKinley is a graduate of the Wharton School. He lives in Great Falls, Virginia with his wife Cindy and two children, Liam and Kylie.

Christopher E. Mason, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Professor of Genomics, Physiology, and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Christopher Mason is a Professor of Genomics, Physiology, and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction. He is also co-Founder and global director at Biotia, co-Founder and scientific director at Onegevity, Director of Genomics at Tempus Labs, and recently published The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds.

Dr. Mason develops and deploys computational and experimental methodologies to identify the functional genetic elements of the human genome and metagenome. To do this, we perform research in three principal areas: (1) molecular profiling in patients with extreme phenotypes, including brain malformations, aggressive cancers, and astronauts, (2) creating new biochemical and computational techniques in DNA/RNA sequencing and DNA/RNA base modifications, and (3) the development of new cell and genome modifications. In the very long term, we believe these systems-based methods will enable an understanding of the functional elements of the human genome and embedded metagenome, such that we can begin to repair or re-engineer these genetic networks for ameliorating disease and lay the foundation to enable long-term human spaceflight.

Dr. Mason has won the NIH’s Transformative R01 Award, the NASA Group Achievement Award, the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Young Investigator award, the Hirschl-Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award, the Vallee Scholar Award, the International Space Station (ISS) Research and Development Award, the CDC Honor Award for Standardization of Clinical Testing, and the WorldQuant Foundation Scholar Award. He was named as one of the “Brilliant Ten” Scientists by Popular Science, featured as a TEDMED speaker, and called “The Genius of Genetics” by 92Y. He has written 2 books and >300 peer-reviewed papers, featured on the covers of Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Microbiology, and Neuron, as well as legal briefs cited by the U.S. District Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Coverage of his work has also appeared on the covers of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME, The LA Times, and across many media (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, PBS, NASA, NatGeo). He is an inventor on four patents, co-creator of five FDA-authorized diagnostic tests, founded five biotechnology companies, and he serves as an advisor to 21 others, as well as 3 non-profits. He lives with his daughter and wife in Brooklyn, NY.

Helen Hobbs, M.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Physician Scientist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator of the University of Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Hobbs is a physician-scientist and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in Dallas, Texas. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Case Western Reserve Medical School (Cleveland OH). Afterwards she trained in internal medicine and endocrinology at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital (NYC) and UTSW and then joined the UTSW faculty in 1987. Together with Jonathan C. Cohen, she spearheaded establishment of the Dallas Heart Study (DHS), a multiethnic, population-based study of heart and metabolic diseases. In that population, she tested the hypothesis that DNA sequence variations with major phenotypic effects contribute to complex disorders. This approach unveiled a powerful strategy to dissect disease pathogenesis that was initially used to identify genetic differences that confer protection from atherosclerotic heart disease. She identified new sequence variations/genes contributing to differences in plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride (TG). These studies revealed new targets that led to the development of FDA-approved therapeutic antibodies (anti-PCSK9 and -ANGPTL3). She identified the first and most important genetic difference contributing to fatty liver disease. Gene identification is just the starting point of her studies. Ongoing functional analyses have elucidated the pathways and processes that are altered by the defective genes identified in the genetic studies. Her work has been recognized by several national and international organizations. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among the prizes she has received are the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Grand Prix Award from the Institute of France, and the Harrington Prize for Innovation and Medicine. She has been on the Board of Pfizer, Inc. since 2011 and has consulted for the Column Group since 2019.

David Haussler, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Professor of Biomolecular Engineering at University of California

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Distinguished Professor, Biomolecular Engineering, University of California

Santa Cruz Scientific Director, UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz

Scientific Co-Director, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3)

David Haussler develops statistical, algorithmic and experimental methods to explore molecular function and evolution in the human genome, integrating comparative and high-throughput genomics data to study gene structure, function, and regulation. He develops and shares infrastructure to support both basic research and medicine. In the 1990s, he pioneered the use in genomics of hidden Markov models, stochastic context-free grammars, neural networks and discriminative kernel methods, building some of the most successful computational methods to find genes in genome sequences and align them to detect evolutionary changes. As collaborators on the international Human Genome Project, his team created the first publicly available computational assembly of the human genome sequence and posted it on the Internet on July 7, 2000. They subsequently developed the UCSC Genome Browser, a web-based tool that has more than 10,000 users on average per day generating more than 1 million page requests.

