News: Chemonics Hires Alessandro Zago as Investment Officer

Chemonics is pleased to announce Alessandro Zago as its new Investment Officer.

In this role, Alessandro will develop the company’s long-term investment strategy to allow Chemonics to grow inorganically; strengthen and expand its technology and innovation capabilities; and equip its global workforce with cutting-edge tools and technology to increase its development impact.

Alessandro is based in the San Francisco Bay area. Before joining Chemonics, he served as an investment professional and business executive for more than 18 years, identifying and seizing global investment opportunities and strategic partnerships in a variety of new technology and verticals. He gained extensive experience in corporate venture capital, venture capital, and business development, having served in corporate venture capital organizations, venture capital firms, tech startups, boards, and accelerators. In particular, he has years of experience capitalizing on emerging new technology trends, including in environmental technology, to create long-term value for the organizations he served.

“The landscape of development is changing, and Chemonics will evolve to meet increasingly complex challenges around the world,” said President and CEO Jamey Butcher. “Alessandro will lead these efforts, and we are excited to harness his deep investment knowledge and scale our efforts to tackle the world’s toughest development challenges.”

Before joining Chemonics, Alessandro served in the Corporate Venture Capital and Corporate Development arms of Hyundai Motor Group, having invested in U.S. startups (but also including deals in Korea, China, the U.K., E.U., and Israel). In this role, he globally sourced, structured, negotiated, executed, and managed venture investments and strategic partnerships in mobility, urban air mobility, electrification, energy, hydrogen, infrastructure, smart cities, supply chain and logistics, digitalization, and data.

Alessandro holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, as well as a global executive M.B.A. from INSEAD.