Kiel Dowlin, managing director at GEHA Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Kiel Downlin’s career has spanned the arc of the CVC ecosystem. He started as a ventures associate at Cambia Health Solutions, but quickly realised he wanted to become more effective at helping entrepreneurs and providing value.
His journey led him to working at early-stage startups and venture-backed startups, then running corporate development at Castlight Health, before partnering with a family office to start and build his own company.
When he rejoined a CVC, he looked to the Government Employees Health Association (GEHA), a non-profit member association that provides medical and dental benefits to more than two million US federal employees and retirees, as well as military retirees and their families. Dowlin was keen to bring his passion for innovation into this space.
“We try to look where we can provide the most value as an investor, while still identifying where we can provide the most value to the parent company”
His role is broken into three aspects: acting as an innovation partner for the parent company; sourcing and talking to other investors; and portfolio management. He enjoys working with entrepreneurs and seeing how investments have a direct effect on GEHA’s membership.
The biggest challenge he faces is prioritisation. “We try to look where we can provide the most value as an investor, while still identifying where we can provide the most value to the parent company.”
Dowlin is looking at technical innovations and robotics that solve the core pain point of shifting medical care into the home. “During the pandemic, we saw a lot of innovations that we have been talking about for years come to life and be used, and now we are going through the difficult process of implementing them,” he says.
GEHA’s Fund I is the unit’s first foray into building a corporate venturing practice. The team of two is supplemented by a rotating bench of entrepreneurs in residence. GEHA leads and participates in early-stage rounds, with investment focus areas including consumerism of healthcare, lifestyle longevity, access to care, and sustainability and efficiency in healthcare.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
