Darren Carroll

Darren joined Polaris Partners in 2020 and is a managing partner in our Boston office. Darren currently represents Polaris on the boards of Noema Pharma, Tessa Therapeutics and August Bioservices.

Prior to joining Polaris, Darren completed a 22-year career with Eli Lilly and Company. As senior vice president of corporate business development he was responsible for all strategic transactions at Lilly, ranging from venture capital investments and acquisitions, to company formation and divestitures. Earlier, Darren reorganized and led the company’s venture capital operations and formed Lilly Ventures. He also founded and led Lilly Asia Ventures.

Darren was the founding CEO of InnoCentive, Inc., the first open-innovation company in the life sciences and now a part of Wazoku. He also led both corporate and new product development at RealMed, a healthcare transactions and technology company that is now part of Availity.

Darren earned an AB, masters in public administration, and juris doctorate from Syracuse University, where he was a University Scholar, University Fellow, L.E.S. Fellow, and Lehman Fellow.