FOUNDING PARTNER

Prior to founding Hannah Grey, Jessica was the Senior Managing Partner at MDC Ventures, the corporate VC fund of Stagwell Group (formerly MDC Partners).  She’s a known thought leader and was recognized on the Global Corporate VC PowerList for top CVC fund managers in 2019 and 2020.  Jessica has led investments in Subject, August, Floor, Catch & Release, Upstream, Lively (acquired by Wacoal), Mezzobit (acquired by OpenX), Gradient.io (acquired by Criteo), Netomi, Veritonic, Bennie, Alleyoop, among others.

Before transitioning to VC, Jessica specialized in connecting marketers with emerging tech and spent 10+ years as an operator working with brands including Verizon, Kraft, PUMA, 20th Century Fox, Jim Beam Brands, H&M, and others.  She was the second employee at innovation consultancy Evol8tion, where she was instrumental in scaling the business while helping startups secure their first customers through brand partnerships.  Her deep understanding of the intersection between customer needs, branding, and technology has enabled her to guide countless startups on positioning and commercializing their business effectively.  

Jessica is an outspoken advocate for gender diversity and inclusion in the venture community.  She’s also the co-founder of Women in VC, the world’s largest community for women investors which now includes 5,000+ women spanning 3,000+ venture funds across 200+ cities and 70+ countries.  She is also an active mentor in the tech community at Techstars, ERA, and 500 Startups, as well as being a builder in several web3 communities, including JPEG Morgan, JoanDAO, and led the recent NFT project for Women in VC to raise money for financial literacy organizations for Womens History Month.

Jessica is a graduate of Indiana University, she lives in New York City with her husband and two spunky daughters.

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