Jean-Paul O’Brien
Chief Executive
O’Brien, Founder and CEO, is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and community builder. O'Brien is on a mission to inspire, activate, and hyper-enable Thinker Doers (scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, elite athletes, and creatives) to propel humanity forward. Black Lab builds and invests in HumanTech ventures and human potential nodes, with themes centered around Longevity, Consciousness, Community, and Environment.
Aaron Beach
Operations
Beach, Co-Founder and Head of Operations, brings his passion, experience, and expertise in human resources and operations. Beach’s strengths include creating native work cultures specifically centered on the people who lead to its success, as well as fostering inspiring and empowering work environments for business growth. Beach runs Black Lab Distribution, a scalable 3rd Party Logistics offering providing product distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment needs.
Ryan Del Grosso
Investment Strategy
Del Grosso, Head of Investment Strategy, is an operator and investor with a global lens, shaped by a childhood in Saudi Arabia and forged through service in U.S. Special Operations. A former Division I track athlete and Harvard Business School MBA, he’s led across VC-backed startups, PE-backed businesses, and mission-driven institutions like the U.S. Olympic Committee and IMPCT Group. His work focuses on ventures at the intersection of deep tech, well-being, and the public-private frontier, designed to help people of all backgrounds and abilities access a more dynamic, enhanced life journey. At Black Lab X, he helps transform bold ideas and growing firms into enduring companies.
Desmond Croan
Marketing
Croan, Head of Marketing, is a visionary digital marketer, storyteller and strategist. A Stanford alum, Croan has fueled the growth of global brands, Silicon Valley startups, and Fortune 500 companies through innovative digital marketing and storytelling. At desmond garcia, his international digital marketing agency, he empowered diverse clients from superstars to tech giants, enhancing their creative, strategic and international growth—expanding the agency from San Francisco to Miami, Medellin and São Paulo.
Hans Bergman
New Nordics
Bergman, Head of Black Lab New Nordics, invests in deep tech companies at the intersection of human performance and health tech, particularly those emerging from the New Nordics and ready to expand globally. As AI continues to accelerate, he believes the value of being human will rise, not fall. In a world where machines handle more of our cognitive load, we’ll need meaningful mental and physical activation to stay healthy, driven, and fulfilled. That’s the space Bergman is passionate about: technologies that help us move better, recover smarter, focus deeper, and live longer with purpose.
Dominic Bönisch
Germany
Bönisch, Head of Black Lab Germany, is on a mission to make entrepreneurs last longer in business and life: Unleashing Greatness. He is a hands-on entrepreneur with strong abilities to make things happen, especially building online business and optimizing corporate processes to squeeze out more efficiency and productivity.
Trent Bush
Design
Bush, Head of Design, is a Boulder native with deep roots in the outdoor industry. He founded the groundbreaking snowboarding brand Twist in high school, influencing the sport with its unique blend of skate culture and performance. His career evolved through global collaborations with top outdoor and action sports brands, where he developed a keen eye for integrating technology with user-centric design.
Tyler Ogren
INVESTMENT Associate
Ogren, Investment Associate, supports deep tech companies as they prepare for U.S. market expansion. He works closely with founders on go-to-market strategy, strategic planning, and international positioning. Prior to joining Black Lab X, Tyler served over a decade in U.S. Air Force special operations, leading joint teams across global missions and designing elite training, assessment, and selection programs. He brings a disciplined, mission-driven approach to early-stage investing. Tyler is an incoming MBA candidate at Stanford Graduate School of Business (Class of 2027) and is passionate about innovation in technology, health, and applied science.
Michael Hart
AI & SOFTWARE
Hart, Technology Advisor, is a seasoned technical executive adept at building products, platforms, teams, and groundbreaking customer experiences at both innovative startups and more established enterprises. He is VP of Engineering at Hims & Hers Health, Inc., a multi-specialty telehealth platform building a virtual front door to the healthcare system. Prior, Hart was Chief Product and Technology Officer at Kite - reimagining commerce, VP of Product for Fletch - AI enabled cybersecurity, and Director of Product Management and Engineering for Alexa Experiences.
Rolf L. Jensen
PROGRAM MANAGER
SGM (R) Jensen, Program Manager, retired as a Sergeant Major from the U.S. Army in 2020 after a distinguished 34-year career, primarily spent in Special Operations. His military journey commenced in the 3rd Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment and expanded over three decades with the U.S. Army Special Forces. Jensen's service took him across multiple continents, where he led operations in diverse environments from the African jungles to Eastern European terrains.
Barry Luginbill
GENERAL MANAGER
Luginbill, General Manager, brings over 20 years of experience in logistics, ERP systems, and operations management, Barry has held senior roles at Talos Engineered Products and Armstrong International. At Me Biosciences, Luginbill leads the development of data-driven health solutions. He also chairs the Erie Economic Development Council, driving business and community growth. As the owner of Cristos Coffee, Luginbill emphasizes community engagement, bringing people together through collaboration and shared experiences.
Mark Williams
Program Director
Williams, Program Director, is an accomplished leader specializing in AI, machine learning, and human performance. Educated at The College of William and Mary, Williams’ career has spanned military, nonprofit, startups, and corporate sectors, focusing on complex projects and entrepreneurship. Williams fosters a culture of innovation to unlock human potential through technology. His role involves integrating advanced AI, LLMs, and machine learning strategies to optimize performance in the HumanTech industry.
Jennifer O'Brien
PRIVATE EQUITY
Ms. O’Brien, Managing Member, has a long history of using technology to solve business problems and deliver tangible top- and bottom-line impact. As a senior client solutions leader, she has 25+ years of experience selling and delivering solutions to clients across diverse industries including healthcare & life sciences, technology, and private equity. At Alvarez & Marsal, Ms O’Brien works with private equity firms and corporations in the healthcare industry to drive strategic value in their portfolio, including delivering technology-driven value creation projects for portfolio companies, providing sell-side advisory services, and conducting technology due diligences.
John Duda III
ADVISOR
Igniting organizational transformation through data-driven insights, Duda joined Black Lab X in 2024 as Limited Partner and Advisor in Residence. A relentless explorer of human potential, he combines professional expertise with personal curiosity to unlock hidden capabilities. Across three decades, Duda has revolutionized teams at tech giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle, while also catalyzing growth-stage startups. His career reflects a singular mission: leveraging cutting-edge technology to elevate the human experience and reveal our untapped potential.