His experimental research focuses on the molecular evolution of DNA, RNA, and protein sequences with a special emphasis on neurodevelopment and immunology. His lab uses CRISPR, cortical organoid, single cell RNA-seq and other technologies to functionally characterize neurodevelopmental genes that were specifically altered in human evolution. His team develops and shares infrastructure to support both research in and the clinical application of precision medicine.

Haussler received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. He has won a number of awards, including the 2015 Dan David Prize in the future category, 2011 Weldon Memorial prize for application of mathematics and statistics to biology, 2009 ASHG Curt Stern Award in Human Genetics, the 2008 Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award from the International Society for Computational Biology, the 2006 Dickson Prize for Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and the 2003 ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award in Artificial Intelligence.

H. Wyman Howard III

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Former Commander of United States Naval Special Warfare Command

Wyman Howard is a transformational leader with extensive combat mission experience and a proven 32 year record of unparalleled change leadership, creativity and risk mitigation for outcomes of strategic consequence to the security of the United States of America. He is a fourth generation Naval Officer and a 1990 graduate of the United States Naval Academy where he was a member of the Navy crew team. A native of Virginia, he is an Alexandria City High School alumnus . Wyman is a thought leader in sustainability; disruptive technologies; leadership & human capital assessment; performance; retention; inclusivity; and diversity – with relationships and linkages to global business and foreign government military and intelligence service liaison partners. He is deeply experienced and briefed in geo-political risk and opportunities across disruptive technologies – including multi-domain autonomous systems; electronic warfare; cyber threats and risk mitigations; and commercial, civil, and military & intelligence space sector applications. A retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (Upper Half) with over 32 years in the SEAL Teams and joint special operations, Wyman commanded at all levels of Special Operations, including service as Commander Naval Special Warfare Command, Special Operations Command Central, and Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He has distinctive leadership experience at the strategic, operational and tactical levels of joint, intelligence, interagency and foreign partner operations. He had multiple tours in command of Special Operations Joint Task Forces and was among the first to deploy into Afghanistan following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The combat contributions of the teams he commanded, and with whom he served, were recognized with five Presidential Unit Citations, Navy Unit Commendation and four Joint Meritorious Unit Awards. Wyman’s joint, interagency and policy staff experience includes service as the second Director of Operations for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; Deputy Director for Global Operations, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff; and Director for Counterterrorism Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the TRIUM consortium of the London School of Economics, HEC Paris School of Management, and New York University’s Stern School of Business; a Master of Science in National Security and Resource Strategy with a focus on space from the Eisenhower School, where he earned three Commandant’s awards for excellence in writing; and a Professional Certificate in Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His professional military education also includes the Naval War College, Joint Special Operations University, and the Defense Language Institute. He is a senior advisor principally focused on climate and sustainability solutions. He is an active volunteer within the community, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an Eagle Scout.

Victor Vescovo

Colossal Executive Advisory Board Member, Co-Founder and Operating Partner of Insight Equity

Victor is a Co-Founder and Operating Partner of Insight Equity. He primarily leads the firm’s investments in the aerospace, defense, electronics, and industrial pollution control industries and is Chairman of Insight Equity’s three companies that operate in those areas. Before co-founding Insight Equity, Victor was a senior manager at Bain & Company where he focused on merger integration and operational improvement cases. In the early nineties, Victor worked in the mergers & acquisitions department of Lehman Brothers where he was responsible for company due diligence and transaction execution, as well as working overseas in the Middle East advising the Saudi government on business investments.

Victor received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was named a Baker Scholar. He has also received a Master’s Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a double major BA in economics and political science from Stanford University. Additionally, Victor served 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer, retiring in 2013 as a Commander (O-5). His principal duties involved operational airstrike targeting and after 9/11, counter-terrorism with a focus on the Pacific theater.

In 2017, Victor became the 12th American to complete the “Explorer’s Grand Slam” which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world’s continents including Mt. Everest and skiing at least 100 kilometers to the North and South Poles. In 2020, he piloted history’s deepest ever submarine dive in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, was the first person to do it repeatedly – now twelve times, and in August 2019 became the first person to visit “The Five Deeps,” the deepest point in all five of the world’s oceans. Victor is also the first person to dive the five deepest points on any ocean floor, has made three dives to the Titanic including the only solo dive ever made there, and completed the deepest wreck dive in history at the site of the USS Johnston in early 2021. He is also a commercially rated multi-engine jet and helicopter pilot, certified submersible test pilot, and an astronaut having completed a commercial launch to space with Blue Origin in June 2022.

