Gradient Ventures board partner will provide a unique perspective on technology from a four-decade career driving business transformation
BenchSci, an emerging global leader in machine learning applications for novel medicine development, has announced that digital technology and business transformation leader Bonita Stewart has joined its board of directors.
Stewart is a board partner at Gradient Ventures, Google’s early-stage venture fund investing in the future of AI, where she advises companies on their go-to-market strategies. Before Gradient, Stewart spent 15 years with Google, most recently as Vice President, Global Partnerships.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to have someone with Bonita’s stature and experience as a member of our board,” says Liran Belenzon, CEO, BenchSci. “To a company like ours in hypergrowth, being able to tap her deep technology and go-to-market wisdom is an unfair advantage. We look forward to Bonita’s guidance in our continuing transformation of drug discovery.”
Stewart co-founded two companies, NiaOnline and One Moment in Time; is an investor in Operator Collective and Female Founders Fund; and sits on a number of boards, including for two public companies, PagerDuty and Deckers Brands. She graduated magna cum laude from Howard University and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Over the past several years, Stewart has been recognized for her leadership. She recently co-authored a book entitled A Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive and released the 2020 Women of Color in Business Cross-Generational Survey.
“BenchSci has long stood out to us as unique amongst biotechnology companies for its impact on novel drug discovery, due to its groundbreaking use of machine learning to improve experiments as the fundamental building block of R&D,” says Stewart. “The company is also a great example for its commitments to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, with measurable goals and concrete actions. I’m excited to join the team on the next phase of their journey.”
Stewart joins existing board members Luba Greenwood, Executive Managing Partner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Antoine Nivard, Principal, Inovia Capital; and Shervin Ghaemmaghami, Operating Partner, F-Prime Capital.
