Independent Board Member
Joe Taylor
Joe Taylor joined the WAVE Advisory Board following a nearly 35-year career at Panasonic Corporation. He most recently served for seven years as the first non-Japanese Chairman and CEO of the firm’s North American subsidiary, Panasonic Corporation of North America. During his tenure as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Taylor transformed Panasonic Corporation of North America from a consumer products company to a dynamic B2B technology enterprise, overseeing remarkable growth, a near doubling of its revenue to $12 billion and a fivefold increase in profits. Prior to that he served as Managing Executive Officer for 12 years, where he was appointed the first American on the company’s executive board.
An avid investor, Mr. Taylor has invested in Factorial Energy, a Boston-based developer of polymer-based, solid-state batteries for EVs, a portfolio company in which WAVE has been one of the lead investors. He was appointed as Executive Chairman of the company in 2021. He is also a board member and investor in two other innovative startups, Ceribell and Folio Photonics.
Mr. Taylor served on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Institute of Technology for 8 years where he was awarded an honorary PhD in Engineering and led the Audit and Finance committee as well as serving as acting Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Additionally, he served on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, was on the Advisory Board of Plug and Play, a startup accelerator, was inducted into the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame and has been honored with Newark’s Social Justice Award.