Janet Hanson

Widely respected as a leading entrepreneur and investor, Janet is recognized as a unique voice and champion for women globally. Janet is the Founder and former CEO of 85 Broads Unlimited, a global network of women whose founding member worked at 85 Broad Street, Goldman Sachs’ former NYC headquarters. By 2013, over 30,000 trailblazing women across a variety of professional career paths had joined the network worldwide. Sallie Krawcheck, a former Wall Street executive who held senior positions at Sanford Bernstein, Citibank, and Bank of America, acquired 85 Broads in 2013. In 2014, Sallie changed the name of the network to Ellevate.

After graduating from Wheaton College and Columbia Business School, Janet joined Goldman Sachs as a 24-year-old associate in the firm’s Fixed Income Sales & Trading Division. In 1986, she became the first woman in the firm’s history to be promoted to sales management. Following her 14- year career at Goldman Sachs, Janet founded Milestone Capital, an asset management firm that grew to over $3B in AUM. From 2004 to 2007, Janet joined Lehman Brothers as a Managing Director and Senior Advisor on Women, reporting directly to the President & COO. Her position gave her the opportunity to meet thousands of female undergraduate and graduate business school students, both in the U.S. and abroad, who were excited about pursuing careers on Wall Street.

Janet was an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University and served on the Advisory Board of the Center for Talent Innovation. She was a member of the Kellogg Center for Executive Women’s Steering Committee and is a former member of the Forbes Executive Women’s Board. She has received numerous awards and honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College in 2007.

Janet’s two children are her greatest passion. Meredith (Wheaton College ‘11) is a professional artist, entrepreneur, and owner of Meredith Hanson Art & Design on Nantucket. Chris (Dartmouth College ‘13) is a former professional squash player, having played #1 on Dartmouth men’s team for 4 years. Chris was the U.S. National Champion in 2017 and 2018 and played for Team USA in the Pan Am Games in Peru in 2019. in 2020, he co-founded RIA Eyewear.

In 2012, Janet was named to Fast Company’s “League of Extraordinary Women” and Forbes’ list of “Women Changing The World.” She is the author of More Than 85 Broads, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2006 and Broad Street, published by Gatekeeper Press in 2024.