Andrew Lombard

Andy Lombard is a seasoned venture architect, corporate innovator, and six-time venture-backed founder whose career spans startups, global corporate leadership, and large-scale ecosystem development. As Founder and Managing Partner of Tesoro Venture Capital (Tesoro VC), he leads one of the world’s first AI + Semiconductor accelerators and venture funds—created to fast-track deep-tech startups through capital, strategic partnerships, and global supply-chain access. Before founding Tesoro VC, Lombard held senior global roles at Motorola Asia and Motorola Ventures, where he managed venture investments and strategic partnerships across 13 countries. His work focused on commercializing advanced technologies and forming international joint ventures, giving him deep insight into how innovation scales when startups and industry collaborate. Returning to Arizona, Lombard became a driving force behind the state’s modern innovation economy. He founded and led the Arizona Innovation Challenge (AIC) and Venture Ready Accelerator, a unified innovation and commercialization platform that invested more than $25 million into 165 early-stage companies. Those startups have since grown to a combined valuation exceeding $7 billion, establishing AIC and Venture Ready as one of the most successful accelerator programs in the nation. Together, they created a model for how public–private partnerships can develop scalable startups, attract venture capital, and accelerate technology commercialization across diverse sectors. Building on that success, Lombard later founded and led the Arizona Venture Development Corporation (AVC)—an $87 million fund backed by the U.S. Treasury and state partners—to expand early-stage access to capital and strengthen Arizona’s venture financing infrastructure.