Jake is a double major in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Economics with minors in Asian Studies and Philosophy, and he joined IdeaLabs in the fall of 2015. What drew him to IdeaLabs was the lab’s intentional approach to understanding and connecting ideas from many different disciplines. Jake has a deep interest in understanding the dynamics of business systems and social interaction within cooperative settings, and his current research agenda is focused on financial economics and feedback systems in management theory, his undergraduate Honors Thesis particularly focusing on the mathematical modeling of leadership.

Jake loves innovation and solving problems, and he is passionate about business: he has cofounded or helped start five business startups, and he is currently working as the head of data science for a predictive analytics startup out of Provo, UT. He has a particular passion for social impact. One of the startups he helped is a consulting firm and system of business schools in developing countries focused on providing real business knowledge and skills to necessity entrepreneurs. He believes that the world of business strategy can benefit greatly from the theories of applied mathematics, which he saw in his most recent adventures in private equity as he applied the modeling skills learned in IdeaLabs to solving real-life business and valuation problems. He also served on the board of directors for a large nonprofit organization focused on bringing science to life for elementary and middle-school aged children. In this role, he helped the organization grow into 17 different states and 3 foreign countries, and he co-authored and led the publication of a book of the organization’s curriculum for use by home-schooled students. Jake was a 2014 Utah Young Humanitarian Award finalist and a U.S. Senate Youth Program Award recipient. He served an LDS mission in The Philippines and is fluent in Tagalog and Bikol, and he studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years after returning home.