ABOUT US
The Michigan Mobility Institute accelerates mobility workforce development, upskilling programs, and post-secondary degrees by bringing industry and education partners together. We merge the historic excellence of engineering, design, and supply chain in Michigan with deep insight into the global hiring needs of next-generation mobility disruptors. It is the first initiative of the Detroit Mobility Lab. The Michigan Mobility Institute is an independent 501(c)3 registered nonprofit.
Meet Our Team
Jessica Robinson is a Co-Founder and Partner of Assembly Ventures. She also serves as Board Chair of the Michigan Mobility Institute which she co-founded to work to accelerate the development of talent for the growing mobility industry. The Institute is the first initiative of the Detroit Mobility Lab which she co-founded to focus on building the mobility talent infrastructure necessary to shape the sector’s future within the City of Detroit. She has more than 10 years of operating experience with mobility businesses at Zipcar and Ford Smart Mobility and a background in technology and innovation launching startup accelerator programs at Techstars with industry-leading corporate partners. She serves on the State of Michigan’s Workforce Development Board.
Chris Thomas is a Co-Founder and Partner of Assembly Ventures. Prior to Assembly Ventures, he co-founded the Detroit Mobility Lab and the Michigan Mobility Institute. Previous to this, Chris co-founded Fontinalis Partners and worked to build it into one of the premier investment firms in next-generation mobility. While at Fontinalis Chris served as a Board Member for nuTonomy (acquired by Aptiv in October 2017) and Karamba Security and as a Board Observer at Parkmobile (acquired by BMW in January 2018), Life360 (IPO in May 2019), Ouster, and SmartKargo. Prior to Fontinalis Chris served in the U.S. Army as a Communications Officer in the U.S. and Iraq. Before joining the military, Chris worked as an Investment Banker at UBS within its Technology and Energy groups in New York and San Francisco.
Dexter Sullivan is Program Manager at the Michigan Mobility Institute. He leads the Mobility On-Ramp Collaborative, an effort by Michigan’s most recognized mobility companies to address regional talent needs. The Collaborative is focused on creating a new mobility credential for working professionals, strengthening career pathways by connecting efforts to existing youth STEM initiatives and post-secondary programs, and promoting next-generation mobility careers.
Dexter comes from a strong background of entrepreneurship and business professionals and is known to solve problems, using creative research models and tactics with the resources given. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University where he majored in Business Administration. Dexter formerly served as the Director of Admissions for The Kings University in Southlake, Texas. Outside of the office, he is passionate about empowering urban youth. In 2010, he founded The Man to Man Project, Inc., an educational mentoring organization that fosters mentor-peer relationships, empowering at-risk students’ ability to succeed both academically and socially.
Manny Richardson serves as Program Coordinator for the Michigan Mobility Institute. As a proud alum of the University of Central Missouri, Manny graduated with his bachelor's degree in Psychology, along with a minor in Criminal Justice. He is passionate about education, wellness, and helping others achieve their goals. Manny previously worked for the University of Michigan as a Project Coordinator for the YBMen Project. His research and design created significant value for the program.
Manny played basketball globally for seven years in countries like Taiwan, Kosovo, Italy, Germany and France. During his time abroad, he became keenly aware of the differences in mobility cultures around the world. As a critical team member of the Institute and coordinator for its Mobility On-Ramp Collaborative, Manny adds a great deal of quality to our work administratively, creating and design critical workforce reports, as well as keeping the world informed of what the Institute is doing day to day.
Advisory Board
This group plays a central role in enabling the Michigan Mobility Institute to deliver on our vision of designing training for the new jobs that will be created within the mobility industry. These distinguished thought leaders come from a range of disciplines within engineering and business. They are all leading practitioners who are teaching, building, and investing at the cutting edge of mobility technology. Their combined experience represents innovations in autonomous driving, vehicle deployment, aerospace engineering, and urban air travel.