John Lukas

Colossal Conservation Advisory Board Member, Okapi Conservation Project Founder

John is presently leading the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in managing a strategic conservation program that will help advance their current partnerships and forge new alliances for the benefit of wildlife and wild places. The zoo is supporting John’s involvement in managing the Okapi Conservation Project in DR Congo and his leadership roles with partner organizations such as the International Rhino Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Network.

For 6 years, John was the resident curator for the New York Zoological Society’s Rare Animal Survival Center on St. Catherine’s Island, Georgia. After getting to know paper magnate Howard Gilman during a safari to Africa in 1980, he became White Oak Plantation’s first director of conservation in 1982. For 30 years John led the development of White Oak Conservation Center into a base of conservation efforts for threatened and endangered species that are part of breeding, research, training and re-introduction programs involving biologists, researchers and students from around the world.

John’s holistic approach to wildlife conservation is espoused by his involvement in field
conservation programs around the world. He is president and founder of the Okapi Conservation Project in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo which since 1987 works to protect the wild population of okapi through the support of wildlife rangers and assisting local communities to become better stewards of their natural resources. John Lukas is a founding member and the president of the International Rhino Foundation, which operates and funds in situ protection and research studies for all five species of rhinos. He is also a founding member and vice-president of the Wildlife Conservation Network, which provides operating funds and technical support for entrepreneurial conservationists working on the front lines of wildlife field programs. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Anna Mertz Rhino Trust which funds on the ground protection of rhinos in Africa and Asia. John is an advisor to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center which is rehabilitating orphaned endangered Grauer’s gorillas in DR Congo. He is chairman of the board of the South East Zoo Alliance for Conservation and Research which provides research support to many zoos and aquariums around the US.

Michael Hofreiter, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Professor for Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics at the University of Potsdam, Germany

Michael Hofreiter is scientific advisor for Colossal Bioscience. He is Professor for Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics at the University of Potsdam, Germany. His research focuses on paleogenomics of extinct species such as mammoth, dwarf elephants, cave bears and other Pleistocene megafauna. Michael studied biology in Munich where he met the father of ancient DNA analyses, Svante Pääbo, who was a professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University at this time. Michael followed Svante to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig as a PhD student and received his PhD from the University of Leipzig in 2002. He continued working at the MPI EVA, first as a postdoc and, from 2005-2009, as a research group leader. In 2009, he was appointed as Professor for Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of York. In 2013, he was offered his current professorship in Potsdam, where he has worked since then.

Michael has published on ancient DNA since 1998. While his interest is mainly in deciphering the evolutionary history of – mostly mammalian – species, he has also published a large number of technical studies and was among the first to apply next generation sequencing to ancient DNA. His research started on short segments of ancient DNA pieced together via PCR, but since the introduction of next generation sequencing in 2005, it has shifted more and more towards deciphering complete genomes, which allow tremendous insights into the evolution and past life of extinct creatures. Michael has worked on numerous species, but he has a special interest in cave bears and extinct elephant species (including the mammoth). Among his publications are a number of papers that resolved the phylogenetic relationship of the mammoth to the living elephants, a genomic analysis that showed that the extinct straight tusked elephant was a hybrid species, the first mitochondrial genome of an extinct dwarf elephant and the oldest genome from outside the permafrost, obtained from a 360,000 year old cave bear bone.

Erez Lieberman Aiden, Ph.D.

Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member, Research Scientist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine

Erez Lieberman Aiden received his PhD from Harvard and MIT in 2010. After several years at Harvard’s Society of Fellows and at Google as Visiting Faculty, he moved to the Baylor College of Medicine, where he is now an Associate Professor, with additional appointments at Rice University and ShanghaiTech.

Dr. Aiden’s inventions include the Hi-C method for three-dimensional DNA sequencing, which enables scientists to examine how the two-meter long human genome folds up inside the tiny space of the cell nucleus (Lieberman-Aiden & Van Berkum et al., Science, 2009). In 2014, his laboratory reported the first comprehensive map of loops across the human genome, mapping their anchors with single-base-pair resolution (Rao & Huntley et al., Cell, 2014). In 2015, his lab showed that these loops form by extrusion, and that it is possible to add and remove loops and domains in a predictable fashion using targeted mutations as short as a single base pair (Sanborn & Rao et al., PNAS, 2014). In 2017, Dr. Aiden and Olga Dudchenko showed that it is possible to use 3D maps, generated using Hi-C, to reliably and inexpensively assemble whole chromosomes (Dudchenko et al., Science, 2017). Today, Hi-C is a key component of most contemporary genome projects.

