Karen Spilizewski

Karen joined RiverVest in 2008 as a Vice President managing RiverVest’s Cleveland office. Karen brings a broad knowledge of the seed and early-stage life science opportunity landscape in the Midwest, especially Ohio, and the ability to source and evaluate the most promising deals. Through her product and business development expertise, Karen is able to help entrepreneurs accelerate their companies toward next development milestones.

Karen serves on the board of VentureMed Group, Inc. She is a former director of Securus Medical Group, Inc. (acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation), Standard Bariatrics, Inc. (acquired by Teleflex Incorporated), and a former observer at Neuros Medical, Inc.

Prior to RiverVest, Karen worked for BioEnterprise Corporation in Cleveland, where she served as vice president and directed business development for medical device and equipment companies. Karen worked through BioEnterprise to identify, assess, and accelerate the growth of emerging medical device companies that originate from universities, clinical research, local entrepreneurs, or companies relocating to Ohio. Prior to joining BioEnterprise, Karen gained significant medical device industry experience at Avery Dennison Corporation, where she spent 19 years in research and business development.

Karen earned an M.B.A., an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.