Jonathan Kirschner is the managing director for Blue Haven Initiative’s direct investments. In this role, he leads strategy and execution for the family office’s direct venture investment portfolio, which makes early-stage equity investments in mission-driven companies with rapid growth trajectories and strong potential for catalytic social change.
An experienced investor and advisor focused on supporting impact-driven entrepreneurs, Jonathan previously served as the head of investment management and the chair of the investment committee for the Omidyar Network, a global mission-driven investment fund, and Imaginable Futures, its spin-off education-focused fund.
During the Obama administration, he was the Senior Portfolio Manager at Development Innovation Ventures (DIV), the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) internal venture capital fund. Jonathan was also an advisor to the administration on blended finance and its Power Africa initiative. Previously, Jonathan worked in startups and early-stage investing as a venture capital and private equity investor in Brazil and Colombia. He was head of international expansion for Brazilian IT services startup, CPM Braxis.
Jonathan started his career as a consultant with Bain & Company in New York and South Africa, where he focused on private equity and strategy consulting. He is a Millennium Leadership Fellow at the Atlantic Council and was a contributing author to Success in Africa, a book on CEOs’ insights on doing business in Africa.
Jonathan has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a BSFS from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He is based in San Francisco.