Steven Collens

Steven Collens is CEO of MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub. MATTER helps healthcare innovators achieve their goals faster and more efficiently and increases the odds of their success. The organization has incubated more than 1,000 healthcare startups and offers an “accelerator-as-a-service” solution to leading health systems, life sciences companies, payers and foundations seeking to build collaborations with entrepreneurs. MATTER also works directly with established companies to help them innovate more effectively.

Collens founded MATTER in 2015, after serving as senior vice president at Pritzker Group, the investment firm led at the time by brothers J.B. and Tony Pritzker. In that capacity, Collens led the team that created 1871, Chicago’s center for digital startups, which became the top-ranked business incubator in the world in 2018. He previously worked at Abbott in a variety of domestic and international functions, including product management, policy and public affairs. Prior to Abbott, he served as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun.

Collens holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. He chairs the board of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and serves on the boards of 1871 and the Chicago High School for the Arts. He is a member of ChicagoNEXT, the Chicago mayor’s council on technology and innovation, a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow, and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago.