Jay Fiske gave his mother a start when she found him, at eight years old, tinkering with a 120-volt outlet. He was rigging an alarm system for his bedroom, using a dissected alarm clock. “I was curious about how things worked,” says Fiske, who is now vice president of operations for Wakonda Technologies in Massachusetts.

Fiske’s passion for mechanics has remained central to his work. While earning a 1993 undergraduate degree at Yale University, he worked at Solectria, an MIT spinoff that manufactured electric vehicles. After Yale, he went to Coopers and Lybrand Consulting as an associate in the Center for Operations Technology, where he designed and implemented lean manufacturing systems for clients in many industries. He executed a just-in-time system for a large sheet-metal fabrication facility, cutting assembly time by 75 percent and halving labor costs. “This work taught me what it takes to be a competitive U.S. manufacturer,” he says.
At MIT, Fiske earned both an MBA and an SM as a fellow in the Leaders for Manufacturing program. After working at Teradyne, he became general partner with the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, a privately held venture capital group focused on renewable-energy startups, in 2005. He led the due-diligence process for Wakonda, among other businesses, and in 2008 he joined the Woburn-based company, which is developing innovative and cost-effective solar photovoltaic products that will be integrated into construction basics such as roofing tiles.
Fiske often returns to MIT to fuel his enthusiasm for innovation. “I love talking with professors in areas like engineering and materials science,” he says. “The enormous amount of clean-energy-related research coming out of MIT is very exciting.”
Looking at the national scene, Fiske says he believes that President Barack Obama will provide more support for clean energy. “I also feel optimistic about the U.S. as a manufacturing center,” he says. “Traditional energy is all about extracting and refining. So much of renewable energy is about manufacturing cutting-edge technologies at extremely competitive costs.”
Fiske lives in Winchester, MA, with his wife, Margaret Chen, an investment consultant, and their two daughters, five-year-old Tabitha and nine-year-old Mari. The family enjoys spending time outdoors, including cross-country skiing and biking.
Keep Reading
Most Popular

The big new idea for making self-driving cars that can go anywhere
The mainstream approach to driverless cars is slow and difficult. These startups think going all-in on AI will get there faster.

Inside Charm Industrial’s big bet on corn stalks for carbon removal
The startup used plant matter and bio-oil to sequester thousands of tons of carbon. The question now is how reliable, scalable, and economical this approach will prove.

The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.

The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.