Lisa Suennen, a high-profile life-sciences investor, is leaving a top post at GE Ventures after two years. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Suennen is widely known for her investment work as well as her writing—her blog is called “Venture Valkyrie“—and podcasting about people, companies, and industry trends, notably the gender equity gap among life-science executives and investors.
In 2016 she launched CSweetener, a mentoring network for women in the health and life-science business. The idea sprang from the many informal requests for advice she receives from women. “If I said yes to everyone, I wouldn’t have time to work,” she told Xconomy last year. “So I thought, ‘What if I can outsource this problem?’”
Suennen said today she hasn’t decided what to do next. When asked if her departure from GE, first reported by CNBC, means more time working at CSweetener, Suennen said she would continue to stay involved and “always look for opportunities to do more for gender equity.” In May, Suennen hired Anne Bentley to take the reins as executive director of CSweetener. Bentley was previously chief marketing officer at New York healthcare data firm Prognos.
CSweetener has raised approximately $250,000, with 200 women signed up for mentorship and 200 mentors, according to Suennen.
