Cindy Eckert

Cindy Eckert was born in upstate New York. According to a New York Times profile piece, she attended a different school each year from the fourth grade through the twelfth. During those years she lived overseas where her father Fred Eckert served as a US Ambassador to Fiji.[3] She graduated from Marymount University in Virginia.[4]

Eckert began her career with Merck, before moving on to work with smaller, specialty pharmaceutical companies Dura and Elan.[4] After a stint with QVC, Eckert returned to the healthcare space to found two pharmaceutical companies - Slate Pharmaceuticals and Sprout Pharmaceuticals - both of which she sold.[5]

She sold Sprout to Valeant in 2015 after the company won FDA approval for the drug Addyi, the first drug designed to enhance female libido.[6] Prior to founding Sprout, Eckert co-founded Slate Pharmaceuticals in 2007. Slate was focused on men's sexual health with an FDA approved long acting testosterone product, Testopel. Slate sold in 2011 to Actient Pharmaceuticals.[7]

Eckert established an investment firm called The Pink Ceiling in 2016 after the most recent exit, when she sold Sprout Pharmaceuticals to Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $1 billion.[8] In November 2017, Eckert re-acquired Sprout Pharmaceuticals from Valeant for "almost nothing", according to Bloomberg.[2]

Her exits total $1.5 billion[4][9]

In 2018, Eckert formally changed her name from Cindy Whitehead.[10]

Eckert launched the Pink Ceiling in order to improve access to capital for female-led start-ups.[5] “The injustice I’m fighting with the Pink Ceiling is not only women’s limited access to capital, but also their limited access to mentors,” she told Entrepreneur Magazine.[5] Eckert works with a team of women to determine which female-led companies will be the recipients of venture capital funding.[11][12]

To date, The Pink Ceiling has invested in eleven start-ups, with public announcements on their involvement with Undercover Colors (a company that is developing wearable nail tech to detect the presence of a date rape drug in drinks),[8] Lia Diagnostics (which produces a flushable pregnancy test),[13] Intuitap (which has a medical device aimed to streamline the spinal tap procedure),[5] and Pursuit (which is developing a patented technology to improve four different aspects of sleep)[14]

The Pink Ceiling's affiliated incubator, called the “Pinkubator” because of its female focus, is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The “Pinkubator” was established to provide female-focused entrepreneurs with direct access to mentors, investment opportunities, and business development guidance.[4]