Suzanne Biegel

Before anyone had language for it, Suzanne Biegel was living it.

A globally recognized pioneer in gender-smart investing, Suzanne dedicated her life to a single conviction: that capital directed toward women is capital directed toward a better world. As co-founder of GenderSmart, now 2X Global, she helped connect gender-smart investors across the capital spectrum into a cohesive field, influencing hundreds of funds and billions of dollars of capital along the way. She co-created Project Sage, one of the earliest benchmarks for gender-lens investing in private markets, and played a key role in the 2X Challenge, which has mobilized over $33.6 billion in gender lens investments as of 2024.

In the final chapter of her life, after a stage four metastatic lung cancer diagnosis, her energy shined brighter rather than dimmer. She founded Heading for Change, a fund investing at the intersection of gender and climate, built on the belief that women are not just disproportionately impacted by climate disasters but are entrepreneurs, leaders, and creators of vital climate solutions.

Invest for Better would not be here in its current form without Suzanne. Fresh on the heels of closing the Women Effect pilot, she flew from London to Boston to join the summit that produced IFB. She served on the IFB Steering Committee in those formative years, always providing the sharpest insights, and did what Suzanne did so skillfully: she connected Ellen and Janine to one another. She remained a resource, a donor, and a presence in our community until her passing in September 2023.

She did not just believe this movement was possible. She helped build the ground it stands on, and introduced the people who would build IFB on top of it. We are honored to carry her legacy forward.