# Luke Jacobs

> Luke Jacobs is the CEO and co-founder of Encamp, an environmental compliance software company born from his experience as an environmental scientist. After seeing manual reporting, scattered data and billable-hour incentives slow down compliance work, he teamed up with Sam Jacobs and Daniel Smedema to build a subscription platform that helps organizations understand requirements, manage data and file reports. His path connects ecology research, scientific diving, consulting, enterprise software and an outdoors-inspired founding story.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Encamp
- **Organizations:** Encamp, GHD, Montana State University, Indiana University Bloomington, Asmark Institute, United Way of Central Indiana
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Environmental Science, Indiana University Bloomington, Certificate of Underwater Resource Management, Indiana University Bloomington
- **Known for:** Co-founded Encamp and grew it from a self-funded early operation into a venture-backed environmental compliance software company., Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology for the 2022 class., Named an Environment + Energy Leader 100 honoree in 2020 and an Energy Leader in 2021.

## Career timeline

- **2011-2015** — Studied environmental science at Indiana University Bloomington on a full academic scholarship; conducted ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry research and trained as a scientific diver.
- **2015-2016** — Worked as a Research Associate III and Project Manager for Montana State University in a Bloomington-based role funded through the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy.
- **2016-2017** — Worked as an Environmental Scientist at GHD, where he encountered manual, fragmented environmental compliance reporting workflows.
- **2017** — Co-founded Encamp with Sam Jacobs and Daniel Smedema and became CEO.
- **2019** — Encamp received a $250,000 investment from the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund as part of an early funding round.
- **2020** — Named to the Environment + Energy Leader 100 list.
- **2021** — Joined the Asmark Institute board and was appointed to the Forbes Technology Council.
- **2022** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for Enterprise Technology; Encamp announced a $30 million Series C led by Drive Capital.
- **2026** — Spoke publicly about Encamp's Scout AI, expert-reviewed compliance engine and plans to expand into more program areas and international jurisdictions.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Encamp and grew it from a self-funded early operation into a venture-backed environmental compliance software company.
- Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology for the 2022 class.
- Named an Environment + Energy Leader 100 honoree in 2020 and an Energy Leader in 2021.
- Led Encamp through a $30 million Series C round in 2022, bringing publicly reported total funding to about $47.2 million.
- Co-authored peer-reviewed ecosystem ecology research published in the Journal of Ecology in 2018.
- Earned a full academic scholarship to Indiana University Bloomington.
- Built a public body of writing and speaking on environmental compliance, knowledge sharing and digital transformation.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Appeared on Industrial Talk to discuss Scout AI, expert validation, regulatory data integration and Encamp's plans for international, air and water compliance expansion.
- **2026-04** — Spoke at NAEM OPEX/TECH26 in St. Petersburg, Florida, on EHS operations, data and technology.
- **2025-01** — Committed publicly to sharing more founder-led content on LinkedIn while emphasizing customer outcomes over personal influence.

## Links

- Website: https://encamp.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukejacobs1/
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/jfyh-svtSew

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/luke-jacobs
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-27