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General Catalyst Hires Holly Maloney McConnell as its First Female Managing Director

General Catalyst has appointed Holly Maloney McConnell as its next Managing Director, the first-ever woman to take the role at the Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital firm. Working from the firm’s Boston office, McConnell will focus on later stage companies across geographies, in sectors such as infrastructure, communications and digital media.

Most recently, McConnell was an investor with Waltham-based North Bridge Growth Equity, which rebranded in August as Guidepost Growth Equity. In her previous role, she helped lead a number of investments in software companies such as managed WordPress platform WP Engine. Holly earned an AB in Economics from Bowdoin College.

General Catalyst, with offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and New York City, has managed eight venture capital funds totaling about $3.75 billion in capital commitments. Prior investments in tech companies and market leading businesses include Airbnb, Snap, ClassPass, Demandware, Gusto and Datalogix. The firm raised $845 million in capital in 2016, split between two investment vehicles, General Catalyst Group VIII and General Catalyst Group VIII Supplemental.

Other General Catalyst Managing Directors working alongside McConnell include Larry Bohn, David Fialkow, Adam Valkin, Bill Fitzgerald and Joel Cutler. The firm currently lists 24 individuals that make investments on its behalf – seven of those being women.

With McConnell on board, General Catalyst now has nine Managing Directors, as it follows its peers in efforts to promote diversity and equal opportunity in the traditionally male-dominated industry. Earlier this year, Benchmark appointed Sarah Tavel, the first female general partner hired in the VC firm’s 22-year history. In October 2016, Sequoia Capital named former Google product manager and Plyvore CEO Jess Lee as its first-ever senior female U.S. investor.