I want to thank the Wingpact team for coming together and collaborating so easily on our goals and mission. Our paths first crossed last fall in San Francisco; one year later we were on a mountain retreat planning the founding of our company. A business that will be nurtured, grown, and expanded to reach its highest and greatest impact. How fitting for this to have taken root while we were literally in the trees, at altitude. 

I also wanted to thank you ladies for including and entertaining my 2-year-old, Reeve. I know he had a memorable weekend, as he has begun to say "Wingpact" when we look at photos from the trip. He's on board with our mission, and toddler approval is important in my world. 

I am thrilled and excited to be a part of this team. Back to writing now, gals!

It was nice to see how everyone was committed both at the big-vision level (our overall mission) all the way to the granular administrative level of setting up the company and engaging with legal and tax experts. The process led by Suzanne is collaborative, efficient and quite educational. We have had our respective roles within Wingpact redefined, and I was appointed CEO by the group. This was a true humbling experience and am grateful of my colleagues' trust and confidence in serving our Wingpact team, clients, and partners.

I look forward to this journey and sharing with you a thing or two I learn along the way. :)

This is how an all-female angel group does an investor's retreat. It includes outdoor morning yoga in the middle of the woods, mothering a 2-year old boy and cooking a mean breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Our sun salutation yoga breathing in deeply the fresh smell of pine woods revitalized our minds and souls. We got down to business right after a big breakfast of home-made vegetable fritatas and dhal puri. We've made great progress and will be sharing more details in the near future.  

Last night, I attended the CFA Society of San Francisco’s Women Initiative Network’s event on Gender Lens Investing. It was an enlightening event – not only was there a great group of women in attendance but also for the first time, I realized how many women CFAs there are in San Francisco. Where have these ladies been?!?! Is everyone hanging out without me?

Extensive (albeit rather gloomy!) research was shared by Andrea Davis, Associate Director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, affiliated with Stanford University and... an ex-fire fighter! Her background as a historian and sociologist provided a fascinating view into unconscious gender bias. Perhaps the most revealing (and humbling) lesson for me was that both men and women practice this “unconscious gender bias”. Andrea sited a riddle – that I am embarrassed to have only gotten right on my second try.

Here is the riddle: A man is driving his son to school. They unfortunately get into an accident and the man dies. The son is rushed to the hospital and when he arrives for emergency surgery, the surgeon says, "I can’t operate on this boy, he is my son!" How is this possible?

Answer: My first guess, being from San Francisco, was that the parents were gay men. A second later (and while it was only a second later, I swear!) I thought, Wait a minute - I could be the surgeon! Apparently, this riddle was part of a research project conducted by Mikaela Wapman and Deborah Belle at Boston University. The researchers ran the riddle by two groups: 197 BU psychology students and 103 children, ages 7 to 17. In both groups, only a small minority of the group—15 percent of the children and 14 percent of the BU students—came up with the mom’s-the-surgeon answer. Andrea’s sharing of this piece of research was such an “ah-ha” moment for me and made me realize that no matter how progressive I am in my actions, I, too, am participating in this “unconscious gender bias.”

The second speaker was Eve Ellis, a Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley, whom about 18 months ago launched the Parity Portfolio Strategy. Eve’s investment strategy is the result of her research on a strong correlation between significant female representation on public company boards and in senior leadership with the companies’ financial strength. Eve is hoping that through the Parity Portfolio Strategy she will provide investors with an opportunity to create impact through their investments, and aligning them with their values. Her passion for her work was so inspiring!

The Parity Portfolio Strategy triggered a few food for thoughts for me:
1) Some socially responsible investing strategies suggest that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are actually leading to an outperformance by companies relative to their peers, who lack those ESG factors. If indeed this investment thesis is true, then women on boards and in senior leadership may be a factor driving outperformance.
2) The most common feedback from male investors on the Parity Portfolio Strategy was “I could have told you so” or “I am not surprised."
3) In Eve’s research for companies qualifying for the Parity Portfolio Strategy, sectors such as consumer discretionary and healthcare are well represented, while energy companies are least represented. While the research at this stage is still based on correlations, as opposed to a casual relationship, the strategy definitely sparked a lot of CFAs’ interest!

Overall, such an enlightening event! It has really inspired me to focus on my book chapter, in hopes of encouraging more women to become angel investors!