NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Girls Who Invest (GWI), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in the asset management industry, today announced Katherine Jollon Colsher has joined as Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Colsher succeeds Janet Cowell in the CEO role.
“We are thrilled to have Katherine join us and help take Girls Who Invest to even greater heights,” said Seema R. Hingorani, Founder and Chair of Girls Who Invest. “She has an incredibly successful track record of growing programs with the highest quality and integrity and has done this with both speed and precision. She is uniquely qualified to lead our organization at this point in our growth trajectory. We’re looking forward to the many contributions that she will make in enhancing GWI’s educational, internship, and community-building programs for young women exploring and building careers as investors in the asset management industry.”
Ms. Colsher has built an impressive career advancing entrepreneurs and global communities in need. Most recently as Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, she served as the National Director of 10,000 Small Businesses, an initiative launched in 2009 to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital, and business support services. During her tenure at Goldman Sachs, Katherine grew 10,000 Small Businesses to reach over 10,000 entrepreneurs across all 50 states with 67% increasing revenues in just six months.
Prior to that, she was the Director for Organizational Development and Effectiveness for ONE, an advocacy organization and global movement co-founded by Bono and other activists to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, and earlier in her career was a Manager at Accenture. Ms. Colsher earned a B.A. from the University of Richmond.
“The discussion around the need for greater gender diversity in business has become more urgent in recent years, but far too much work remains to be done and this is particularly true for the asset management space,” said Ms. Colsher. “Girls Who Invest has made a tremendous impact in a short amount of time, with more than 500 women completing its flagship ten-week summer program in the last five years and an astonishing 80% staying within the investment business. The challenge and opportunity to build on this momentum and propel real, long-lasting change for the asset management industry was something I could not pass up.”
Ms. Colsher will be responsible for scaling GWI to measurably impact its goal of having 30% of the world’s investable capital managed by women by 2030. Critical criteria for success include deepening GWI’s reach to historically underrepresented minorities, thereby intensifying its focus on education and access for all women. With COVID-19 continuing to impact the education landscape, Ms. Colsher will also leverage her extensive programmatic experience to build upon GWI’s successful 2020 virtual rollout should online learning remain integral in 2021.
“Katherine’s deep experience expanding access to opportunities and her vision for how we can advance our mission make her the perfect candidate to lead Girls Who Invest forward,” stated Betty Hung, GWI Board Member and Search Committee Chair, and Managing Director at Vista Equity Partners. “At Vista, we’ve been longtime supporters of Girls Who Invest, and as an internship partner we’ve seen firsthand the powerful impact of the program on individuals and the industry as a whole. Under Katherine’s leadership, I’m confident we can further expand and nurture the pipeline of talented young women to positively change the face of asset management.”
Applications are now open for the 2021 Summer Intensive Program and the self-directed Online Intensive Program.
About Girls Who Invest
Girls Who Invest is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing gender diversity and inclusion in investment management with a focus on growing the pipeline of women in frontline investing positions. They accomplish this through education, mentoring, internships, and a supportive community. The organization’s flagship summer program enables college students to explore investment management careers through four weeks of free educational training with top university professors followed by a six-week paid internship at one of more than 100 leading investment management firms in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Scholars unable to commit 10 weeks to the program can apply for Girls Who Invest’s four-month, fully subsidized, self-directed Online Intensive Program.
In addition, all scholars receive support and career guidance from a community of partners, mentors, and alumni. Girls Who Invest’s vision is for 30% of the world’s investable capital to be managed by women by 2030. For more information, visit www.girlswhoinvest.org.
