Since founding The Sonder Group in 2003, Karen S. Whitney, president, has helped multiple client companies in the life sciences and clean tech industries build superb teams. These organizations have included AdvanDx, Affymetrix, Agilent (formerly Biocius), Art, Aushon Biosystems, Beckman Coulter Genomics, Caliper LifeSciences, Cell Biosciences, Ensemble Discovery, Fluidigm, Helicos BioScience, Microlytic, NABsys, Perkin Elmer (formerly VisEn Medical), Proveris Scientific, RainDance Technologies, Roche (formerly 454), Sequenom, Spectral Analysis, Thermo Fisher (formerly Proxeon), WaferGen, and Xceed.
To achieve this degree of team-building effectiveness in such specialized and technically demanding areas, an executive recruiter must have domain knowledge of the fields, operational and entrepreneurial expertise, a deep understanding of the scientific community, and a wide acquaintance among those who people and lead it. Karen’s many accomplishments in the technology sector have resulted in just such mastery.
As Vice President of Business Development at the NewcoGen Group, a Flagship Ventures fund, Karen built teams and revenue streams for Selventa (then Genstruct) and BG Medicine (now BGMD on NASDAQ, formerly Beyond Genomics). She was the Founding Vice President, Business Development of Genstruct, where she created and launched all business development strategies and activities for the company, and was a founding Vice President, Business Development of Beyond Genomics, one of the first systems biology/personalized medicine companies.
Among the organizations with which Karen is affiliated, and that deepen her understanding of the community and extend her network of potential candidates, are the MIT Enterprise Forum, LRIG (Laboratory Robotics Interest Group), and Greater Boston Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group. She was a Prospectives Meeting Organizer of the Interplay of Chemistry and Biology in Integrative Drug Discovery Conference for American Chemical Society, and plays an active role in many other industry groups and proceedings.
Prior organizations at which she advanced from her initial role as a protein chemist include Celera Genomics, PerSeptive Biosystems, Applied Biosystems, Pharmacia, Clinical Sciences, Collaborative Research Inc and the University of Connecticut. Karen’s BA in Biology is from Colby College, and she enjoys skiing, kayaking, and traveling with her family.
