Leader in Women's Investment Movement Stephanie Hanbury-Brown Honored as 2008 Hans Severiens Award Recipient

Business Wire,  May 8, 2008  

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SAN DIEGO -- The Angel Capital Association (ACA) and Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF) have named Stephanie Hanbury-Brown - founder of Golden Seeds LLC, an innovative network of primarily women angel investors who identify and invest in women-led ventures - as the recipient of the 2008 Hans Severiens Award. The award recognizes one person each year for outstanding accomplishments in the advancement of angel investing.

The organizations presented Hanbury-Brown with the award at the 2008 ACA Summit in San Diego, California. The Summit was attended by 365 angel group leaders and investors from the United States, Canada, and several other countries. The groups in attendance represented nearly 7,000 individual angel investors - high net worth individuals who take equity stakes in early stage companies - and many representatives of the venture capital community.

"Stephanie is a trailblazer in the women's investment movement nationally, and she has the unusual achievement of helping grow both the number of successful women entrepreneurs and the number of thriving women angel investors," said Marianne Hudson, executive director of ACA. "Her passion and expertise as an angel investor and mentor for women in the angel investment industry make her a perfect choice for this prestigious award."

The Hans Severiens Award was established in 2005 by ACEF and ACA to honor individuals whose actions demonstrate leadership in advancing the role of angel investing in expanding entrepreneurship, and whose accomplishments influence and benefit the angel investment industry. Bob Goff, Sierra Angels, Incline Village, Nevada, was the first recipient of the Award and is the current chairman of the Hans Severiens Award Judging Committee. He observed that "Stephanie deserves to be the recipient of the 2008 Hans Severiens Award based upon her very significant achievements in a relatively short period, her leadership in angel and entrepreneurial advocacy for women, and her plans for extending her model from the east coast to the west coast."

Hanbury-Brown began her work as an angel investor after a two-decade career in financial services in Sydney, London and New York - that included serving as head of European Futures and Options for J.P. Morgan in London, COO of Global Equities, head of International Private Banking and subsequently head of Private Equity e-commerce Investment in New York City - Hanbury-Brown left J.P. Morgan in early 2000. She made a decision that in the next stage of her career, she wanted to focus her expertise on building a network of investment support for women-led enterprises.

"Research indicates great untapped economic capabilities from women entrepreneurs," said Hanbury-Brown. "Women have led the way in business creation in the United States for the past decade, setting a far greater percentage of new women-owned businesses than other startups. Yet the traditional culture of business doesn't support the integration of family life and company ownership, and that creates conflict for women," Hanbury-Brown said.

She turned her focus to angel investing and became a member of the New York Angels and an investor with Boldcap Ventures. In 2005, Hanbury-Brown founded Golden Seeds LLC, to identify and invest in women-led ventures with the potential to grow into multi-million dollar businesses, and provide women entrepreneurs with strategic business advice and the tools they need for growth.

In tandem, she was keen to get women involved in Golden Seeds as angel investors. "I sought to create a comfortable environment for successful business women who hadn't previously been exposed to private equity," said Hanbury-Brown. "Angel investing is a fabulous second career for accomplished women to stay involved in business and serve as investors and mentors for women entrepreneurs. In that regard, Golden Seeds does have a social agenda. But charity stops there; we have to be first and foremost excellent investors to make this mission succeed."

Since its inception in 2005, Golden Seeds has invested in 18 companies for approximately $6.7 million. Hanbury-Brown also serves as chairperson of the board of Count Me In, a non-profit involved in online micro-lending for U.S. women entrepreneurs, and a source of inspiration and mentorship inspiring women to "Make Mine a Million Dollar Business."

"Stephanie has led an angel group that has invested nearly $7 million in a few years," said Peggy Ann Wallace, a member of the Golden Seeds Executive Team. "She has provided education to empower more women to become angel investors, developed best practices and procedures that can be emulated, and established a scalable model for angel groups."

Sarah Endline, CEO and founder of sweetriot, a startup consumer goods company based in New York City, and a newly minted Golden Seeds portfolio company, observed that "Stephanie is working to close an important gap in angel investing. Golden Seeds already has tremendous interest from women in numerous cities across the country."