Dr. Karen Sterling was awarded her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Columbia University in April 2002. She earned her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in August 2006. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the New York Society of Security Analysts (nka CFA Society New York) in June 2010 and was appointed Executive-in-Residence at The Rockefeller University in May of 2018. For more than 20 years, she has worked at the intersection of life sciences, strategic consulting, and finance.

During her four-year membership on the NYSSA Board of Directors, Dr. Sterling served on the Executive Committee for three years, including two years as Vice Chairman, during which she chaired the Finance Committee. She says of her service to NYSSA as a board member that it was focused on supporting the needs of the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Society, so they could focus on the operational requirements of serving its more than 8,000 members. 

During the early years of her more than 20-year career, Dr. Sterling has applied her spectrum of finance skills to publish extensively about high yield debt in Leverage World (a publication of FridsonVision), the Journal of Portfolio Management, and the Journal of Fixed Income. She has also earned a significant reputation in the evaluation and analysis of capital structures related to budgeting, risk management, and dilution. 

Her applied knowledge of finance in the biotechnology and healthcare sectors has made her a thought partner to CFOs and audit committees. Dr. Sterling comments that the arc of her finance career has been, “strongly influenced by the way a biochemist understands cellular feedback loops, identifying points of fragility and resilience in financial statements and projections.”

Prior to being retained by Kingswood Capital Partners in November 2023 as Senior Research Analyst, Dr. Sterling worked as an investment banker providing fundraising and strategic advisory services to start-up and early-stage firms in the life sciences sector for a decade. At Kingswood, she is also the research department’s Supervisory Analyst, and thus a member of the firm’s compliance team.

Dr. Sterling’s presence on the Board of Directors of a biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical technology, or diagnostics firm brings with it someone well-known in institutional investment circles on both the buy and sell sides. She has enduring relationships with bankers, analysts, and venture capitalists who look to her as an opinion leader. 

The Rockefeller University also looked to her as an opinion leader when in May of 2018, they invited her to become an Executive-in-Residence. Dr. Sterling’s role at the University was as a strategic advisor supporting a team of potential first-time executives in the understanding of successfully commercializing applied scientific research. Specific topics covered included the development of intellectual property portfolios, business structures for the new venture, sourcing of seed capital, and negotiating different types of joint ventures and partnerships with Tier 1 and legacy firms, among others. 

As a board member of a leading-edge healthcare firm, Dr. Sterling will contribute intimate understanding of pre-clinical research, the requirements of achieving Investigational New Drug status, FDA-aligned clinical trial design and execution, the financial structures required to achieve these critical benchmarks with stability, and the follow-on commercialization. 

Dr. Sterling earned a FINRA Series 16 qualification, licensing her to be a Supervisory Analyst at an SEC-licensed securities broker dealer. It is her responsibility as Supervisory Analyst to ensure that all coverage of investable securities published by Kingswood Capital Partners meets best practices and regulatory requirements. As a board member of a leading-edge healthcare firm, Dr. Sterling can advise on financial best practices, including interface with outside accounting and audit firms. 

A native speaker of German and perfectly fluent in un-accented English, Dr. Sterling is by nature cross-culturally fluent in business styles and methods. She has a deep understanding of both U.S. FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) regulatory requirements. She has been a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States since March 2002.

At the Board level, Dr. Sterling applies the same disciplined pattern recognition to financial structures and governance decisions that once guided her benchwork in biochemistry. She is attuned to where risk concentrates, where feedback loops reinforce or erode stability, and where governance levers can be effectively applied. As she puts it, “The role of a board member is to provide insight and oversight — clarifying complexity, surfacing implicit assumptions, and assisting executives in grounding decisions in both fiscal logic and scientific rigor. 

Today a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (September 2019), in January of 2005, Dr. Sterling deployed as a National Science Foundation-funded research scuba diver to Antarctica. While there, she became to sole equity analyst in history to update her coverage by satellite from a remote field camp on the Antarctic continent.

Character:
Dr. Sterling exemplifies integrity and organizational values in her research coverage as well as in boardrooms. Her reputation is built on ethics, authenticity, and a deep sense of responsibility toward the organizations and communities she serves.

Knowledge:
With a Ph.D. in biochemistry and the CFA designation, Karen is fluent in both science and finance. Her insights are grounded in empirical rigor, enabling her to evaluate opportunities and risks through data analysis.

Strategic:
Karen’s career reflects a consistent ability to anticipate market shifts and position organizations for long-term success. From turnaround leadership to capital structuring, she approaches challenges with a forward-looking, integrative mindset.

Communication:
Whether authoring investment reports or speaking at conferences, Karen is a compelling communicator. She excels at translating complex concepts into clear prose, making her a valuable voice in any leadership setting.