Jenny Yip

Director at 54gene

Jenny has worked in finance for more than 16 years, beginning as an investment banker advising corporate clients in mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity financings at Goldman Sachs’ Hong Kong, New York, and San Francisco offices. She has always been passionate about improving the health and lives of those living in low- and middle-income countries and spent time working and living in Kenya and China. In Kenya, Jenny spent almost a year as a volunteer consultant for Technoserve, a non-profit business consultancy for small-holder farmers and small to medium businesses.

In 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) was expanding its strategic investment efforts from a pilot program to a larger scale fund. As part of a small but growing team, Jenny pushed the envelope on how private foundations could achieve charitable objectives by using philanthropic capital and program-related investments to complete equity, debt, structured finance, and guarantee investments in companies and investment funds. Jenny led transactions across the foundation’s focus areas in global health, agriculture, nutrition, and education. She represented BMGF’s interests on numerous boards including Kymab (UK), Acrobatiq (US), Ustar Technologies (China), and Owl Ventures (USA). She also serves on the Investment Advisory Committee at the Reproductive Health Investors’ Alliance (US).

Jenny graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an AB in History of Science.

Timeline

  • Director

    Current role