As Managing Director, Dr. Kovac's main focus is in developing and executing investment strategies for leading edge technologies that are contributing to the transformation of medicine and healthcare including: personalized medicine, the use of IT in healthcare, stem cell research, medical devices and diagnostics, and bio-nanotechnology. In addition, she works as part of the Burrill International Group team building the company's life science focus on emerging economies such as China, India, Malaysia and the Middle East.

Before assuming her current position, Dr. Kovac served as General Manager and was responsible for the strategic direction of IBM’s global pharmaceutical and life sciences business.  She lead her team in developing the latest information technology solutions and services, establishing partnerships and overseeing IBM investment within the healthcare, pharmaceutical and life sciences markets.  In this role, Dr. Kovac worked closely with a wide variety of leaders in healthcare and life sciences including medical centers and academic institutions as well as leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies to pioneer information-based medicine. 

In 2004, Dr. Kovac was general manager, IBM Life Sciences.  Starting with only two employees as an emerging business unit in the year 2000, Dr. Kovac successfully grew the life sciences business unit into a multi-billion dollar business, and one of IBM’s most successful ventures to date with more than 1500 employees worldwide.  In more than 20 years at IBM, Dr. Kovac has held a number of executive management positions, including vice president of Technical Strategy and Division Operations, and vice president of Services and Solutions.  In the latter role, she was instrumental in launching the Computational Biology Center at IBM Research. 

Dr. Kovac holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College. She sits on the Board of Directors of Research!America and Africa Harvest.   She has served as a frequent speaker and panelist at numerous life sciences and healthcare forums worldwide. She served as an expert panelist for the 2004 World Economic Forum and the 2003 Time Magazine Future of Life Summit. Dr. Kovac was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2002, and is a member-emeritus of the IBM Academy of Technology.  In 2004, Dr. Kovac had the distinction of being named one of the 50 most powerful women in business by Fortune magazine and in 2005 won the Scrip Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year Award.