Barbara E. Pierce

Founder, Women with Capital

Barbara’s mission is to inspire women to become the CEO of their own wealth—and to use that power as a force for meaningful change. She is the founder of Women with Capital®, a private learning community that educates, supports, and mobilizes progressive women to direct their capital in line with their values. In just five years, members have moved over $150 million into new impact investments and philanthropic ventures—with plans to move hundreds of millions more in the coming years.

Her vision is to unite powerful groups of women philanthropists and investors—representing more than $50 billion in net worth—to harness their collective influence and to boldly shape the future by moving private capital toward the world they want to create.

Barbara’s work bridges the worlds of investing and giving, motivating women to align their wealth with their values and take bold action. She has 30 years experience advising some of the world’s leading philanthropists on funding for climate change, racial and gender justice, and education.

Barbara directs her family’s investments and philanthropy and is a member of the Women Donors Network, the International Women’s Forum, and the REDF Advisory Council. As a values-aligned investor, she is an LP in How Women Invest and Portfolia, and a member of the Asteri Collective.

A Cape Cod native, proud Wellesley alumna, and avid traveler, she lives in Marin County with her husband and teen son.

Marlis Jansen

Founder and CEO, Graddha
Specialty: Psychology of Wealth

Marlis founded Graddha, formerly The Money Conversation, out of a desire to help people increase their emotional awareness and agility with respect to their finances, a need rarely addressed in traditional financial planning.

As a member of a family office and board member of a private foundation, Marlis has both personal and professional insight into how people relate to money from multigenerational family dynamics to portfolio management.

Marlis, a mother of two, is Vice President of the Springcreek Foundation and an active member of several professional organizations. She has a B.A. from Harvard University, a master’s degree in counseling psychology and a graduate certificate in financial psychology and behavioral finance.

Janine Firpo

Co-founder, Impact for Better
Specialty: Values-Aligned Investing

Janine Firpo is a values-aligned investor, angel investor, and social innovator. In 2017 she left her 35-year career in technology and international development to focus on how women can create a more just and equitable society through their financial investments. In 2018 Janine launched an organization to help women invest all their assets – from cash to public equities to private investments – in ways that align with their values.

Dr. Sylvia Kwan, Ph.D., CFA

Chief Investment Officer, Ellevest
Specialty: Impact Investing, Private Alternative Investments

Sylvia is the Chief Investment Officer at Ellevest, a technology-enabled financial services company built by women, for women. In this role, she is responsible for creating the investment solutions, strategies, portfolios, and proprietary algorithms that drive Ellevest’s investment recommendations across both automated digital and customized private wealth advisory services. She guides the firm’s investment philosophy and leads the development and due diligence of Ellevest’s impact and gender forward investments.