Karl Iagnemma is Co-Founder of Boston-based nuTonomy, Inc., the leading developer of autonomous vehicle software, and President of Aptiv’s Autonomous Mobility division. Karl is a recognized authority on robotics and autonomous vehicles. As former director of the Robotic Mobility Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), his research resulted in more than 150 technical publications, 50 issued or filed patents, and numerous edited volumes, including books on the DARPA Grand Challenge and Urban Challenge autonomous vehicle competitions. Karl was named one of 2017’s “Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs and designated a member of the 2017 “Recode 100” list of technology influencers.
Karl holds MS and PhD degrees from MIT, where he was a National Science Foundation fellow, and a BS from the University of Michigan, where he graduated first in his class. Karl is also an award-winning author of fiction whose novels and short stories have been translated into seven languages.
Alisyn Malek is the COO and Co-Founder of May Mobility, Inc. May Mobility is developing and deploying self-driving technology to transform transportation. By starting with the best first market–low-speed shuttles for public roadways–May Mobility is launching turnkey transportation services now and establishing a ground game that will propel the company into larger markets.
She was formerly the head of the innovation pipeline at General Motors. Prior to that role, she was an investment manager at GM Ventures. During her tenure there, she led investment in the autonomous space, including the early negotiations with Cruise Automation, helping to cement GM’s autonomous strategy. As an automotive engineer, she led a global team to develop SAE Level 3 charging technology for GM’s Spark and Bolt EV products, as well as supporting release of electrical components for the first generation Chevy Volt.
Ms. Malek holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and master’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan, as well as an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Ms. Malek was recognized as a top ten female innovator to watch by Smithsonian in 2018, named a top automotive professional under 35 to watch by LinkedIn in 2015 for her work in cutting-edge product development and corporate venture, and identified as a Crain’s Detroit 20 in their 20’s awardee for her work in engineering and deployment of advanced charging systems.
Anita Sengupta is Co-Founder of Airspace Experience Technologies (ASX) where she leads the team developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) urban air mobility end to end transportation system. With the development of an emission-free eVTOL aircraft, Anita and the team at ASX hope to revolutionize urban transit and bring about a key technology for the smart cities of the future. She believes that high-tech solutions to transportation, can reduce our carbon foot print and combat climate change. Anita is a rocket scientist and aerospace engineer who for over 20 years has been developing technologies that have enabled the exploration of Mars, Asteroids, and Deep Space. She is a Research Associate Professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering where she teaches the only Entry Descent and Landing class on the West Coast.
Marc Weiser is Managing Director of RPM Ventures, a Midwest and Silicon Valley-based seed and early stage venture firm focused on B2B & B2B2C internet and mobile startups, with $200M in assets under management. For RPM, Weiser specializes in investing in Automotive, Mobility, and Transportation startups. Over the last 15 years he has served on over 20 boards of directors and currently sits on the boards of: BountyJobs, the leading contingency recruiting marketplace; Mobi, a machine learning, multi-modal, dynamic route planning system for smart mobility; and Polysync, a cloud based platform & operating system for the development of autonomous vehicles.
In addition to his board roles for RPM, Weiser is Vice-Chair of McKinley, Inc., one of the largest private real estate companies in the US. Marc is also a member the National Advisory Council, Science Committee for NASA, and is on the board of the James Beard Foundation. Previously he was a founding member of the board of the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) and Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan where he was also on the board of the Wolverine Venture Fund. Marc also served on the Board of Trustees of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. He is the recipient of the University of Michigan Alumni Distinguished Service Award for his efforts in founding the CFE, the TechArb (student accelerator), and the Masters in Entrepreneurship program.
Marc graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan with a BSE in aerospace engineering and an MBA with highest honors. He lives in San Francisco, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, daughter, and son.
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Interested in becoming a partner? Wanting to collaborate? Should you desire to contact us or learn more about the work we are doing, please send us a message here. We look forward to connecting with you.
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