David Ochi

Jennifer Hill asks David Ochi, Executive Director of the ANTrepreneur Center at UCI, “What are the 15 competencies of entrepreneurship?” David shares about UCI’s entrepreneur program and offers suggestions on how to approach creating one’s own business.

merage.uci.edu/research-faculty/faculty-directory/David-Ochi.html

David Ochi has over 25 years’ experience in early-stage companies having started his first enterprise – a tutoring company called A’s Unlimited - at the age of 13. Mr. Ochi ran this company for 11 years while attending high school, college and graduate school. Mr. Ochi utilized this experience to become an adjunct faculty member at the University of California, Irvine in 1999.

Mr. Ochi entered the world of technology in 2000 with the co-founding of Strevda LLC, a technology incubator. Mr. Ochi campaigned successfully for two rounds of investment funding for the nine projects. At its peak, Mr. Ochi managed and supervised nine incubation teams comprised of 95 persons.

In 2004, Mr. Ochi co-founded Websonic, LLC, a small business technology consulting firm focused on assisting small businesses utilize technology in a strategic manner. With over 200 clients, Mr. Ochi oversaw the marketing and finance operations of the company and provided managerial consulting for clients.

In 2006, Websonic LLC was sold so that Mr. Ochi could co-found Alpha Sprouts, an early-stage consulting company.
In 2010, Mr. Ochi co-founded what is now Sunnox Corporation, an innovator of sustainable energy solutions for private and municipal street lighting.

Mr. Ochi was the founding Executive Director of the ANTrepreneur Center at UCI and is the founding Director of New Ventures at UCI Applied Innovation. He is also currently the Chief Strategy Officer of Convert Coal, Inc., a cutting edge coal cleaning technology company based in the United States with initial market efforts in China, India, and throughout Europe.

Mr. Ochi currently sits on the Board of Directors of a half-dozen companies and is actively involved in the growth of 7 early-stage companies.

Mr. Ochi holds a B.A. in Political Science, a B.S. in Biological Sciences, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. Additionally, Mr. Ochi graduated from the Keller Graduate School of Management with a Masters in Project Management.