For over 25 years, Julianne Zimmerman has focused on putting technology and capital to work for the greater good. In her current role as Managing Director with Reinventure Capital, she invests in companies led and controlled by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other People Of Color) and/or womxn founders. Previously as Co-Founder of a seed-stage investment firm, Julianne invested in startups in energy, water, food, and health. As a co-founder, external consultant, VP of Communications, VP of Business Development, and VP of Engineering, Julianne has built departments, managed alpha projects, guided branding and identity efforts, and led a wide variety of initiatives from blank page to successful, in many cases award-winning, completion. Along the way she and her co-conspirators have catalyzed industry shifts, changed conversations, won awards, and set new standards for performance.
Julianne earned two undergraduate degrees from MIT in Humanities/Literature and Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, an MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, and an executive certificate in Sustainability Management from the Presidio Graduate School; she previously served as a certified EMT in Maryland and Massachusetts. She was twice a finalist in the NASA astronaut selection process. A frequent keynote, reviewer and judge for innovation and entrepreneurship programs in the US and abroad, she also speaks and writes widely on systemic social, racial, and gender inequity in those spheres. Julianne currently serves on the MIT Venture Mentoring Service and as Mentor-in-Residence with WPI, among others. She is a Founding Principal of Great Dome Associates and teaches Innovative Social Enterprises at Tufts University. She is a 2020 Conscious Company / Kate Spade World Changing Woman.