Shefali Patel

Shefali Patel is a general management and technology executive. She is the former CEO and board member of SunDensity Inc., a venture-backed Photonics start-up. Before joining SunDensity, she held strategy & marketing leadership roles at General Electric, bringing to market emerging & core technologies in industrial automation software-IIoT, power generation, storage, transmission, and distribution, with an emphasis on new business models. Prior to GE, Shefali had a successful tenure as a senior member of technical staff at Motorola Semiconductor developing next-generation Microcontrollers & MEMs sensors for automotive applications. Her global experience spans R&D tech transfer, engineering management in high-volume manufacturing, zero defect quality, sales enablement, and customer relations. Shefali specialized in disruptive innovation and general management, and regional innovation ecosystems through an organized effort between the private and public sectors to improve Solar competitiveness in the United States. She co-founded Element 14, an MIT spin-off start-up to commercialize Polysilicon technology for solar energy applications. Shefali started serving as an executive Mentor In Residence at the University of Arizona in January 2023, advising start-ups in advanced materials, Nanotechnology, energy, and life sciences. At FORGE, her goal is to collaborate with mission-centric entrepreneurs and enable them to grow their ventures.