Jenny Morel, Managing Partner, No 8 Ventures.
Jenny founded No 8 Ventures in 1999.
For No 8 Ventures, Jenny has been a director of 13 early stage companies. She is currently Chairman of Martin Aircraft Company, Vertical Composting and Smart Orthotics, a director of Open Cloud and Surveylab, and has observer status on the board of Proacta.
Jenny previously founded an investment bank specialising in technology companies, which led to her starting No 8 Ventures - she saw the huge opportunity for investment in exciting young, under-funded technology companies. And she is the founder and organiser of an annual conference for New Zealand high growth companies, Morgo, see www.morgo.co.nz.
Jenny’s background was in investment banking in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and she has been a director of a number of large companies: New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Trust Bank NZ Ltd, AgResearch Ltd, The Rural Bank, Centreport and NZ Rail Ltd. She has also been a director of many smaller companies before founding No 8 Ventures and a member of the Council of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand, the New Zealand Arts Council, the Government’s ICT Taskforce and a Trustee of the Hi Growth Project which resulted from that. She is Chairman of the Hi Tech Association which organises the Hi Tech Awards in New Zealand, a member of the Australia New Zealand Leaders Forum and a Trustee of the Jayar Charitable Trust.
In 2007 she was named by Listener magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand because of the key role of Morgo in the New Zealand technology sector. In 2006, Jenny was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business. Jenny holds a BSc in Human Biology and an MA in Economics (1st Class Honours) from the University of Auckland.
