Jacki Zehner

At 32, Jacki became the youngest woman and first female trader to make partner at Goldman Sachs. She could have stayed. Instead, she walked away from Wall Street in 2002 to spend the next two decades asking a more important question: what happens when women direct capital with intention?

Born and raised in Kelowna, British Columbia, Jacki graduated at the top of her class at the University of British Columbia before being recruited by Goldman Sachs in New York. On the trading floor, she experienced firsthand what it meant to be one of very few women in a hyper-majority culture, and she never forgot it. That experience helped her understand something she would spend her career proving: women plus money plus community equals power.

After leaving Goldman, she co-founded Women Moving Millions, the world’s largest philanthropic network for women funding women, through which members have collectively given over one billion dollars with a gender lens. She served as its founding president, building it from a campaign into a permanent global institution. She has written over 600 essays on women, power, philanthropy, and money, and is now the founder of SheMoney, a platform dedicated to advancing women’s financial agency and wealth through content, community, and consulting.

Jacki is also an active early-stage investor, backing women and BIPOC founders through direct investments and funds, with a portfolio of over 20 companies. She has served on the boards of numerous women-focused nonprofits and has been a consistent voice for gender-lens investing long before it became a recognized field.

Invest for Better was one of the early organizations Jacki said yes to, providing one of our first grants and becoming a Pathfinder in our community. That early belief in what we were building helped make everything that followed possible. We are deeply honored to celebrate her here.