Working in corporate venture capital is difficult, even on the best of days. Being successful requires us to build bridges between many disparate groups: start-ups and corporations; investors and customers; leaders and data. Very few people succeed at working well across the board.

Debbie Adewale is one of those rare finds, which is why we are excited to announce her promotion to Associate. Debbie joined our team in the summer of 2024 and quickly showcased skills far beyond her past experience and title. From the get-go, Debbie was proactive in leveraging her past healthcare experience at McKinsey to develop initial investment theses. To test and act on those theses, she then built brand new relationships across CareFirst, venture investors, start-up leaders, and other payers and providers. She excelled at developing transparent, warm relationships across the board and at all levels, including with the CEO at CareFirst.

Debbie also has a truly sharp mind and can rapidly develop new skills and insights. She has quickly built a keen sense of investibility in venture capital, grown her underlying diligence skills, and even independently led her first diligence a year after starting in venture capital.

At this point, if you know Debbie, you know how exceptional she is. I hear compliments about her from start-up conferences, CareFirst leadership meetings, and investor calls.  When I raised her promotion to Dan Zohorsky, Managing Partner at Healthworx, he had also been impressed by the caliber of Debbie’s work and questions, and he thought it was an obvious decision.

Please join me in congratulating Debbie for all that she has accomplished! We are so grateful to have her on the team!