Author's Bio

The value of 85 Broads is derived from a simple but compelling purpose. Our focus is very positive. We use our network to create a community of career champions with unique values and inspiring stories- truly exceptional women who are creating, pursuing, and achieving their own definitions of success, both personally and professionally.

Janet Hanson

Widely respected as a leading entrepreneur with a distinguished Wall Street background, Janet Hanson is recognized as a unique voice and champion for women. As the founder of 85 Broads, Janet has built a global network community of 18,000 trailblazing women who want to leverage each other’s relationships and intellectual capital to increase the return on their investment in their education and their careers.

Launched in 1997, the “founding members” of 85 Broads were women who currently (or previously) worked for Goldman Sachs at 85 Broad Street, the firm’s NYC headquarters. Today, students and alumnae from the world’s leading colleges, universities, and graduate schools (regardless of career path) are invited to join 85 Broads from every corner of the globe. Together, these women make up the most powerful, intellectually savvy network of women in the world. As a multi-cultural, multi-generational network, 85 Broads members live, work and study in 81 countries and work for over 1000 for-profit and not-for-profit companies worldwide.

After graduating from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and Columbia Business School, Janet joined Goldman Sachs in 1977. In 1986, Janet became the first woman in the firm’s history to be promoted to sales management. Janet owes her success at the firm to her mentor, John C. Whitehead. Following her 14-year career at Goldman Sachs, Janet founded Milestone Capital Management, a $2 billion institutional money management company. From May, 2004, to February, 2007, Janet was a Managing Director and Senior Adviser to the President of Lehman Brothers.

Janet is on the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College and The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. She is an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University and serves on the Advisory Board of The Center for Work-Life Policy’s Hidden Brain Drain Task Force. She has received a number of awards and honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College in 2007 and the Work Life Legacy Award in 2008.

Janet’s greatest passions are her two spectacular children. Meredith is a sophomore at Wheaton College and Christopher is a senior at St. Luke’s School in CT.