The Engine, the tough tech venture capital fund and incubator formed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), appointed Sue Siegel as chairwoman of its board of directors on Friday.
Siegel was formerly chief innovation officer of industrial conglomerate General Electric and CEO of its corporate venturing subsidiary, GE Ventures, having stood down from both roles in July 2019.
A five-time GCV Powerlist award-winner and lifetime achievement awardee, Siegel has sat on the board of directors at The Engine since its inception in 2016.
Siegel is also a lecturer at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, a co-chair of the board of fellows at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, and a board adviser for University of California’s Regents Working Group on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Her other duties include board appointments at University of California, Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub and University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business in addition to genomics technology provider Illumina.
During her time at GE Ventures, Siegel supervised deals in areas including healthcare, IT, manufacturing and energy. She became CEO of the unit in 2013, the year after General Electric had appointed her to head up a healthtech-focused innovation scheme called Healthymagination.
Siegel succeeds The Engine’s founding chairman Israel Ruiz, who is leaving to concentrate on a new startup venture. Ruiz’s accomplishments include his work in closing The Engine’s inaugural $205m fund, which has invested in a total of 27 tough tech startups to date.
Siegel said: “It is an honour and a privilege to become the chair of The Engine board of directors. As a long-time practitioner in tough tech, I am excited for the opportunity to grow the ecosystem for transformative technology and help solve urgent challenges through the convergence of science, engineering and leadership as we add value to The Engine’s stakeholders.”
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.