Bill Jeffrey, Ph.D.

As Founder and General Partner of Airstream Venture Partners, Bill is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and investing in early-stage deep technology startup companies and helping them prosper.

Dr. Jeffrey has decades of experience in developing and commercializing new technologies as both a U.S. government employee and a private-sector CEO. Prior to founding Airstream Venture Partners, Bill served as CEO of SRI International from 2014 to 2021, a globally recognized nonprofit research and development organization with expertise in the biological sciences, engineering, education policy, and computer science. He also served as CEO of HRL Laboratories, a private research and development organization jointly owned by Boeing Aerospace and General Motors.

Dr. Jeffrey has extensive U.S. government science policy expertise having served in the George W. Bush administration as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he led the doubling of the NIST budget under the American Competitiveness Initiative. Previously, he served within the Executive Office of the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy as Senior Director for Homeland and National Security and Assistant Director of Space and Aeronautics immediately following the September 11th attacks. Other government service includes serving as a Deputy Office Director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and supporting several other national security and intelligence agencies.

He currently serves on the boards of Diraq, a quantum computing startup in Australia; TE Connectivity, a global public company specializing in connectivity and sensor solutions; and Friends of the Children-San Francisco, a nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Dr. Jeffrey received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, an elected Honorary Member of the International Society of Automation, and a recipient of the Navigator Award from the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.