Jerry Hollister became a Co-Owner of BBCetc in October 2023, six years after joining BBCetc in late 2017.  Jerry leads the customer development efforts at BBCetc and the NSF/DOD/DOE/USDA Team that supports clients applying to these four Agencies.  He led the 2021 Catalyst Award effort that continues as the Women-CAN program funded by the SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund and leads the Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) Program for NOAA Phase I awardees.  He currently serves as a reviewer for NSF, DOE, USDA and NOAA and regularly speaks about SBIR/STTR at several national conferences.

Jerry started his career as a commissioned officer in the US Navy Civil Engineer Corps.  Before his Honorable Discharge, he served as a warranted Contracting Officer for DOD. Prior to joining BBCetc, Jerry was Chief Operating Officer for Michigan-based Niowave, a developer of superconducting accelerators, where he worked to build the start-up company from 2008-17. During his tenure, Jerry led the Niowave SBIR team that received over 45 SBIR/STTR awards worth over $20 million and Niowave was named the Department of Energy 2010 SBIR/STTR Small Business of the Year.  He remains on the Niowave Board of Directors and was a key contributor to Niowave receiving two Phase III Cooperative Agreements with the National Nuclear Security Administration totaling $28 million. Niowave has also recently signed multiple long-term radioisotope supply agreements that could cumulatively exceed $500 million over the next decade.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Jerry has been in key leadership positions for two companies that have received the Tibbetts Award from the SBA for excellence in SBIR/STTR:  Niowave in 2016 and BBCetc in 2020.