Together with Jean-Baptiste Michel, Dr. Aiden also developed the Google Ngram Viewer, a tool for probing cultural change by exploring the frequency of words and phrases in books over the centuries. This tool is used by billions of people as a part of Google Search.

Dr. Aiden’s research has won numerous awards, including recognition for one of the top 20 “Biotech Breakthroughs that will Change Medicine”, by Popular Mechanics, membership in Technology Review’s 2009 TR35, recognizing the top 35 innovators under 35; and in Cell’s 2014 40 Under 40. His work has been featured on the front page of the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, and the Houston Chronicle. One of his talks has been viewed millions of times at TED.com; four of his research papers have appeared on the cover of Nature, Science and Cell. In 2012, he received the President’s Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, the highest government honor for young scientists, from Barack Obama. In 2014, Fast Company called him “America’s brightest young academic.” In 2015, his laboratory was recognized on the floor of the US House of Representatives for its discoveries about the structure of DNA.

OUR ADVISORS

Expertise is in Colossal’s DNA.

But that’s a gOOD thing!

Collective Patents

Published Papers

PhDs

Leadership

SCIENtific
Advisory Board

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.

Austin Gallagher, Ph.D.

Doris A. taylor,
ph.d.

Kenneth Lacovara,
ph.d.

Thomas Hildebrandt,
ph.d.

Leadership

Executive
Advisory Board

Robert Nelsen

Richard Garriott

ERIK ANDERSON

Leadership

CONSERVATION
Advisory Board

FORREST GALANTE

Iain Douglas Hamilton, Ph.D., CBE

Honorable Aurelia Skipwith, J.D.

Bioethics

ALTA CHARO, J.D.

ALTA CHARO, J.D.

Leadership

INDIGENOUS
COUNCIL

- Mark N. Fox

MHA Nation Tribal Chairman

Leadership

Youth Advisory Board

press / media

The Company Trying To Revive Mammoths Is Now Helping Others Save Living Species

Tasmanian tiger to roam again? Cartoons explain Colossal Biosciences’ de-extinction bid

Most complete Tasmanian tiger genome yet pieced together from 110-year-old pickled head

Australia could witness the return of one of its most iconic species in largest bid to bring an extinct animal back to life

Colossal Is The Real Life Blockbuster of ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ With Celebs Like Tom Brady Behind It

The Colossal Foundation Aims to Save Threatened Species with De-Extinction Science

Opinion: How bringing back the woolly mammoth could save species that still walk the Earth

OUR ADVISORS

Expertise is in Colossal’s DNA.

But that’s a gOOD thing!

Collective Patents

Published Papers

PhDs

Leadership

SCIENtific Advisory Board

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.

Austin Gallagher, Ph.D.

Doris A. taylor,ph.d.

Kenneth Lacovara, ph.d.

Thomas Hildebrandt, ph.d.

Leadership

Executive Advisory Board

Robert Nelsen

Richard Garriott

ERIK ANDERSON

Leadership

CONSERVATION Advisory Board

FORREST GALANTE

Iain Douglas Hamilton, Ph.D., CBE

Honorable Aurelia Skipwith, J.D.

Bioethics

ALTA CHARO, J.D.

ALTA CHARO, J.D.

Leadership

INDIGENOUSCOUNCIL

- Mark N. Fox

MHA Nation Tribal Chairman

Leadership

Youth Advisory Board

press / media

The Company Trying To Revive Mammoths Is Now Helping Others Save Living Species

Tasmanian tiger to roam again? Cartoons explain Colossal Biosciences’ de-extinction bid

Most complete Tasmanian tiger genome yet pieced together from 110-year-old pickled head

Australia could witness the return of one of its most iconic species in largest bid to bring an extinct animal back to life

Colossal Is The Real Life Blockbuster of ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ With Celebs Like Tom Brady Behind It

The Colossal Foundation Aims to Save Threatened Species with De-Extinction Science

Opinion: How bringing back the woolly mammoth could save species that still walk the Earth

SCIENtific
Advisory Board

Doris A. taylor,
ph.d.

Kenneth Lacovara,
ph.d.

Thomas Hildebrandt,
ph.d.

Executive
Advisory Board

CONSERVATION
Advisory Board

INDIGENOUS
COUNCIL