Managing Director, Finance Leaders Fellowship, The Aspen Institute

Jennifer Simpson is the managing director of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship. She has worked in the finance field most of her career, including private equity and debt investing at The Gladstone Companies, where she served on a number of middle market company boards. She was also the first executive managing member of the board for Gladstone Securities. Joining National City Bank right out of business school into their corporate banking training program, Jennifer worked in leveraged lending, middle market banking and was the chief credit officer for their $4.7 billion small business loan portfolio. During her time at Morgenthaler Partners, she arranged the debt financing for their leveraged buyouts. Most recently she was the EVP of Finance and Operations at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Jennifer began her career as a platoon leader in the U.S. Army’s Medical Service Corps and earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, financing it with a four-year Army ROTC scholarship. Her MBA is from Case Western Reserve University. Jennifer served for four years on the board of a nonprofit supporting STEM education and was co-Founder of the Washington, DC chapter of WAVE (Women in Venture Equity). She has also helped raise her 2 sons, who are close to launching careers of their own.