ArcStone Kingswood Names Karen Sterling, PhD, CFA as Head of Biotechnology Investment Banking
Key Insights
ArcStone Kingswood (search) has appointed Dr. Karen Sterling, a Columbia-trained biochemist and CFA charterholder, as Head of Biotechnology Investment Banking to lead its healthcare sector expansion.
Dr. Sterling brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of healthcare, biotechnology, and finance, including prior roles at Avalon Net Worth (search) and Kingswood.
She believes artificial intelligence is meaningfully reducing the time and cost of early-stage drug development, which will drive demand for sector-specific financing expertise.
ArcStone Kingswood (search), a branded branch office of Kingswood Capital Partners, LLC (search), announced on July 22, 2026 that Karen Sterling, PhD, CFA has been named Head of Biotechnology Investment Banking. The appointment signals a strategic deepening of the firm's presence in the healthcare and life sciences sector, which represents a significant share of the Nasdaq.
Dr. Sterling, who holds two master's degrees and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Columbia University, moves into the role from her position as Senior Research Analyst at Kingswood, which she joined in December 2023. Her mandate includes covering companies within the biotechnology, healthcare providers, medical technology and supplies, and specialty pharmaceutical subsectors.
A Career at the Intersection of Science and Finance
Dr. Sterling has spent more than two decades navigating the convergence of healthcare, biotechnology, and capital markets. Prior to joining Kingswood, she served for more than a decade — from April 2009 to December 2019 — as Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at Avalon Net Worth (search), where she led strategic advisory and fundraising engagements for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics, and healthcare IT clients, and also served in transitional C-suite roles.
Her leadership experience extends beyond banking: she served a 17-month term as President and CEO of the New York Society of Security Analysts (now CFA Society New York), leading a financial and operational turnaround of the organization. In 2018, she was Executive-in-Residence at The Rockefeller University, advising a leading RNA and mRNA research laboratory on strategy and commercialization. She earned her CFA charter in 2006 and holds FINRA Series 7, 16, 63, 79, 86, and 87 registrations.
AI's Role in Shaping Biotechnology Financing
Dr. Sterling articulated a thesis that artificial intelligence is meaningfully reducing the time and cost of early-stage drug development — a shift she expects to drive growing demand for the kind of sector expertise and financing that ArcStone Kingswood (search) is building out.
"What drew me to this role is the versatility of the platform. ArcStone Kingswood (search) gives me a direct path to connect strong science with institutional capital on a global scale, and I look forward to delivering that kind of value for our clients as we build out this practice," said Dr. Sterling.
Platform Capabilities and Strategic Context
ArcStone Kingswood (search) supports healthcare-sector clients through an equity franchise with an institutional equity sales desk, access to more than 300 registered investment advisors with approximately $27 billion in assets under administration, and participation in the ArcStone Kingswood Growth Conference and other bespoke institutional investor events throughout the year. The firm also provides introductions to independent equity research analysts with decades of experience.
Dr. Sterling will work alongside Michael Curtis, whose investment banking career includes tenures at Lehman Brothers, RBC Capital Markets, and Canaccord Genuity, as well as Michael Astone, ArcStone's Chief Executive Officer and a former Managing Director at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"Karen has spent her career at the exact intersection we need for this build-out: deep science, real banking experience, and the judgment to know which biotech stories can actually get financed," said Michael Astone, CPA, CA, Chief Executive Officer of ArcStone Securities and Investments Corp. "Moving her into this role is a natural next step, not a new hire, and that matters. She already knows our platform. Now she's building the healthcare and life sciences franchise on top of it."
Dr. Sterling will be based in New York. ArcStone has indicated that this appointment is one of several planned moves this year across sector coverage.