Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne

Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne is CEO of Wocstar Capital and Co-Founder of the Wocstar Fund, an early-stage venture fund using a female arbitrage strategy by investing in women of color tech entrepreneurs (“WOCstars”). Gayle (pronounced: Gay-lä) was named "10 Women Changing the Landscape of Leadership" by the New York Times (March 2021), one of the Top Black Venture Capitalists by Business Insider (February 2024) and Top 10 Women of Influence in Venture Capital by Venture Capital Journal (July 2022). Gayle has over 30 years of Wall Street and tech experience.

A graduate of the Wharton School of business and the University of Michigan, she began her career at Sun Microsystems. She later served as a mergers and acquisitions banker at JPMorgan. 

Gayle was recently appointed to Tri Delta’s Foundation Board of Trustees. She is the former President of The Nantucket Project Academy and a former board member of Women.NYC and a member of BE.NYC (Black Entrepreneurs), NYC Small Business Services.

Gayle was honored with the 2022 U.S. Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2021 Tri Delta Woman of Achievement Award. She is also the Associate Producer of the Broadway play "Thoughts of a Colored Man" and investor in “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” which was nominated for seven Tony Awards®.

Email: info@wocstar.com | Website: www.wocstar.com | Instagram: @gaylejenningsobyrne

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gaylejobyrne | Facebook: www.facebook.com/WOCstar

Podcast: VCs Off the Record