RJ Amador

RJ Amador is Director of New Ventures for Fairwater Labs. He is a mission-driven builder, mentor, and creative who has spent the majority of his career moving ideas and people from 0 to 1. At FWL, RJ shepherds dual-use AL/ML concepts from whiteboard scribble to business launch. He recruits co-founders to lead these portfolio companies and acts as executive coach and advisor to their C-suites. He also moonlights as an intelligence officer in the Navy reserve, leading teams of data analysts that brief flag officers and federal agencies.

Earlier in his career RJ developed carbon-credit analytics and project pipeline mechanisms at Verra, founded a circular-economy consumer brand stocked in 200+ stores ("The Glue That Saves Planet Earth"), and grew a nascent martech company on university campuses in Southern California.

RJ has applied his diverse toolkit in academe as a tenured professor, master instructor, and adjunct instructor at five universities including the United States Naval Academy. He's taught more than 30 business, marketing, and entrepreneurship courses that range from venture launch and business operations to marketing strategy and cybersecurity. He holds masters degrees from the University of Cambridge and the U.S. Naval War College, and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Irvine.