Iana Dimkova
Co-Founder, Initiate; Venture Partner, Healthy VC
Iana is a co-founder of Initiate, a venture investing and company creation platform that partners with founders to create breakthrough technologies to solve healthcare’s most pressing challenges. Prior to Initiate, Iana spent four years at GE Ventures where she was responsible for executing investments in healthcare technology startups spanning predictive analytics (AI/ML), genomics, clinical trial & RWE digitization, novel payment & insurance platforms, and new models of care. Before joining GE Ventures, Iana was with ProCure Treatment Centers. At ProCure she helped develop and operate the most extensive network of radiation (proton) therapy centers in the United States. During her tenure there, the company raised more than $700M and secured strategic investments from large healthcare systems and independent physician groups. After leaving ProCure, she joined Alvarez & Marsal’s Healthcare Group, where she focused her time on helping private equity firms evaluate potential investments and improve operations at their healthcare services and technology companies. Iana is currently a venture partner for Healthy VC, a leading seed fund focused on infrastructural solutions that enable technologies to scale healthcare. She’s also an advisor to multiple startups and large organizations looking to implement innovation programs that drive digital transformations. Iana has served on multiple private and not-for-profit boards, is the recipient of a variety of awards and is a frequent speaker and panelist at leading industry events. Iana earned her MBA from Columbia University and received her bachelor’s degree, with honors, also from Columbia University. Iana holds a BA from Columbia University where she was a member of the women’s varsity tennis team and is currently an MBA candidate at Columbia Business School.
Linda Greub
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Avestria Ventures
Linda Greub is the co-founder and managing partner of Avestria Ventures, which invests in early-stage women's health and female-led life science ventures. Over 30+ years, Linda has invested in public and private life science companies as an institutional investor, a corporate M&A executive, a hedge fund analyst, and a private venture investor; she's held roles at companies including Essex Investment Management, Banc of America Securities, Novartis Diagnostics, Applied Biosystems (sold to Life Technologies Corp.) as well as at venture-backed life science companies such as VitaPath Genetics, Singulex, Raindance Technologies (sold to Bio-Rad), and Linkage Biosciences (sold to Thermo Fisher). Her areas of expertise includes finance, operations, and mergers and acquisitions and, within the life sciences specifically, diagnostics, genomics, healthcare services, and life science tools.
Faye Sahai
Managing Director, Vinaj Ventures; Partner at Mirai.Global
Faye is currently Managing Director at Vinaj Ventures, investing in digital health startups with the Telosity.co Fund and Partner at Mirai.Global advising corporations on innovation. Prior, she was an financial institutions, healthcare and insurance executive at Kaiser Permanente, Schwab, AIG, Blue Shield and Deloitte Consulting. She has served an Advisor to: UCSF Catalyst, ANA Innovation Advisory, Equality Can’t Wait Evaluation Panel, Founder Institute, Plug and Play Accelerator Advisor, Alchemist Accelerator, Exponential Talent, Asian Foundation Lotus Circle, AI and Healthcare Publication, and on the Board of Directors for: Innovation Executive Forum, Ascend Leadership NorCal, Berger Research, Summer Search and Claremont McKenna Alumni. Faye has been recognized by Insurance Business Hot 100 and Elite Women in Insurance Business America, Ascend Leadership Award, Computer World’s Top Premier IT Leaders, Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Kaiser Permanente Asian Community and Innovation Enterprise Best Ideation Award.
Rachel Butler
President, Catalytic Impact Foundation
As President of the Catalytic Impact Foundation, Rachel Butler has extensive experience and expertise analyzing, evaluating, and investing in early- and mid-stage companies in the life sciences and healthcare industry. Since 2016, she has reviewed hundreds of such companies and served as a team leader, overseeing and managing the research, analysis, and investment processes, to select companies for presentation and/or investment. She is a lead member of the investment team that has invested in the CIF portfolio of innovative healthcare companies. Previously, she served as co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Asthma Magazine, a patient education publication for asthma and allergy. The magazine was used by the NHLBI to educate participants in its nationwide children’s asthma (CAMP) study; by Merck to launch its first-in-class asthma drug, Singulair; and by the American Lung Association, the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, the National Association of School Nurses, health maintenance organizations, disease management companies, and private practitioners throughout the country, to educate their patients about the condition. Subsequently, she guided the company through its acquisition by Elsevier Health Sciences, a leading publisher of medical journals, where she continued as Editor-in-Chief for five years. She is a graduate of St. Lawrence University, a trustee and treasurer of the Ross Conservation Trust, and is an avid skier, sailor, tennis player. She is married with four children and lives near Boston, MA.
