Dana M Hicks
CEO and Cofounder, NanXPure, Inc.
Dana Hicks is an entrepreneur, technology executive, and international business consultant with more than two decades of experience in water treatment technologies, global business development, and environmental innovation. Through his leadership at NanXPure and BlueTech Research, he advises organizations on technology commercialization, market strategy, and investment opportunities in the water and sustainability sectors.
Dana M. Hicks is CEO and Co-Founder of NanXPure, Inc., a company that develops and commercializes patented nanoscale ion exchange materials designed to remove PFAS, microplastics, and other emerging contaminants from groundwater, drinking water, and wastewater. He also serves as a Technology Assessment Group Leader with BlueTech Research, providing market analysis, competitive intelligence, strategy development, and due diligence support to industrial and municipal clients, technology manufacturers, and investment firms focused on water, wastewater, and sustainability technologies.
Appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, he serves on the North Carolina District Export Council, (www.nc-dec.us), which counsels new-to-export firms and existing exporters on how to effectively sell to all regions of the world. From 2006–2012, Dana served as the Honorary Consul for Canada in Charlotte, appointed by the Canadian government to support investment attraction, export development, and stronger Canadian-U.S. business and academic partnerships.
In addition to the Global NC Board, Mr. Hicks serves on the Board of Directors for LaunchCLT, (launchclt.org), an organization catalyzing a viable, sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem in the greater Charlotte region. He is a member of the Huntersville Rotary Club and Chair of the Club’s International Projects & Services Committee. He is a trained and certified member of the Climate Reality Project’s Global Leadership Corps and serves on the Environmental Sustainability Committee for Huntersville, North Carolina, his hometown of more than 70,000 residents.
Mr. Hicks earned his Bachelor’s in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech and completed executive MBA courses at Northwestern University and at the Allen-Bradley Management Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is fluent in German, has studied and lived in Germany, and has managed German-owned companies over his career. He has extensive domestic and international travel experience, having traveled to 48 of 50 states, most Canadian provinces, and over 40 countries on 6 continents.