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Jiong Ma spent a decade in scientific research before stepping into the fast-paced world of venture capital, a world sparsely populated by minorities and women. But after working her way through the associate ranks at two Boston firms, she is the newest member of a small cadre of local female VC partners.
Ma was promoted to partner at Braemar Venture Partners this week after two years at the bi-coastal cleantech VC shop leading or co-leading investments in lighting and green computing companies such as Luminus Devices and Richardson, Texas-based Convey Computer Corp. She says she sees an opportunity with Braemar’s Boston office to use her technical background to find breakthrough technologies in the energy space.
“It’s a really good platform to come in and show my capabilities,” she said in an interview with Mass High Tech. “This is an industry that has not innovated for many years, and I find that my personal background is much more matched to a technology-heavy industry.”
It’s not getting any easier for women to break into the ranks of VC management. Women represented just 9 percent of management-track venture capitalists in 2000, down from 10 percent in 1995, according to a report published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Only a quarter of VC firms have females in management, and more telling, 64 percent of women who were VCs in 1995 left the industry by 2000, compared with 33 percent of men who left in that same time period.
Ma said in some settings, particularly in the legacy VC firms, partners have been in the business for decades and are comfortable with the people they know.
“It’s just the tradition, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said. Yet she said she believes the desire to grow within newer firms provides an opportunity for women and others to grow into more senior roles.
After receiving her Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Ma worked in research functions at Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies before co-founding Onetta Inc., a fiber networks startup purchased by Bookham Inc. in 2004. Her first taste of the venture capital industry was as a Kauffman Fellow with Boston venture capital/private equity firm 3i plc.
While VC firms are aware of the issues of diversity in the industry (Flybridge Capital Partners Jeff Bussgang blogged on the VC gender gap last month), Braemar officials contend this promotion was based on merit.
“We promoted Jiong because of her performance,” said Dennis Costello, who heads Braemar’s Boston office in an e-mail. “We are extremely proud of her and are expecting great things in the future. She brings a fresh perspective to our deliberations and a large network of contacts that are different from her partners. Her heritage and experiences are helpful in that regard.”
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