Edward E. Olkkola
December 13, 1959 – December 15, 2022

Ed Olkkola, beloved husband, father and grandfather at age 63, passed away on December 15, 2022, at his home in Georgetown, TX, after a valiant battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

A memorial service will be held for Ed’s friends, business associates and family:
Saturday, March 4th, 2023, at 4:00 P.M. in the First Baptist Church of Georgetown, 1333 W. University Ave., Georgetown TX
Directions will be provided after the service for continued fellowship and refreshments.

Born on December 13, 1959, in Cape Cod Hospital located in Hyannis, MA, Ed was the oldest of two boys born to Edward “Dick” Olkkola and Janet (Willett) Olkkola. Ed came from a long generational line of “Cape Codders” as his mother’s family heritage can be traced back to the Hopkins family of the Mayflower expedition.

Ed is survived by the love of his life Jeanne (Gafner) Olkkola, daughters: Emily Olkkola, Lily Olkkola and their mother, Sandra (Hooban) Olkkola of Grapevine, TX: brother Eric Olkkola of Brewster, MA: Jeanne’s son Jeremy Reichert, wife Amy Reichert: Jeanne’s daughter Nicole Herrera, Husband Alan Herrera: his grandchildren Hailey Herrera, Greyson Herrera, and Kylie Reichert of Denver, CO.

As a boy growing up in Eastham, MA, Ed and his younger brother Eric, enjoyed many days with their mom, Janet, swimming at the Nauset Light Beach or the Coast Guard Beach. Ed’s grandfather took Ed on fishing adventures to the Bass River at the Cape Cod Bay. As an adult Ed learned how to fly fish which he later enjoyed with his wife, Jeanne on mini vacations. After high school he learned how to sail on a friend’s sailboat and loved the adventure of sailing. Even after Ed moved away from Eastham, MA, to establish roots in Texas from a job offer, he loved bringing his daughters Emmy and Lily back to the Cape, where they would visit his parents, brother Eric, extended family and looked forward to many fun filled days on the beaches near his hometown.

Ed loved traveling and enjoyed adventures with Jeanne, such as cycling in the mountains and vineyards of Italy, driving the coastline of California and zip lining in the jungles of Jamaica. He enjoyed taking Emily and Lily on trips to New York, San Antonio and the Cape. He spent summers swimming in the pool with the kids or taking them to the gun range to educate them on the discipline and respect for firearms.  Saturday night movies and popcorn were always on the agenda.

Understanding the importance of family, Ed enjoyed having talks with his children and grandchildren about the value of striving for excellence and the diligence needed to achieve whatever their goals may be. He was very proud of his children and grandchildren. He wanted to assist in any way he could to help them know the sky is the limit for their achievements and goals. Ed truly loved to mentor his children and grandchildren. His daughters learned many valuable life lessons from their dad and will miss him dearly. They remember him for introducing their love of gaming, teaching business strategies through Monopoly, and pizza nights with his homemade pancakes in the morning.

Earlier in Ed’s career he spent several years with Motorola Codex in a variety of roles, including finance, corporate development and engineering. Ed was the product manager for the first wireless LAN product for the original Apple Macintosh, the first NetBIOS ethernet interface card for the IBM PC, and developed an encrypted network management system for the US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. He held leadership roles at Austin Ventures, and Compaq Computers where he delivered the industry’s first integrated cellular data modem in a laptop computer, the first hand-held Microsoft CE computer, the first prototype smartphone design with Deutsche Telecom in 1996, and led an industry-wide coalition to establish technology standards for the rollout of high-speed DSL internet technology across the US. 

Throughout Ed Olkkola’s career, he has directly led over 50 transactions and co-led over 90 minority and majority private equity and venture capital investments and acquisitions delivering top quartile performance in every Fund. He has held Board positions in over 60 private and public companies, non-profit institutions and venture capital funds. Ed has brought over a dozen new products to market and holds patents in core high-speed switching, modem technologies and voice recognition in early convolutional neural nets.

Since 2009, Ed has been a managing director at Teakwood Capital, leading in buy-out private equity and growth equity transactions in micro-cap, lower middle-market technology companies in the Texas and Southwest US. He was Chairman of the Board and founding investor of Hyliion, where he was a close mentor and coach to the company’s CEO. 

Ed has received numerous industry awards, including the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Venture Capital 1999, was listed on the Forbes Midas Top 100 List of Influential Investors, Banker and Lawyers 2003 and 2004, was named one of the Top Most Influential Venture Capitalists by Venture Capital Journal in 2001, has served as a judge, sponsor and investor for the Rice University Business Plan Competition for over 5 years, and is a guest lecturer on entrepreneurial finance at the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and the University of Texas at Dallas.

Ed was a graduate from the Nauset Regional High School in Eastham. He received his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (’82), holds an MBA from Northeaster University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (’84) and completed the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University (’97)

Ed loved to read and gain knowledge about a wide variety of topics from products to the political and economic climate of the world. He used what he learned to help improve his community and make the world a better place to live. His desire to create and develop companies and to mentor others in business strategies, development and career direction was truly a passion. Up until his passing, Ed continued coming up with new business ideas and strategies, which is a constant reminder to never quit.

Ed Olkkola will be missed by many, but we gain comfort knowing he is at peace, and we will get to soon see him again.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Ed’s memory may be made to either the Covenant House Texas at: https://www.covenanthousetx.org/donate-2/ or the Salvation Army at https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/