Zach Iscol is a venture partner at Lux Capital.
His career spans combat leadership, public service, and building companies and nonprofit organizations from the ground up.Most recently, Zach served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Emergency Management, overseeing the city's preparedness and response to its most complex crises including close to 70 Emergency Operation Center activations for extreme weather, the recent immigration crisis, infrastructure failures, mass casualty events and more. Previously led over 40 federal, state, and city agencies as deputy director of the Joint New York Medical Station, one of the largest and most successful COVID field hospitals in the country.
As a combat-decorated Marine infantry officer, he served in the Second Battle of Fallujah and other assignments throughout Iraq, Africa, and the Middle East, earning a Bronze Star for valor and playing a pivotal role in the development of US Marine Corps, Special Operations. Two of his former commanding officers cited him as the officer they would personally select to lead their sons into combat.
Following his service overseas, he founded the Headstrong Project, which provides world-class, cost- and bureaucracy-free mental healthcare to over 1,000 veterans and service members per week across the United States.
A 2001 graduate of Cornell University, he was the youngest recipient of Phillips Exeter Academy’s John Phillips Award, a member of the 2013 Team USA for USA Triathlon, and a grand marshal of the 2019 New York City Veterans Day Parade. In 2007, while still on active duty, he testified before the United States Senate about the need to protect Iraqi refugees, especially translators and others who put their lives in danger to help US forces.
He lives in New York City with his wife, Meredith Melling, and their four children.