K. Shelly Porges is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Beyond the Billion® (launched as The Billion Dollar Fund for Women®), the first and largest global consortium of venture funds pledged and investing in female-founded firms. In 2021, she was honored as one of the Inaugural Forbes 50 Over 50 in Investment. She is also a Board Member of the Financial Alliance for Women, on the Advisory Board for Mindshift Capital, Different Funds and Global Invest Her.
Ms. Porges is a globally recognized for advancing diversity in venture investing and a leader in fostering global entrepreneurship. 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, a program she expanded to almost 150 countries, under Secretary Hillary Clinton. Prior to that, she had a distinguished career in the private sector, including both corporate and entrepreneurial ventures. 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 ventures including Porges/Hudson Marketing; Scudder Weisel Capital LLC, a joint venture between Thomas Weisel Partners and Zurich Scudder Investments; and Global Payments Experts LLC. As former President of the Financial Women’s Association in San Francisco, she launched the Financial Woman of the Year event which has raised over three million dollars for women’s scholarships.