John Hatsopoulos
John Hatsopoulos well understands Northeastern’s commitment to research and scholarship designed to solve societal problems. It’s the mission that was central to Thermo Electron (now Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), where he spent more than 40 years, and it’s at the heart of his newest endeavor, ADGE.
It all started back in the fifties with his first co-op. “Northeastern allowed me to go work with my brother at MIT,” Hatospoulos says. “He did the research and I did the math for what became Thermo Electron.” Hatsopoulos clearly got the math right, helping raise close to $5 billion over the years through an innovative “spinout strategy” that won him acclaim from Wall Street and ultimately resulted in 24 public subsidiaries. With products ranging from heart-assist devices to energy-saving technologies, these companies enjoyed a winning combination of entrepreneurial culture backed by Fortune 500 parent with 25,000 employees worldwide.
Today, however, Hatsopoulos is in hot water—literally! Six years ago, he retired from Thermo and found a new entrepreneurial outlet, ADGE, reclaiming heat wasted during power generation and selling it as energy, typically to customers with a high need for hot water—hotels, for example. The business offers a highly efficient alternative to buying power from central power plants. Hatsopoulos is also CEO of Tecogen, a leading manufacturer of cogeneration equipment used in such applications.
Hatsopoulos is involved in various other ventures, including ones that show his strong ties to Northeastern. He is a member of the corporation, and funds research scientists at Northeastern’s Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, to which Thermo has also generously donated specialized analytical laboratory equipment. “I just wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t keep busy,” he says.
