Karl Sanchack

Chief Operating Officer

Karl brings to Carnegie Foundry decades of experience and achievement in innovation management - the stewarding of concepts to market ready products - and is a sought out thought leader on the topic. For 20 years, he championed technology innovation at Lockheed Martin Corporation in successively broader roles, which included leadership as an acting Corporate Director and global advisor for technology. In this capacity, Karl coordinated and led inter-disciplinary development teams that included national laboratories, universities, as well as corporate and public sector partners in the US and EMEA. These engagements resulted in the stand-up of new product categories, business lines, spin-outs, and international teaming agreements. 

Prior to Carnegie Foundry, Karl was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Erie Innovation District, where his team attracted, invested, and scaled a global portfolio of late seed stage startups including cohort members from internationally known accelerators such as, AFWERX, TechStars, and Y Combinator - as part of an ambitious regional development vision. Karl established a first-of-its-kind acceleration partnership focused on scaling enterprise (cyber)technology and manufacturing startups in qualified opportunity zones.

Karl’s Innovation District work was recognized by the Brookings Institution, Wall Street Journal, National League of Cities, Accelerator for America, and Forbes. He was a speaker and panelist at Microsoft’s Innovation Outreach Program, The Conference Board, Innovation Research Interchange, International Economic Development Council, and Pennsylvania Economic Development Association and his insights were solicited by Singularity University for enterprise innovation roadmaps.

Mr. Sanchack attended Pennsylvania State University and received a Master of Business Administration, Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.