Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne

Last updated
Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne
Gayle Jennings O'Byrne Headshot.jpg
Born (1969-08-03) August 3, 1969 (age 54)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, BS, Economics University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business MBA, Finance
OccupationVenture Capitalist
Websitewww.wocstar.com

Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne (born August 3, 1969) is a venture capitalist and founder of the Wocstar Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in women of color ("WOC") and diverse inclusive teams in the tech sector. She is best known for her work to empower women of color startups and help build wealth in communities of color and diversity. Her management and consulting company managed the iNTENT Manifesto campaign to mobilize women startups and allies across the globe.

Contents

A major funder included JPMorgan Chase and was kicked off with an OpEd in Axios by Jamie Dimon, CEO JPMorgan and Steve Case, CEO Case Foundation. [1]

She has spoken at such summits and forums as United Nations, Aspen Ideas Festival, [2] SXSW, Roadmap to Billions: Black Women Talk Tech, 5th Element Group [3] and has appeared on Sirius XM radio and the NASDAQ TV [4] network discussing the financial markets and the global economic outlook.

Early life and education

Born Gayle Jennings to John Jennings and Thelma (née' Walls) Bataille in St. Louis, Missouri, Jennings-O'Byrne grew up in the Bay Area during the early days of Silicon Valley. Her mother was a trailblazer in computing, beginning with her work on The McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter jet and the DC-10 and F15 fighter planes as the only female Fortran programmer on the IBM mainframe in the department.[ citation needed ]

Jennings-O'Byrne attended Justin-Siena High School in Napa, California and subsequently attended The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, [5] to study finance and graduated with a B.S. in Economics. Later she studied at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and received her M.B.A in Finance.[ citation needed ]

Career

Soon after her graduation from Wharton in 1991, Jennings-O'Byrne joined Sun Microsystems as a media relations manager. She introduced and launched a successful initiative that showcased chief information officers and the end-users of the firm's products. Notable projects included Pixar Animation Studios rendering of the movie Toy Story, [6] [7] [ circular reference ] 1994 World Cup Men's Soccer, global Java rollout and SPARCstation. [8] Upon graduating from Ross School of Business, Jennings-O'Byrne joined JPMorgan Chase's investment bank. She rose to one of only a few female vice presidents in the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Senior roles in government relations as an international lobbyist and in JPMorgan's Global Philanthropy group followed.[ citation needed ]

She left JP Morgan Chase [9] [10] [11] and founded Harriet Capital to launch the Harriet Fund, an investment management firm and fund aimed to invest in startups led by Black and Latinx women. In 2018, she pivoted and expanded her vision to include all women of color and relaunched with the iNTENT Manifesto campaign and the Wocstar Fund. Wocstar Capital, [12] [13] is an entrepreneurial advisory, storytelling and investment management firm that educates and trains entrepreneurs and small businesses to build successful/sustainable companies and to access the right capital at the right time.

The Wocstar Fund [14] [15] [16] is an early stage investment fund focused on women of color and inclusive tech founders who are redefining how we will consume, work, play, dwell and socialize in the future. She launched Wocstar Media in 2024. [17]

Personal life

Jennings-O'Byrne married David A O'Byrne, from Dublin, Ireland at Kinnitty Castle in 2004. They have no children.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JPMorgan Chase</span> American multinational financial services firm

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational finance company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States and the world's largest bank by market capitalization as of 2023. As the largest of Big Four banks, the firm is considered systemically important by the Financial Stability Board. Its size and scale have often led to enhanced regulatory oversight as well as the maintenance of an internal "Fortress Balance Sheet". The firm is headquartered at 383 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and is set to move into the under-construction JPMorgan Chase Building at 270 Park Avenue in 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venture capital</span> Form of private-equity financing

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc.. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are often from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.

Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn Finney</span> American author, entrepreneur, innovator, and businesswoman

Kathryn A. Finney is an American author, researcher, investor, entrepreneur, and businesswoman. She is the founder of Genius Guild, a $20 million dollar venture fund & studio that invests in Black entrepreneurs building scalable businesses that serve Black communities and beyond. She is also founder and Board Chair of The Doonie Fund, a social platform that provides micro-investment to Black women entrepreneurs. Finney first made her mark as a tech entrepreneur when she sold “The Budget Fashionista” after running the site-turned-media company for 11 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Colonna (financier)</span> American venture capitalist

Jerry Colonna is an American venture capitalist and professional coach who played a prominent part in the early development of Silicon Valley. Colonna has been named to Upside magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the New Economy, Forbes ASAP's list of the best VCs in the country, and Worth's list of the 25 most generous young Americans. He is a co-founder and CEO of the executive coaching and leadership development company, Reboot. He is the host of the Reboot Podcast. He also serves as chairman on the Board of Trustees at Naropa University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Sacca</span> American businessman

Christopher Sacca is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage technology companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, and Kickstarter, investments that resulted in his placement as No. 2 on Forbes' Midas List: Top Tech Investors for 2017. Sacca held several positions at Google Inc., where he led the alternative access and wireless divisions and worked on mergers and acquisitions. Between 2015 and 2020, he appeared as a "Guest Shark" on ABC's Shark Tank. In early 2017, Sacca announced that he was retiring from venture investing. In 2021, Sacca announced that he was back into venture investing with a focus on Climate issues.

GGV Capital is a global venture capital firm. The firm was established in 2000 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Formerly known as Granite Global Ventures, the firm has become one of the most active American investors in Chinese artificial intelligence companies. As of 2021, it manages $9.2 billion in capital across 17 funds.

Greycroft LP is an American venture capital firm. It manages over $2 billion in capital with investments in companies such as Bird, Bumble, HuffPost, Goop, Scopely, The RealReal, and Venmo. Greycroft was founded in 2006 by Alan Patricof, Dana Settle, and Ian Sigalow. The firm is headquartered in New York City and Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave McClure</span> Entrepreneur and angel investor

David "Dave" McClure is an entrepreneur and angel investor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who founded the business accelerator 500 Startups ,and served as its CEO until his resignation in 2017. He founded Practical Venture Capital soon after, a new venture capital fund that would continue to work with companies he previously funded through 500 Startups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Callahan Erdoes</span> American banker (born 1967)

Mary Callahan Erdoes is an American investment manager and businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the asset and wealth management division of J.P. Morgan, serving since 2009. With the firm since 1996, she began her career as a portfolio manager, specializing in fixed income trading. From 2005 to 2009, she served as the CEO of the firm's private bank, advising wealthy families and institutions. Her career has led to her being described as the most powerful woman in American finance. She has been noted as a potential successor to Jamie Dimon, as CEO of JPMorgan Chase.

In April and May 2012, large trading losses occurred at JPMorgan's Chief Investment Office, based on transactions booked through its London branch. The unit was run by Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, who later stepped down. A series of derivative transactions involving credit default swaps (CDS) were entered, reportedly as part of the bank's "hedging" strategy. Trader Bruno Iksil, nicknamed the London Whale, accumulated outsized CDS positions in the market. An estimated trading loss of $2 billion was announced. However, the loss amounted to more than $6 billion for JPMorgan Chase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AngelList</span> Website connecting startups, angel investors, and job-seekers

AngelList is an American software company for fundraising and connecting startups, angel investors, and limited partners. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge. Created by serial entrepreneur Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi in 2010, Avlok Kohli has been leading AngelList as its CEO since 2019.

