Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa Wilson is a Managing Director of Golden Seeds, an angel group focused on women-led businesses. She is actively involved in investor and entrepreneur training and the screening process at Golden Seeds.  Her angel portfolio includes software services, technology, media and publishing, and consumer goods companies. She has advised a number of entrepreneurs with respect to capital structure, investor communications, financial modeling, budgeting, and cash flow analysis. She is a member of the Board of Trustees and Audit Committee of HIMCO Variable Insurance Trust and was previously on the Board of Directors of Protective Life Corporation, until the company’s sale in early 2015.  Vanessa also sits on the advisory boards of privately held Inergy, LHR Studios and Brownie Mae.

Prior to joining Golden Seeds in 2007, Vanessa held senior positions in equity research at Credit Suisse First Boston, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Deutsche Bank Securities. During her career as an equity research analyst, Ms. Wilson lead- or co-managed 15 initial public offerings and analyzed significant M&A activity. She was ranked on the Institutional Investor “All-American Research Team” for 10 years and in The Wall Street Journal’s “All Star Analysts’ Survey” for 7 years. She is also past-president of the Association of Insurance and Financial Analysts.