Michael Costa

Chairman, Governance Committee, R42 AI and Longevity Funds

2021 - Current

R42 AI and Longevity Funds are two seed funds aggregating >$25 million targeting early stage investments in companies at the intersection of mathematics and biology. The funds sole GP is Dr. Ronjon Nag, a serial entrepreneur and investor, and a founder, advisor and board member of multiple start-ups, some of which have been sold to giants including Apple, BlackBerry, and Motorola.

Member

2020

Member

2018

Innovation Fellow

2018

 Appointed as a fellow for the umbrella organization under which all entrepreneurship-related initiatives and programs at Columbia Business School are housed.  Coach and mentor a diverse range of student startups, supporting individuals from their initial business idea through Think Bigger, Professor Sheena Iyengar's ground breaking approach to the science and art of innovation.

Board Member

2018

 Cultivate and evaluate investments for one of the longest running active angel groups in New York City.  Spearheaded recent investments in Magellan (podcast ad measurement), US Integrity (sports betting monitoring tech platform), Allstar Gaming (creator economy focused cloud based software startup democratizing production and distribution of gaming content)and Measure Studio (social media analytics platform focussed on short form video).

Lecturer, Entrepreneurship in the Arts Masters Program

2020

Lecturer in Start-Up Capital Formation, a course focussed on fundraising and philanthropy for the nonprofit sector, which includes soliciting charitable donations from individuals and seeking foundation and government grants, and capital formation for for profit entities, covering self and friends & family financing, incubators/accelerators, crowdfunding/digital fundraising, non-dilutive capital raising and angel and venture capital investors.

aiLeadership Council Member

2019 - 2023

 Drive client relationship sourcing for the commercialization of r4’s artificial intelligence solutions, maximizing the company’s decades’ worth of expertise in extracting profit from data.  Aggressively market and implement cross-enterprise AI services to deliver better business outcomes thru strategic collaboration with senior executives.  Champion and advocate for the organization, demonstrating results to potential Clients at the CEO and CIO level.  Elicit, identify, cultivate and solicit Fortune 500 clients leveraging personal relationships.

Adjunct Assistant Professor

2021 - 2021

Member

2018 - 2018

Director

2009 - 2018

 Fostered corporate strategies toward the achievement of significant milestones for this publicly traded lifestyle media company with leading brands HGTV, the Food Network and the Travel Channel.  Directed Scripps from spin off from its legacy newspaper parent to its acquisition by Discovery 10 years later creating in excess of $6B in value.