Adam Sharkawy – Founder and Managing Partner of Material Impact Venture Fund

Adam Sharkawy, co-founder and managing partner of Material Impact, an innovative venture fund investing in transformative materials technologies, has held several senior leadership roles within large publicly traded healthcare companies such as The Medicines Company (divisions & acquisitions), Smith & Nephew’s Emerging Market divisions and Abbott Vascular. Additionally he helped start Ventrica (technology acquired by Medtronic) before serving in various capacities at Heartport.

Early Life and Education

Mahmoud Elsharkawy, better known by his nickname Adam Sharkawy in Egypt, was an outstanding student during his formative years and received an achievement certificate signed by former president George W. Bush. At an early age he relocated to California, enrolling in various acting workshops before eventually graduating from Savanna High School in Anaheim, California.

Prior to founding Material Impact, Sharkawy held executive leadership roles with major publicly traded healthcare companies such as Smith & Nephew and The Medicines Company, starting two technology firms – Ventrica (later acquired by Medtronic), Heartport (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Advanced Cardiovascular Systems which later spun out as Guidant Corporation – as well as serving various positions at Johnson & Johnson (heartport acquired by them and Heartport spun off into Guidant Corporation).

Professional Career

Adam is the co-founder and an experienced executive healthcare and life sciences leader with expertise spanning devices, bioactives and biologics as well as therapy spaces, from small entrepreneurial VC funded startups up to large Fortune 500 corporate. Additionally, Adam has extensive experience on both sides of acquisition transactions.

He has worked on an array of medical devices, such as the Xience drug-eluting stent. Additionally, he was part of multiple technology development teams such as Heartport (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, acquired by Guidant Vascular Interventions.

He recently shot into prominence after making an appearance in Lebat Newton as Big Z during Ramadan. This role earned him immense appreciation from fans.

Achievement and Honors

Adam El Sharkawy has earned much acclaim since starting to act in Lebat Newton, an Egyptian Ramadan series, since 2018. A charismatic young actor known by his nickname of Big Z.

Adam Sharkawy is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Material Impact, a venture fund which invests in companies developing products using innovative material technology. Additionally, he serves on the boards of Soft Robotics and Fusion Coolant Technologies while serving as an observing director at Amastan Technologies.

Join The Graduate School for a conversation with this Duke alumnus about how his graduate education at Duke played a significant role in shaping his career, along with discussing innovation and hard frontiers within business and society.

Personal Life

Adam Sharkawy experienced great success as a serial entrepreneur, as each startup that he participated in was acquired. Following that he transitioned into academia by writing his masters thesis on Chaos Theory at Duke University before going on to complete his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering there.

He currently serves as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Material Impact, an innovative venture fund investing in material technology innovations making a large impact. Additionally, he acts as an observer for Fusion Coolant and Soft Robotics while serving on the boards of NextGen Jane, Folio Photonics, and Actnano.

Egypt’s Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram recently met with actor Adam Sharkawy, best known for playing Big Z on Le’bet Newton, to encourage expatriate Egyptian actors and actresses living abroad to speak their mother tongue when possible.

Net Worth

Adam Sharkawy is one of the co-founders of Material Impact, a venture capital firm which invests in innovative companies that use material-based technology. Additionally, he serves as a member of Nohbo’s board of directors which produces Drops as an aid against insomnia and anxiety.

Named ‘Z’ on-screen, American actor Z has quickly garnered everyone’s attention since sharing the screen with Mona Zaki in Lebat Newtonor Newton’s Cradlethis Ramadan. Since then he has received widespread acclaim and attention across social media for his impressive performance and is quickly making waves in Hollywood and beyond.