Marianne Lake is a senior British-American banker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresia Gouw</span>

Theresia Gouw is an entrepreneur and venture capital investor in the technology sector. She worked at Bain & Company, Release Software and Accel Partners before co-founding Aspect Ventures, a female-led venture capital firm, in 2014. Gouw was named one of the 40 most influential minds in tech by Time Magazine. and has been recognized seven times on the Forbes Midas List as one of the "world's smartest tech investors". According to Forbes, Gouw is the richest female venture capitalist, with a net worth of approximately $500 million, primarily due to her involvement with Accel (company)'s early investment in Facebook.

Binary Capital is an early stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. The firm focuses on early-stage consumer technology companies. The founders' previous investment experience included roles at General Catalyst Partners, Benchmark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Fonstad</span> American venture capital investor

Jennifer Fonstad is an American venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She is the managing partner and a co-founder of the Owl Capital Group, a venture firm based in Silicon Valley. Fonstad was Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) for 17 years. She is also co-founder of angel investing network Broadway Angels. Fonstad has been recognized as a top 100 tech investor on Forbes’ Midas List twice and was named 2016 Venture Capitalist of the Year by Deloitte. She is also a Founding Member of All Raise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyan Banister</span> American investor and entrepreneur

Cyan Banister is an American angel investor and entrepreneur. She is a partner at Long Journey Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund. She was an early investor in Uber, Niantic, Postmates, DeepMind, Carta, Thumbtack, Flexport, Affirm, and SpaceX, and co-founded Zivity, an adult-themed social networking site. Banister was the first woman investing partner at the venture capital Founders Fund, where she led seed and early-stage investments.

Thrive Global is an American company that provides behavior change technology. It was founded by Arianna Huffington in August 2016. The company is based in New York City.

Contrary is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2016, the firm invests across early stage companies in North America and India. Select investments from the firm include DoorDash, Anduril, Ramp, Zepto, and Vise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes</span> Economist and venture capitalist

Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes is the Founder and CEO of Aruwa Capital Management.

References

  1. ↑ Dimon, James; Case, Steve. "Talent is distributed equally. Opportunity is not". Axios.
  2. ↑ "Aspen Ideas Speakers".
  3. ↑ Sadovnick, Mark. "Mark Sadovnick Interviews Gayle Jennings O'Byrne". 5th Element Group.
  4. ↑ Jane, King. "1st Quarter 2019: Will the Bounceback Last?". Innovators with Jane King. NASDQ.
  5. ↑ "How To Drive $1 Billion to Women of Color Tech Entrepreneurs". Wharton Social Impact Initiative.
  6. ↑ Jeff Ubois (1995). "Sun goes Hollywood, 117 SPARCstations render "Toy Story," the first feature-length computer-animated film". SUNWORLD.
  7. ↑ "Pixar Image Computer". Wikipedia.
  8. ↑ "SMCC Introduces hyperSPARC SPARCstation".
  9. ↑ Dimon, James; Case, Steve. "Talent is distributed equally. Opportunity is not". Axios.
  10. ↑ Mazzoni, Mary. "This Change-Maker Left Wall Street To Support Female". Conscious Company Media.
  11. ↑ Pilska, Jessica. "How To Find The Fastest Growing Segment Of Startups That Everyone Is Missing". Forbes. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  12. ↑ Powell, Rashida. "iNTENT Manifesto receives $500,000 to support women entrepreneurs of color in tech". The Atlanta Voice.
  13. ↑ Hill, Selena. "JPMORGAN CHASE TO INVEST $1 MILLION IN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS OF COLOR". Black Enterprise.
  14. ↑ Stengel, Geri. "New York City Is Opening Doors With $35 Million For Women Entrepreneurs And Makers". Forbes. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  15. ↑ Cortese, Amy. "Fixing the funding gap: City invests in women private investors overlook". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  16. ↑ Gumila, Jeriann. "The Ultimate Guide for Female Founders in NYC". Medium. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  17. ↑ "Wocstar Capital Launches Wocstar Media 2024 Fellows Wocstar Capital Announces Wocstar Media and Wocstar 2024 Fellows". KRQE. EIN Presswire. 2024-02-20. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.