Greg Kress, Ph.D.
FOUNDER & CEO
Greg Kress is a technology entrepreneur and multidisciplinary hardware engineer. Prior to founding Imagia, Greg was the founder and CEO of Pearl Coffee, a hardware-enabled office coffee service with backing from Y Combinator. Greg has helped to launch more than 20 first-of-a-kind hardware products as CEO at Radicand, a startup accelerator in Silicon Valley. He also has investment experience as a Senior Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund. Greg received his master’s and doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University where he is currently an Adjunct Lecturer. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the Engineering Physics program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
John Kenison, Ph.D.
SENIOR OPTICAL ENGINEER
John Kenison is a physicist with more than 7 years of experience in the development of optical systems for imaging and sensing applications. Prior to joining Imagia, John developed systems for optical detection of airborne contaminants at Picarro and semiconductor metrology tools at KLA. John earned his doctorate at UC Irvine where he worked on the enhancement of nonlinear microscopy signals through plasmonic effects. In 2019 he joined the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center (CEDAR) at Oregon Health and Sciences University to work on novel single molecule imaging systems to extend the utility of super-resolution imaging in cancer research.
Vickrant Zunjarrao
LEAD CAMERA SYSTEMS ENGINEER
Vickrant Zunjarrao has more than 14 years of experience in camera perception and image processing. He has developed over 20 consumer cameras currently on the market. Prior to joining Imagia, Vickrant was the Camera Perception and Image Quality Tuning Lead at Meta. Before Meta, Vickrant was the Senior Color Scientist and Image Quality Tuning Lead at Microsoft, where he was responsible for the Microsoft Surface line of products. Previously he held similar roles at Epson and Dolby. Vickrant obtained his Masters at the Rochester Institute of Technology, a top-ranked Optics program globally. He is former Vice Chair of the IEEE Camera Phone Image Quality working group.
Arindom Datta, Ph.D.
PRINCIPAL NANOFABRICATION ENGINEER
Arindom Datta is a Materials Scientist with more than 14 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and deep expertise in micro/nanofabrication. Prior to joining Imagia, Arindom held Sr. Process Engineer roles at Adecco, Digilens, Lumentum, Spin Memory, Veeco Instruments and Innovative Micro Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and did his post-doctoral research in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Arindom has 5 years of research experience with 40 academic publications and holds four U.S. patents, two of which have been licensed by Intel.
Heydar Honarvar Nazari, Ph.D.
STAFF NANOFABRICATION ENGINEER
Heydar Honarvar Nazari is a Materials Scientist with more than 9 years of experience in semiconductor materials and deep expertise in micro/nanofabrication. Prior to joining Imagia, Heydar earned his doctorate at the Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP) at SUNY Binghamton with a focus in novel materials for photovoltaics and transistors. He worked directly with Professor Stanley M. Whittingham, the Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry in 2019, to fabricate a new generation of Li-ion batteries. As a partner and Technical Manager at Kish Solar, Heydar directly contributed to bringing 25 MW in solar capacity online.
Chris Alliegro, Ph.D.
MEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chris is an experienced executive, investor and engineer, and currently Managing Partner at MetaVC Partners. He served as Managing Director of the Invention Science Fund, following eight years as Managing Director of the Invention Development Fund with a focus in metamaterials startups. He held multiple positions at Microsoft, where he managed business applications and platform strategies, including director of data center operations and engineering, and director of engineering for MSN. Chris was also a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He earned a PhD in Physics from Yale University.
Larry Froeber
MEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Larry Froeber is the Chief Financial Officer at Intellectual Ventures (IV), where he has held multiple finance leadership roles since 2008. He is responsible for managing critical corporate functions including finance, tax, treasury, IT, and investor relations. Prior to joining IV, Larry served as the Chief Financial Officer at one of Washington State’s largest privately held mortgage banks. He was also VP and head of finance and administration for Ignition Partners, a Seattle-area VC firm that invests in early-stage software and IT companies with approximately $1B AUM. Larry earned a business degree from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
Homer Antoniadis, Ph.D.
MEMBER, BOARD OF ADVISORS
Homer brings more than 25 years of experience in developing hardware products for consumer electronics, displays, lighting and photovoltaics. He has held leadership positions at Nanosys, ISF Incubator, Kateeva, DuPont, Innovalight, Osram, HP, and Xerox, and has served as advisor, board member, and expert witness to international firms. Homer is an accomplished display technology/product development leader and engineer who specializes in advancing display technology from R&D to mass manufacturing. He holds 32 US patents and has published more than 70 technical papers. He holds a MS and PhD in Solid State Physics from Syracuse University.