Danny Gardner

2021 Young Alumni Achievement Award

For contributions and mentorship within the Illinois entrepreneurial community and for the creation of Mesh++.

Danny graduated from Illinois in 2017 with an Electrical Engineering degree. A hobbyist in wireless communications and electronics from a young age, Danny's ECE Senior Design project covered the engineering quad with a solar-powered mesh network, a concept that grew into Mesh++ officially in 2017. By the end of the year, Danny had dropped out of grad school and quit his job to move to China. With Danny as CEO (and hardware lead) Mesh++ has raised $7M and grown to a team of 21 headquartered in both Chicago and Nairobi, Kenya. Danny lives in Chicago with his dog Hershey.

Danny was nominated by former Illinois ECE faculty member, P. Scott Carney, with support from the staff at the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC).

Current as of 2022.