Shashank Samala
Shashank Samala grew up in Southeast India, where he witnessed climate change's direct impact on communities. He co-founded and served as VP of Product at Tempo Automation, a PCB manufacturing startup, before becoming an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carbon180, a nonprofit focused on carbon removal strategy. Samala co-founded Heirloom in 2020 to commercialize enhanced rock weathering for direct air capture and leads the company as CEO. In 2023, Heirloom opened the first commercial direct air capture facility in the United States, located in Tracy, California.