Tess invests in technology and people who believe as strongly as she does that frontier technology will develop solutions for societal problems. She is a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners fostering entrepreneurship of frontier technology, specifically the commercialization of space, drones, autonomous vehicles, and agriculture and food technology.
Tess currently serves as a board director for Phantom Auto, Spire Global, and Iris Automation, and as a board observer for Rocket Lab, DroneDeploy, Velo3D, Forever Oceans, and Crosschq. She was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital. She speaks and is published regularly on Bloomberg, TechCrunch and other publications on space and frontier technology.
Tess earned a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. She went on to work for Boeing and then SpaceX where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon9 rocket. She remains close to her alma mater by co-teaching a class at Stanford, serving on the board of advisors for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and founding the Stanford Aero/Astro Alumni Association.
Tess is passionate about space exploration and imagines a future where we all travel to space. She hopes to one day take a trip herself.