Lisa Suennen, managing partner at AHA Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Texas-based nonprofit cardiac care organisation American Heart Association (AHA) made a smart move when it hired Lisa Suennen to run its nascent corporate venture capital unit at the end of 2023.
Though Suennen had been running Venture Valkyrie, a consulting firm and associated blog dedicated to investment and health topics, she was better known in the CVC community from her time leading law firm Manatt’s corporate strategic fund, the healthcare fund at GE Ventures, the CVC arm of General Electric as well as helping corporations establish new funds.
Suennen was also a member of the board of directors at Proof Acquisition Corp I for two years and the president of digital and data solutions at Canary Medical, a Canada-based medical equipment manufacturer.
AHA Ventures is an umbrella investment unit comprised of four venture funds connected through their shared focus around heart and brain health innovation. Startups working with AHA Ventures have access to a large engagement platform that shares best practices and gives AHA and portcos knowledge of and access to each other to serve initiatives that support AHA’s mission.
AHA Ventures includes Cardeation Capital, a $75m fund started by Suennen when she consulted for AHA, and the Social Impact Fund, a $50m evergreen fund focused on social determinants of health, started by AHA in 2017. Cardeation has backed companies such as Biolinq, LaPlace and Phagenesis while the Social Impact Fund has backed companies including Pear Suite, Cartwheel, Simplifed and Sober Sidekick.
After joining AHA full-time, Suennen added two new programmes: AHA’s Studio Red incubator, which collaborated to start Auxira Health, a virtual cardiology platform to expand cardiologists’ practice capacity and relieve physician burnout, and MDisrupt, an AI-powered health expert marketplace; and the $75m Go Red for Women Venture Fund to advance the heart and brain health of women, which backed Neura Health, a virtual care company for neurologic conditions, and UK-based Ultromics, a pioneer in AI-driven cardiology solutions, at the end of 2025.
She snapped up Tracy Warren to run the Go Red fund as senior managing director, Heather Wilder, Ph.D., to lead Studio Red, and, recently, Kristi Ebong to run the Social Impact Fund. The Cardeation fund is managed by Aphelion Capital under the leadership of Ned Scheetz.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
