John Selep

Overview

John Selep is a Managing Partner of the AgTech Innovation Fund. John has been bringing new technologies to market for nearly three decades. An active investor in early-stage technology-based startups, John has provided startup capital to a number of early-stage ventures in AgTech, InfoTech, Energy, and Life Sciences. John is a Board Director and Selections Committee Chairman for the Sacramento Angels, a membership organization for angel investors in California’s Capital region. Earlier in his career, John has helped bring new technologies to market through a variety of senior roles at both startups and a Fortune 50 global technology firm. Over the course of more than two decades in product management, R&D management, and operations management roles, John has managed R&D teams on four separate continents, built a $10M network management software business and a $44M wireless networking business, managed the budget and operations of a $1B network equipment business with a $100M annual R&D budget, and helped form and was the initial chairperson for an industry-standards organization. Through these roles, John has helped develop leaders and teams and managed growing businesses from launch to $3B in scale. Outside of his professional roles, John is an active supporter of entrepreneurship and innovation in the Northern California region. John has been a guest lecturer for a number of Entrepreneurship courses and academies at the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management, and regularly mentors early-stage startups as part of UC Davis’ ‘Angels on Campus’ program. John also collaborates closely with the recently-established Sustainable AgTech Innovation Center at UC Davis, providing guidance and perspective in their selection of proposals to receive commercialization grants.