Jennifer Friel Goldstein is the Head of Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, Life Science & Healthcare at SVB and is a founding member of Venture Forward, a nonprofit that provides resources and education toward developing a diverse, equitable and inclusive venture capital (VC) ecosystem. She is also an advisory board member of Springboard Enterprises and the Women’s Health Innovation Coalition.

Jennifer has more than 20 years of experience in the VC and startup market segments, including leading and building several teams over the past eight years at Silicon Valley Bank. Before that, she was a director on Pfizer’s VC team, where she helped lead or co-lead investments into several life sciences companies. She also led fund of funds investment decisions and independently managed Pfizer’s $250 million private equity (PE) portfolio. Jennifer served as a consultant on PE deals across Europe while at Bain & Company and held operational and research roles at Chiron, Genelabs, and Genencor.

Jennifer graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering and a master’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, where she was named a Joseph Wharton Fellow. She also serves as an independent director at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Jennifer lives in the Bay Area with her husband and their twin children.