The Women in Leadership Speaker Series is a monthly presentation by St. Francis Yacht Club’s 2021 Women’s Committee Chair Dr. Lisa Dana in conversation with notable Bay Area women who are leaders and luminaries in their fields, be they sailors, scientists, investors or educators.
Speakers: Ellen Levy & Sonja Hoel Perkins
Date: February 17, 2021
Ellen Levy is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect, working with organizations and entrepreneurs on opportunities for networked innovation, while also managing a portfolio of 50+ startups as an angel investor/advisor. She serves on the Board of Directors for Walker & Dunlop, a commercial real estate finance company; Rallypoint, a social network for military and veterans; and CAIS, a platform for independent financial advisors investing in alternatives company. She is a Senior Advisor to the President at Arizona State University, named the “most innovative” university by US News & World report for the sixth year in a row. Described as the “Most Connected Woman in Silicon Valley,” Ellen now spends much of her time focused on topics generally associated with dynamic, rapidly-growing startups, and on issues related to the “Future of Work,” such as automation, AI, job displacement, skills training, and education, as well as developing new business approaches to help society respond to the post-pandemic world.
Sonja Hoel Perkins has been investing “in people and companies that matter” for over 30 years. Considered one of the best performing and most senior technology-focused venture capitalists, she has invested in several startups that have achieved multi-billion dollar valuations, including The RealReal, McAfee Associates, F5 and Acme Packet. Sonja began her career as an Investment Analyst at TA Associates, joined Symantec in Business Development, spent 22 years at Menlo Ventures, and later founded The Perkins Fund.
In 2010, Sonja founded Broadway Angels and Project Glimmer. Broadway Angels is an investment group of world-class investors and business executives who all happen to be women. Broadway Angels provides positive role models for women in technology while making outstanding investments. Project Glimmer is a nonprofit that inspires both at-risk teenage girls and women to believe in themselves by letting them know their community cares. Project Glimmer has served almost one million girls and women across the U.S. Sonja is a board member of Mercy BioAnalytics, Project Glimmer, The Pristine Mind Foundation, and The Center For Politics at the University of Virginia. She is also a member of the Maverick Collective, the C200, and Women Moving Millions. She has been ranked among the “Top Most Powerful People in Global Finance” by Worth Magazine and has received multiple awards for her work with Project Glimmer. Sonja’s life story can be found in Alpha Girls by Julian Guthrie.
