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An entrepreneur with a passion for exploration, Guillermo Söhnlein has successfully launched seven for-profit ventures and three nonprofit organizations focused on technology innovation, space commercialization, and ocean exploration.

An expedition leader, submersible pilot, and scuba diver, as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of OceanGate (2009-2013), Söhnlein led six ocean exploration expeditions with manned submersibles in Puget Sound, Monterey, Catalina Island and Miami.

Söhnlein is a Venture Partner at Nexxus Ventures, a Silicon Valley international incubator, accelerator, technology lab, and venture fund. He previously founded or co-founded the Space Angels Network, Sea-Space Initiative (part of the Exploration Institute), International Association of Space Entrepreneurs (part of the Space Frontier Foundation) and the OceanGate Foundation. He has served as Chairman of the Marine Technology Society’s Ocean Exploration Committee and is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors for both Deep Space Industries and the WayPaver Foundation.  A former member of the Deep Submersible Pilots Association and former officer of the U.S. Marine Corps, Söhnlein earned an A.B. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and J.D. from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.