Team

Nehal Bhojak has been an early investor, EIR, and board member at Lumis since its inception in 2017 and brings over 20 years of experience in early-stage investment, new venture creation, technology commercialization and corporate innovation to the company.

Prior to joining Lumis, she ran Silicon Valley-based OneValley’s innovation center in Pittsburgh. She continues to be engaged with the group as Senior Advisor, assisting them with strategic ecosystem development activities. She is also Adjunct Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering teaching Medical Product Entrepreneurship.

From 2017 to 2021, she was the Managing Director of Pittsburgh CREATES, an industry facing innovation center at the intersection of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh that helped established and emerging medical device companies build, validate, and commercialize the next generation of their technologies. From 2003 through 2017, Nehal was part of the leadership team at Idea Foundry, a technology – based economic development and investment organization. As its Director of Innovation, she led the creation, growth and operational management of their Healthcare & Life Sciences Accelerator and Investment programs where she was EIR to 177 new ventures across diverse industry verticals that cumulatively raised $435M in follow-on capital, generated $300M in revenue and led to acquisitions by Fortune 500 companies. In her role as EIR, she worked closely with the management teams of emerging companies to help them address critical business needs including product strategy, sales, marketing, fundraising and strategic planning. She was also responsible for managing Idea Foundry’s university and corporate partnering initiatives.

Nehal has deep roots in Pittsburgh’s innovation ecosystem and is on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association and advisor to several start-ups. She has held positions as Senior Consulting Engineer at i2 Technologies, Dallas and Whittman-Hart, Chicago in the areas of management consulting, optimization, supply chain management and product strategy.

Nehal holds a Master’s degree from the Heinz College of Public Policy & Management at Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.