Kathryn Hyer is a Director of IllinoisVENTURES and a Partner of the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund, and is focused on the Life Sciences. Ms. Hyer spent fourteen years in investment banking, most recently as the founder and head of the Health Care Corporate Finance Group at EVEREN Securities, now Wachovia, covering a range of health care sectors, including services, drug delivery, medical device, therapeutics, and diagnostics across a range of size and stage of companies. Following her career in investment banking, Ms. Hyer served as the Chief Financial and Administration Officer for Quark Biotech (now Quark Pharma), a venture funded Israeli company backed by Larry Ellison. Ms. Hyer served on the board of Zevex International, Inc., a publicly-held medical device company, from December 2000 to December 2002, and served as Chair of the Audit Committee. In 2001, Ms. Hyer advised and served on the board of Advanced Life Sciences, a Chicago based biotechnology firm (now public), and advised Ridgeway Biosystems, a Cleveland Clinic Foundation spin-off focusing on RNAi. Ms. Hyer also dedicated two years to public service as the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Cleveland in 1994 -1996. Most recently, Ms. Hyer has driven the formation and development of ToleroGenics, Inc., Opticlot, Inc., and SteadySleep Rx Co., and serves on the Boards of all three. She is also an Observer on the Boards of Caden Biosciences, Inc. and Chromatin, Inc. and has collaborated on coverage of several other investments. Ms. Hyer graduated magna cum laude from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, in Cleveland, Ohio. Ms. Hyer now serves on the Cleveland-Marshall National Advisory Council.