About

Nancy Hayes

Angel Investor| Advisor to Women Entrepreneurs| Management Consultant| Executive Coach

After serving as a senior executive in a Fortune 5 corporation, CEO of two non-profit organizations, dean of a large college of business and CFO of a state university, I became a cofounder of a startup and subsequently an investor. I have been an active angel investor since 2014 and enjoy mentoring entrepreneurs and small business owners, with a focus on women founders and founders of color.  I am also a consultant on general management, leadership and organizational effectiveness issues.

I left the IBM Corporation as a senior executive after many diverse assignments (and many physical moves!) of increasing responsibility in order to bring my leadership and management skills and experience to the nonprofit social services sector. I became CEO of the STARBRIGHT Foundation, an innovative nonprofit chaired by Steven Spielberg and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf which developed technology and media-based products to help seriously ill children address the psycho-social aspects of their illnesses, such as fear, pain management and anxiety. Later, I was CEO/President of WISE Senior Services, a nonprofit tackling the issues of isolated low-income seniors as well as fighting elder abuse and financial fraud against the elderly.

I then served from 2005 to 2011 as Dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University, serving 6,000 undergrad business students and almost 500 MBA students annually, and in 2011 was named CFO and Vice President of Administration of this major urban state university of 30,000 students.

In 2013, I co-founded MoolaHoop, a startup focused on women with small businesses which offered a unique rewards-based crowdfunding solution to help these businesses raise funds.

For 3 and 1/2 years, I was a Managing Director of Golden Seeds, an early-stage angel investment group focused on high growth, women-led companies.  My work with women entrepreneurs is largely pro bono – I provide advice, do pitch deck reviews and make introductions where appropriate.  Often, I serve as a judge at pitch sessions and present at accelerators and on panels on the topics of entrepreneurship, angel investing and female founders. I also conduct “Intro to Angel Investing” training sessions with the end goal of increasing the number of women and people of color who become angel investors/VCs.

I serve as a management consultant to corporations, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions and as an executive coach.

My strengths include general management, vision, leadership, and execution, with a proven talent for change management and building strong teams. I have been complimented for an ability to lead and manage both strategic and tactical operations and my highly collaborative style.

I enjoy helping managers, leaders, future leaders and entrepreneurs and making and sharing connections.

Consulting

I accept consultative engagements in corporations, nonprofits and academia, especially if there is leadership enhancement, strategic or operational challenges.  I will work side by side with a manager/leader to help them enhance their skills.   I work with teams who are currently without a leader to help them focus the strategy, improve their operations, accomplish results and accept responsibility.  I consider interim CXX roles – I don’t want the permanent job!

Entrepreneurs

I welcome hearing from small business owners and high growth entrepreneurs, especially women and founders of color, seeking advice on strategy and funding. I provide connections where appropriate, as long as you are open to a straightforward conversation.

I participate as a judge at entrepreneur pitch sessions and serve on discussion panels on the topics of entrepreneurship and gender equality and as an advisor with accelerators and incubators serious about providing quality, meaningful mentorship for their participants.  I also do training on “Presenting to Investors” to entrepreneur groups. In addition, I teach “Introduction to Angel and VC Investing” to women and people of color interested in potentially becoming investors.

Funding

I am an active angel investor, with a focus in my personal portfolio on women-led companies and founders of color.

Importantly, I try to help the entrepreneurs I advise with referrals to other angel investors, angel groups and VC funds, as well as other funding sources such as loans and equity crowdfunding and to resources such as incubators and accelerators.

Contact me

Please contact me at 

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