President, Search2light Solutions
Derek Stoops is a commercialization operator who turns breakthrough innovation into bankable deployments. He cut his teeth in entertainment—helping launch American Idol and scaling Sony Pictures Television’s International Networks to a $2B business—before shifting to critical technologies, where he leads go-to-market and partnerships across public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders. Inspired by work with UCLA’s Prof. Huang on a next-generation hydrogen catalyst, he founded Search2light Solutions with Alan Lloyd and Ivor John to accelerate hydrogen and adjacent technologies.