Dr. Jiong Ma brings deep financial, transactional and capital markets expertise to the Board, with substantial experience investing in, partnering with and working with management teams to set strategy for disruptive technology and life sciences companies to shape the business, accelerate growth and drive long-term shareholder value.
Dr. Jiong Ma has over 30 years of experience investing in, building and scaling technology and life-sciences companies globally. She has served as Chair of the Board of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: AVXL) since November 2021 and as a director of SES AI Corporation (NYSE: SES), a developer of AI-enhanced, high-performance Li-Metal and Li-ion batteries, since February 2022 and Lead Independent Director of the board of SES AI Corporation since May 2022. Since July 2024, she has served as a General Partner at Phoenix Venture Partners, investing in next-generation computing, AI/data-center infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and energy companies. She has led investments at and serves or has served as a board member of several companies across the firm’s portfolio, including ODC, Qolab, Figure8 and Nexus Photonics, and provides strategic guidance, governance oversight and capital formation support. To date, the portfolio has achieved three successful exits, including the acquisition of Nexus Photonics by IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Nubis Communications by Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) and the acquisition of Cotsworks by Moog (NYSE: MOG.A).
From December 2023 to July 2024, Dr. Ma was an independent business consultant. From March 2021 to December 2023, Dr. Ma founded and led Chavant Capital Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: CLAY), a special purpose acquisition company, which she guided through its combination with Mobix Labs (NASDAQ: MOBX) in December 2023. Dr. Ma served on the board of Chavant Capital Acquisition Corporation from March 2021 to December 2023 and Mobix Labs from December 2023 to January 2024. Prior to this, she spent 12 years as Senior Partner at Braemar Energy Ventures, serving on the Investment Committee and leading investments in resource efficiency, e-mobility and renewable energy, with board seats at more than 10 portfolio companies and multiple exits via M&A and IPO.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Ma led venture investments across TMT, digital health and cleantech at 3i Group. She began her career in senior roles at Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs, and was a founding team member of Onetta, a fiber-optics startup later acquired by Bookham.
Dr. Ma holds a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She is a Kauffman Fellow and currently serving as a Member of Engineering Advisory Council of CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science.