James Lancaster
James Y. Lancaster is a serial entrepreneur, operator-investor, and community builder with over 25 years of experience turning early-stage science into companies, jobs, and economic impact.
James has served on nonprofit boards since 2004, beginning with Wednesday’s Child, a DFW-area 501(c)(3) serving the needs of foster children. In 2011 he was a co-founder of the BrightMinds Foundation, a Brazos Valley 501(c)(3), and has brought two decades of governance experience to organizations focused on innovation, education, and economic development. He served as founding General Manager of the Research Valley Innovation Center and created the Maroon Fund, a Texas A&M student-led venture fund giving students hands-on capital formation experience.
Across his career, James has founded or led companies including Solenic Medical, Ecolyse, and Shape Memory Medical, raising more than $50M in venture, strategic, and non-dilutive funding, including grants from the NIH, NSF, and DOE. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting, serving Fortune 500 clients.
He holds a BBA from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, with executive education in AI from UC Berkeley.