Women in Biohealth Presents: Runway, Risk, & Resilience

Finance Choices That Shape Biotech

In today’s volatile biohealth landscape, financial decisions don’t just impact balance sheets—they shape teams, technologies, and long-term resilience.

Join us for an evening conversation that pulls back the curtain on how biotech and biohealth companies evaluate risk, secure investment, and make the difficult decisions required to sustain growth. This event brings together perspectives from both the investment side and the operator side of the industry, offering a rare, candid look at how funding and financial strategy influence every stage of a company’s lifecycle.

The evening will feature short, focused presentations followed by a moderated fireside chat and audience discussion.

What You’ll Learn

• How venture capital firms evaluate biohealth companies and investment readiness
• What investors look for in early-stage vs. scaling companies
• How companies decide when to grow, pause, pivot, or right-size
• Financial decision-making during periods of uncertainty, including layoffs or product exits
• Leadership insights from the C-suite, including navigating these decisions as a woman leader in biohealth

Featured Speakers

• Jenni Le
  Venture Associate, Venture Investors
  Jenni will share the investor perspective—how venture capital firms assess companies, manage risk, and decide where to deploy capital in the biohealth space, from startups through later-stage growth.
• Alison Hess
  Vice President of Finance, NorthStar
  Alison will provide an inside look at how companies make real-world financial decisions, including hiring and workforce changes, exiting product lines, and balancing financial discipline with long-term strategy—drawing from her experience as a senior finance leader in biohealth.

Event Format

• 5:30–6:00 p.m. | Networking & Arrival
• 6:00–6:30 p.m. | Speaker Presentations
  • 15 minutes per speaker
• 6:30 p.m. | Fireside Chat & Audience Discussion

Who Should Attend

This event is ideal for:

• Biohealth and biotech founders
• Startup and growth-stage executives
• Finance, operations, and strategy leaders
• Investors and ecosystem partners
• Anyone navigating funding, growth, or difficult financial decisions in biohealth