Co-Founder and CEO, Align17
Georgie Benardete is a technology investor and entrepreneur. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Align17, a private platform for family offices and ultra-high net-worth individuals to identify vetted, impactful investments. She previously co-founded and was the Head of Strategy of OrchardMile.com, a luxury fashion marketplace for busy women.
Previously, she was Managing Director at Multicultural Capital, an independent financial consulting company focusing on renewable energy. Ms. Benardete started her career at OPIC, Coopers & Lybrand and JP Morgan in Wall Street.
A committed environmentalist, Ms. Benardete founded Yeslist.com, Turkey’s largest green portal. She is also part of Al Gore’s Climate Project as a speaker, a founding member of the Charly Alberti R21 Foundation in Latin America and a LEAD International Fellow. In 2012, the World Economic Forum recognized her as a Young Global Leader for her global leadership in environmental progress – the first Puerto Rican to be bestowed with this honor. She is part of the Advisory Board of the YGLs, and was the Founding Curator of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Hub in NYC and San Juan (PR).
Ms. Benardete is an active investor and part of the investment committee in Belle Capital USA, an early-stage VC fund that promotes investments in companies with strong female leadership. As part of her commitment to nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystems in Puerto Rico, she is on the Board of Fundacion Guayacan, a private equity vehicle that supports the local entrepreneurial class.
Ms. Benardete earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service (with honors) from Georgetown University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellow. She finished undergraduate studies at University of Puerto Rico, and coursed special International & Policy studies at American University and Carnegie Mellon University. Recently, she finished an Executive Leadership Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and coursed studies at Yale University.