Dr. Gregory Olsen

GHO Ventures

THOUGHT

Leader

AN INNOVATOR OF INDUSTRY
“Angel” Investor
INNOVATE New Jersey

As Featured In:

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

INNOVATE New Jersey

As Featured In:

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

In order to understand what GHO Ventures is, we need to talk about Dr. Gregory Olsen. Greg started the company EPITAXX, a fiber-optic detector manufacturer in 1984 together with Vladimir Ban. It was sold in 1990 for $12 million.

He then founded Sensors Unlimited, a near-infrared camera manufacturer in 1992 with Marshall Cohen. Sensors was sold to Finisar Corp. for $600 million in 2000, repurchased by the management team in 2002 for $6 million, and then sold again to Goodrich, Corp. in 2005 for $60 million.

 

It was during his time at Sensors Unlimited that he decided to become an “Angel” Investor and founded GHO Ventures, LLC in 2001. Greg is now President & CEO of GHO Ventures in Princeton, NJ where he manages his “Angel” investments, South African winery, Montana ranch, and performs numerous speaking engagements to encourage children – especially minorities and females – to consider careers in science and engineering.

Greg is currently “Entrepreneur in Residence” and serves on the Advisory of both the ACEE & SEAS Councils at Princeton University. Advisory Board to UVA Materials Science and Engineering School.

He is active in the New Jersey Technology Counsel (NJTC), NJTC Venture Fund, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the National Academy of Engineering.

He serves on his investments’ Boards as well as the West Point ME Advisory Board, CCNY Zahn Innovation Center Board and the Deborah Heart & Lung Center Foundation.

 

His technical interests are now in the power electronics and alternative energy fields.Greg Olsen was the third private citizen to orbit the earth on the International Space Station (ISS).

After training for five months (900 hours) at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, he launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket TMA-7 on October 1, 2005 with Cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev and Astronaut Bill McArthur (Expedition 12).

He then docked to the ISS on October 3, and returned to earth on Soyuz TMA-6 on October 11 with Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Astronaut John Phillips (Expedition 11). He performed more than 150 orbits of the earth and logged almost 4 million miles of weightless travel during his 10 days in space.

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