Senior Director
Nancy Katz
I’m an optimist at heart, so it’s exciting to help founders create solutions to new (and old) problems through technology.
My Philosophy
Having worked in nearly every other alternative asset class, and in start-up social enterprises to (briefly) a tech giant, I realized that I love start-ups – when you’re doing something no one has ever done before and every small win feels like it’s game changing. I’m an optimist at heart, so it’s exciting to help founders create solutions to new (and old) problems through technology. And I live in downtown Palo Alto, literally around the corner from the famed HP garage, so working in Venture seemed like a bucket list item. I feel lucky to have landed with Costanoa.
Experience
Before Costanoa, I helped found the American Infrastructure Funds, where I led investor relations, fundraising, marketing, and communications and sat on the Investment Committee. Prior Investor Relations gigs include middle market private equity at McCown De Leeuw; institutional real estate at RREEF; and a small NASDAQ company, Modulaire. I was also the first CEO of Net Impact, an international association of MBAs for social good, which led to a Fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership program, a diverse group of young leaders studying democracy.
Education
- B.A. in English from Amherst College, Magna Cum Laude
- MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business
Outside of Work
In another life, I would have worked at the California Tourist Board. A proud Boston-area native, I moved on a whim after college and fell in love with everything about it. I’m happiest outside enjoying all my adopted home state has to offer – preferably with my husband and grown kids and without cell coverage. I also love working with first-generation students to help them successfully get to and through college. An avid reader, enthusiastic skier and wake surfer, Darwinian gardener and dedicated (although hopefully not obnoxious) Red Sox fan, I also happen to have the cutest dog in the world.