Thomas Baruch

Biography

Thomas Baruch joined the Calysta Board of Directors in 2013 and was named Executive Chairman of the Board in 2014. He retired in 2014 from Formation 8, where he was a founding member and chairman. Mr. Baruch formed CMEA Capital in 1988 with New Enterprise Associates (NEA). He was responsible for managing a total of $1.2 billion of capital across seven funds from inception to July of 2010. While at CMEA, Mr. Baruch also led investments including major IPO’s and significant liquidity events for Aclara Biosciences, Codexis, Inc., Entropic Communications, Flextronics, Inc., Intermolecular, Silicon Spice and Symyx Technologies. He is now Partner Emeritus of CMEA. Earlier in his career, Mr. Baruch worked at Exxon Mobil for 12 years. When he left in 1982, he was serving as President of the Exxon Materials Division. Next, he founded Microwave Technology, Inc., a manufacturer and seller of gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated circuits for defense applications. Mr. Baruch served as CEO for 6 years prior to founding CMEA Capital. Currently, Mr. Baruch serves as Chairman of the Board of Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDXS) and Intermolecular, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMI). Mr. Baruch also currently serves on the boards of CNano Technologies, Exela Pharm Sci, Foro Energy and Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Mr. Baruch is a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), where he advises the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House. Mr. Baruch is a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Council of Competitiveness and a member of the Steering Committee of its ESIS (Energy, Security, Innovation and Sustainability) Initiative and the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative. Mr. Baruch is also a member of the “Brain Trust” of the ARPA-E program within the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Baruch recently served as a member of the IPO Task Force advising the U.S. Department of the Treasury in connection with necessity of programs to stimulate startup activity in the U.S. Mr. Baruch is also a member of the board of directors of the Society of Kauffman Fellows, a member of the Climate Recovery Cabinet of the Sierra Club, and a trustee of the “That Man May See” program within the University of California San Francisco. Mr. Baruch is an advisor to Hasso Plattner Ventures, a leading German venture capital fund. He has recently joined the Board of CASE, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Architecture Science and Ecology. In addition, Mr. Baruch is a Trustee of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he was Co-Chairman of its recent $1.1 billion Capital Campaign. He and his wife, Johanna, are Founders of the Baruch Center for Solar Biochemical Energy Research at the School of Science of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Richard Baruch, M.D. Endowed Chair in metabolic pathways of the School of Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. Mr. Baruch holds an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Juris Doctor degree from Capital University. He is a member of the State Bar of Ohio and is a registered patent attorney.

Research Interest

Informatics