Christine Karslake is set to lead UChicago’s Polsky Science Ventures unit and will be tasked with setting up a deep tech-focused accelerator.
Christine Karslake has been appointed managing director of Polsky Science Ventures, the science and deep tech-focused arm of University of Chicago (UChicago)’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Karslake will take on certain management duties at the centre’s George Shultz Innovation Fund, an early-stage VC unit focused on UChicago’s ecosystem as well as spinouts from state-owned research institutes Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab and Marine Biological Laboratory.
UChicago will additionally establish a deep tech accelerator under Karslake’s command to drive Polsky-allied projects in areas including quantum technology, data science, materials and the life sciences.
Karslake is an alumna of UChicago’s Booth School of Business, where she earned an MBA specialised in finance, strategy and operations.
Across her 10-year career in venture capital, she is credited with delivering more than $12bn in incremental value across multiple private and publicly-quoted life sciences businesses.
Karslake was most recently chief executive of Quest Strategies, a consultancy she founded in early 2017 to advise growth-stage companies, following three years as vice-president of innovation and entrepreneurship at economic development board St Louis Economic Development Partnership.
– Image courtesy of Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
