Paul Thurk

ARCH Venture Partners

Paul Thurk recently opened ARCH's first European Union office in Dublin, Ireland, where he is a Managing Director. Paul has been with ARCH since 2000 when he began his fellowship. Paul focuses on solid-state lighting, cleantech, semiconductors, advanced materials, nanotechnology, electronics and optoelectronics. He was co-founder and initial CEO of CoolEdge Lighting and of InnovaLight, a company that was borne out of Paul's Kauffman Fellows field project and has since been sold to Dupont. Paul has participated in the development of ARCH portfolio companies Cambrios, Kotura, Nitronex, and Semprius. Paul has also been a key part of ARCH's entrepreneur-in-residence programs at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

Formerly, Paul was a Director of Operations for NABS, a supplier of electronics components, where he established operations on behalf of NABS in five countries and was responsible for setting-up business infrastructure, systems, personnel, and processes in each. Paul also developed and launched several innovative supply chain management programs. Mr. Thurk joined ARCH from SSM Ventures.

Education, Personal, and Fellowship

Paul holds a BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Paul Thurk is a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 6 and served his fellowship under mentor Clint Bybee at ARCH Venture Partners in Austin, TX. Thurk later served mentor to Dan Crowley (Class 16), who is at the National Digital Research Centre in Dublin, Ireland.