He was recently appointed to Ireland’s national Innovation Taskforce by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
Dr. Lee is a technology venture finance, commercialization and innovation strategy and policy professional with over 15 years entrepreneurial and senior executive leadership and advisory experience in seed-stage investment; venture-backed startups; global technology corporations; venture capital and private equity funds, angel networks, federal S&T agencies, state economic development offices, leading research universities, industry associations and national governments. His management and technical experience includes global strategy and research positions with Hewlett Packard, GE Global Research, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan. Burton’s sector expertise spans software, artificial intelligence, robotics, alternative energy, environmental systems, green IT, semiconductors, nanotechnology, aerospace and defense, sensor networks, medical devices and manufacturing.
Dr. Lee serves as Managing Partner of Innovarium Ventures, a strategic, financial and technical advisory services firm based in Silicon Valley. Current and recent clients include the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA Ames Research Center and New Mexico Spaceport Authority. He also serves as Principal and co-founder of Space Angels Network, a professionally managed national network of accredited investors focused on seed- and early-stage aviation- and space-related ventures.
During 2006-2008, Burton served as Innovation Policy Advisor to Governor Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign; as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences’ Computer Science and Telecommunications Board in Washington DC; and as innovation cluster development policy advisor to the state of New Mexico. Previous S&T and economic policy assignments include a tenure at US labor union federation AFL-CIO headquarters, and serving as a senior tourism advisor to Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga and the Central Bank of Jamaica.
Burton holds a PhD in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Stanford University (2002), and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship (Cornell, 2004).
Home
