Linda Burch leads Common Sense Media’s education efforts, new programs, and strategy development. Throughout her career, she has dealt with the practical aspects of launching new products, negotiating partnerships, and building new ventures from the ground up, as well as broader strategic questions related to how to diversify and grow. Burch was senior vice president of business development and corporate planning at SyStemix, a biotechnology company that she helped build and then sold to Novartis. Previously, she was a strategic management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York, where she served healthcare and consumer-products companies. Prior to that, she spent five years in investment banking at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, where she negotiated joint ventures between US technology companies and the People’s Republic of China.