K. Shelly Porges

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, The Billion Dollar Fund for Women^TM  and Beyond the Billion^TM

1. Shelly Porges is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, a global consortium of venture funds pledged to invest in female-founded firms and Beyond the Billion, mobilizing LP investors into TBDF funds. She is also a Board Member of the Financial Alliance for Women and on the Advisory Board for Mindshift Capital, Different Funds and Global Invest Her.

Ms. Porges is a globally recognized expert on gender-lens venture investing and a leader in fostering global entrepreneurship. She was honored as one of the Inaugural Forbes 50 Over 50 in Investment in 2021. She served as President of the North American Jury for Cartier Women’s Initiative for over a decade and as the former Senior Advisor, Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) at the U.S. State Department. Prior to that, she served as executive head of marketing for American Express Canada and as chief marketing officer for Bank of America during a historic turn-around. Ms. Porges has also founded or co-founded six previous venturesincluding Porges/Hudson Marketing; Scudder Weisel Capital LLC; and Global Payments Experts LLC. As former President of the Financial Alliance for Women in San Francisco, she launched the Financial Woman of the Year event which has raised over three million dollars for women’s scholarships.

Ms. Porges is a compelling speaker who has inspired audiences globally at major international events including Politico’s Women Rule Summit (DC), the Women’s Alternative Investment Summit (NY), the Financial Alliance for Women Annual Summit (Paris), Gender Smart Investing Summit (London), High Water Women Investing for Impact Symposium (NY), the World Bank THK Blended Finance Forum (Bali), and at universities such as American, Babson, Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, George Washington, Harvard et al.

Ms. Porges holds both a BS with Honors and MPS degree from Cornell University.