Gisele Bennett

Gisele Bennett is co-founder and managing member of MEPSS LLC, a software-based startup for decision support and automation. She has held academic, industry, and research positions for over 30 years, including professor and senior vice president for Strategic and Research Initiatives at the Florida Institute of Technology, numerous positions at Georgia Tech, and founding member of startups.

At Georgia Tech, Bennett was a Regents’ Researcher; associate vice president for Research (AVPR), Faculty Integration; and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. As AVPR, she was responsible for increasing research collaboration between academic and applied research. At the Georgia Tech Research Institute, she held the Glenn Robinson Chair in Electro-Optics, founded the Logistics and Maintenance Applied Research Center, and as the director for the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory grew the research portfolio from industry and the Department of Defense.

Bennett is a member of the Army Science Board, the editor-in-chief for Applied Optics, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee for Optica, a member of the AIP Investment Advisory Committee, and the 2024 vice president for Optica. She served on the board of directors for Optica (formally OSA) and was the president of the IEEE Council on RFID. She is a visiting lecturer for SPIE and Optica. She has patents, and numerous publications, and contributes to ISO in developing standards for shipping container monitoring. She is a Fellow with Optica and SPIE. Bennett has received numerous awards, including the Superior Civilian Service Medal, Department of the Army — the second highest award of the Department of the Army — and the Commander’s Award for Public Service, Department of the Army. 

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida, and she earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and certificate in management of technology from Georgia Tech.