Breakfast with Rockstars
#WESTrockstars

Dr. Emily Reichert serves as Chief Executive Officer of Greentown Labs, the largest clean technology startup incubator in the United States. As the company's first employee, Emily has spearheaded the rapid growth of Greentown Labs into a global center for clean technology innovation, attracting visitors and partners from around the world. Emily started her career at Arthur D. Little as a Ph.D. scientist and progressed into R&D, business development and general management roles. Prior to Greentown Labs, she was the Director of Business Operations at the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry where she helped grow the angel-funded startup into a sustainable contract R&D business with a mission to minimize environmental impact of chemical products. Emily also served as a MIT Sloan Fellow in Innovation and Global Leadership as well as a Venture Labs Fellow at Flagship Ventures, a Boston-based Venture Capital firm. Emily has been appointed to leadership positions on innovation, economic development, entrepreneurship and clean technology commercialization at the city, state, and federal level including Massachusetts Governor’s Economic Development Planning Council and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Emily has served as a board member or as an advisor for a number of entrepreneurship and clean technology-focused organizations including the MIT Energy Club, Northeast Clean Energy Council, Cleantech Open Northeast, Cyclotron Road, the Incubatenergy Network and the MIT Enterprise Forum. Emily was profiled in Forbes Magazine as “The Woman Who Runs the Fastest Growing Cleantech Startup Hub on the East Coast” and listed as one of Mashable’s “15 People Shaping Boston’s Tech Scene,” Emily was also named “Startup Supporter of the Year” by the Northeast Clean Energy Council and a “Woman to Watch” by the Boston Business Journal. Emily has earned international recognition for her leadership in cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship and has received invitations to speak at International Conferences such as Les Rencontres Economiques d’Aix-en-Provence, France, and the Japanese Women’s Leadership Initiative Summit in Tokyo, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Chesley Chen is Chief Executive Officer of Safety Partners, Inc., which provides environmental, health, and safety programs to over 200 life science and technology companies each year. He currently serves on the WEST Advisory Board. Chen is a serial entrepreneur and has over 30 years of experience in launching and scaling up early to mid-stage technology-driven companies in clean technology, life sciences, healthcare, and financial services. He has worked for a wide range of firms including The Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, Goldman Sachs, Health Dialog, Good Measures, and the Hughes Aircraft Company in a multitude of roles. Chen holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Tufts University, an SM in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.  He dedicates his time to sharing stories about his journey to CEO and his ongoing learnings. Outside of work, he devotes his time to family, rock climbing, martial arts, piano, and studying the arts and sciences. He is of Chinese heritage, the son and grandson of Chinese immigrants.