Garry Cooper Jr. is an American entrepreneur,

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

, and business leader. He currently serves as the CEO of

Rheaply Rheaply, Inc. is a privately held B2B Software as a service company that specializes in enterprise asset management technology for the circular economy. The company markets resource exchange technology to improve asset recovery outcomes and int ...

, an enterprise asset management company for the

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...

, which he co-founded in 2015. He is also a founding member of LongJump, a

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

firm dedicated to funding underrepresented founders.

Early life and education

Cooper attended

Stivers School for the Arts Stivers School for the Arts is a magnet school in the Dayton City Schools in Dayton, Ohio, USA, in the St. Anne's Hill Historic District neighborhood. It is a public middle and high school that focuses on education in the visual and performing a ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, where he focused on mathematics and violin, and graduated in 2002. He then attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

, where he graduated in 2007 with a BS in mathematics and a BA in chemistry. After graduating from college, Cooper enrolled in graduate school at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where he studied neuroscience with a focus on

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. He earned his doctorate in 2014, as well as a Certificate in Management from Northwestern's

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

in 2012.

Career

While pursuing his PhD at Northwestern, Cooper realized that many labs and departments were throwing away research assets — the same equipment and consumables that were needed in one lab would sit unused in another. In an effort to solve this problem, Cooper co-founded Rheaply in 2015 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, along with Peter Tucker and Tyler Skelton. The name is a portmanteau of "research" and "cheaply", and the company started out as a peer-to-peer, virtual marketplace for laboratory equipment and consumables within higher education. Over time, Rheaply has grown to use

principles and technology to bring better efficiencies to resource recovery and reuse within and across all types of organizations — from federal, state, and local governments, to commercial enterprise. Since its founding, Rheaply has raised numerous rounds of funding, including a $2.5M seed round in 2020, an $8M Series A in 2021, a $2.2M InterSeries round in June 2021, and a $20M raise in 2022. The company also won Revolution's Rise of the Rest Equity Edition in 2020, and has been selected to multiple cohorts, including the initial cohort for

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

's Advanced Member Program, the 2019 MIT Solve Class, and the

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

2021 Launch With GS Cohort. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020, Cooper joined Chicago mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

to announce the Chicago PPE Market, a partnership between Rheaply and the City of Chicago to help small businesses and nonprofits obtain protective equipment for their employees. In March of 2021, Cooper and a group of fellow Chicago startup founders launched LongJump, a first check venture fund designed to invest in local underrepresented founders. Cooper is also a board member of P33 Chicago, an initiative designed to drive Chicago's tech growth, and 1871, a tech innovation hub named after the year of the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

. In 2021 he was selected by Mayor Lightfoot to assist in the city's "Come Back to Move Forward" campaign, designed to bring tech talent back to Chicago. In relation to his neuroscience work, Cooper remains an adjunct assistant professor at Northwestern, focused on Parkinson's disease research. He is also a former board member of the American Parkinson's Disease Association.

Awards and honors

* Crain's 40 U 40 2020 * Forbes Next 1000 * Entrepreneur Pandemic Response issue cover * Chicago Magazine's New Power 30, March 2021 *

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

2022 Top Voices in the Green Economy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Gary Jr. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American chief executives American venture capitalists African-American business executives Businesspeople from Chicago Indiana University Bloomington alumni Northwestern University alumni 21st-century African-American people Northwestern University faculty American neuroscientists 21st-century African-American scientists