Ashu brings more than 25 years of experience holding positions of increasing accountability at organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, spanning several industries including medical devices and software, wastewater, renewable energy, consumer products, hospital captial equipment and software, rapid diagnostics, and invitro diagnostics. Philips Healthcare, Covidien (acquired by Medtronic), Novozymes (now Novonesis), and Welch Allyn (now Baxter) are some of the global multinationals that he has worked for. New business development, strategic partnerships and alliance management, new product development and product management, and project management are his forte. Ashu’s new product development is rather unique and comprehensive, starting with developing the product concept in R&D, taking it to manufacturing via pilot production, and in parallel taking the product concept through the multiple phases of commercialization, all the way to launch. In March 2024 Welch Allyn, Inc. was awarded a patent (#11918539B2) in Wearable Health Management System, and he was one of the co-inventors.
His experience spans the Americas, Europe, Japan, and China with considerable domestic and international travel, thus offering unique cultural sensitivity and fluidity, while leading teams. With the global and cross industry experience he excels at global cross functional leadership to manage businesses, build partnerships, drive projects, and to explore, identify, and productize innovation. He has an MBA from Syracuse University Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Syracuse NY in Finance and Marketing with Innovation Management specialization.
Ashu has lived, studied, and worked in the Bay Area California, Central New York, Boulder Colorado, and Southwest Virginia. Presently he lives in the Roanoke Valley, Virginia with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, socializing with his professional network and friends, working out at the local gym, traveling, and reading.
Blue Ridge Innovation Management Advisors work with entities of any size and location, to fill in the resource gaps, to deliver on critical projects. We also advise entrepreneurs and startups primarily in the Roanoke Valley and the New River Valley areas of South West Virginia. The consulting services are structured around organizing a new venture and moving it forward to operationalize the innovation. A defining feature of the advice is to articulate and increase the value of the venture, to make it more attractive to the investors and the partners, therefore accelerating commercialization.
Ashu is presently serving as a fractional CEO of a self-financed pre-seed startup based in Virginia, in the Controlled Environment Agriculture space. The technology development is aimed at increasing operating efficiency of indoor vertical farms and greenhouses by optimizing energy use.
Stewardship, collaboration, trust, and long-term partnership forms the bedrock of our successful consulting engagements.
Time permitting, Ashu has volunteered within the local innovation ecosystem and outside of it. Most recently he offered his time as a judge in the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair 2025. Every year since 2021 he has been on the Judge panel for InnoVision Awards, which advances technology and innovation in South Carolina. In the past, he was a mentor in the Health Sciences & Technology Commercialization Fellows Program, which is funded by Virginia Tech’s Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology. Leaders in Energy is another nonprofit where Ashu lends his time; the organization’s mission is to advance sustainable solutions and clean energy. Most recently he has been appointed as the Fundraising Chair as part of the overall Development strategy for the nonprofit.
We are entrepreneurial, cost-effective, and flexible in how we provide solutions and structure compensation, which is tailored to each client’s unique needs. Contact us today at
Ashu Jain, MBA, MSc.
(pronounced “ä-shu jăn”)
Founder & Principal
Blue Ridge Innovation Management Advisors
Roanoke, Virginia
540.354.1465 (mobile)
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