5 Extremely Successful Women Investors

The investment community might seem like the proverbial “Boys’ Club” to many people who haven’t been on the inside. However, there are also plenty of women who have succeed in the financial sector as well.

Here are 5 extremely successful women investors.

 

1. Geraldine Weiss

Geraldine Weiss graduated as the top finance student from the University of California. However, that wasn’t enough to overcome the hostility that she encountered in the investment community. Not one firm that she interviewed with would hire her for anything other than a secretarial job.

So Weiss started her own finance newsletter.

She sent out her first newsletter in the mid-1960’s and started receiving some hate mail from people who assured her that it wasn’t possible for a woman to offer sound investment advice. Apparently, it didn’t matter even if she was advising that investors use the current ratio or P/E ratio to make good investment decisions. It just mattered that she was a woman.

Eventually, she overcame the odds and went on to become a respected investment professional.

2. Muriel Siebert

Back in 1967, Muriel Siebert founded her own investment firm, Muriel Siebert & Co. However, that was an era when the investment community was known to be hostile towards women.

Siebert refused to accept defeat after repeated attempts to keep her firm from registering with the NYSE. She persisted and eventually won a hard-fought battle.

She passed away in 2013, but her memory lives on. Siebert was a matriarch for future female professionals in finance.

3. Lubna S. Olayan

Most people, quite correctly, don’t associate Saudi Arabia with women’s rights and opportunities. Lubna S. Olayan didn’t let that deter her.

She built a great career in finance as she climbed the ranks in the Olayan Finance Company and went on to become the CEO.

Olayan faced criticism with resolve and determined to move on. She also refuses to let the Saudi government, which still has a horrible record on women’s rights, deter her from succeeding. She’s a role model for women everywhere.

4. Deborah A. Farrington

StarVest Partners is a well-known firm to people seeking venture capital. Entrepreneurs who are willing to sell a portion of their company to angel investors or venture capital firms will make pitches before StarVest Partners in a manner similar to what you see on Shark Tank.

Deborah Farrington is the co-founder of StarVest Partners. She was also President and CEO of Victory Ventures, LLC. Additionally, she’s been chairman of Staffing Resources, Inc.

Farrington has held numerous committee and director-level roles at high-tech companies, Harvard University, and Smith College.

5. Marianne Abib-Pech

Marianne Abib-Pech started off as an employee at high-profile companies including Arthur Andersen, GE, and Shell International Petroleum. After working a while for somebody else, she decided to start her own business.

So she moved to Hong Kong. That’s where she wrote an investment book and founded a leadership consulting firm called Lead the Future.

At that point, she led the future.

Her company offered financial advice as well as thought leadership to well-known oil and gas companies.

Although it didn’t always come easy, women have made inroads in the world of finance. It’s a good thing that they did, because they helped make other people a lot of money.