TEAM 1843

One of Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Powerful Women,” Tracy is the founder of 1843 Capital. Notable investments include early investments in Beautycounter, Tempo Automation, HopSkipDrive and May Mobility. She is a leader and a sought after speaker within the community of women founders, innovators and entrepreneurs, including giving testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee. She has been a speaker for the Nantucket Project, MIT and TEDx NYIT. Currently, she serves on the Super Connector Board of Aging 2.0 and as an Advisor to UBS Project Entrepreneur. Formerly, she was a partner of a growth capital venture capital fund – Baker Capital and a VP at Robertson Stephens. In 2018, Tracy received the Moffly Media Award for Women’s Business Advocate.

Tracy earned her B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, CT and her J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. She also speaks conversational Japanese and restaurant French.

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Gwen Weiss comes to 1843 Capital with 20+ years in financial management, accounting, and venture fund & firm administration. Prior to joining 1843 Capital, Gwen served as the Controller for Bedford Funding, a private equity fund based in White Plains, NY. While at Bedford, Gwen was responsible for all accounting and financial reporting functions, including quarterly financial statements, annual audited financials, portfolio valuation analysis and annual tax reporting.

Prior to joining Bedford in May 2012, Ms. Weiss worked at Oak Investment Partners, a leading venture capital firm, from 2000 to 2012. While at Oak, Gwen performed several functions, including Senior Accountant, and Portfolio Administrator, and Finance Manager where she supported the CFO in monitoring controls, implementing improvements, management company budgeting and forecasting as well as SEC reporting. Prior to her time at Oak, Ms. Weiss was a Senior Associate at Deloitte & Touche.

Ms. Weiss is a CPA who received a B.S. from Fairfield University where she completed dual majors in Accounting and Finance.

Janet Defrino has over 20 years’ experience investing in both public and private companies and currently assists early-stage companies with their strategic finance function and fundraising through her firm, Five Mile Advisors. Janet joined the 1843 Capital team in late 2019 to contribute analytical and financial expertise to portfolio due diligence and monitoring. She serves on the Board of Directors of Shindigz, a privately held ecommerce company and is an advisor and mentor to several early-stage companies.

Janet started her career as an equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley and transitioned to an investing role in 2000. Prior to starting Five Mile Advisors, Janet co-founded Eachwin Capital in New York where she was responsible for all consumer investments and contributed to fundraising efforts. Janet’s philanthropic work includes serving on the Board of the CT Women’s Business Development Council, a non-profit that supports female entrepreneurs in the state of CT and mentoring founders through several programs and accelerators, including Founder Institute, Female Founders Alliance and CT Next.

Janet received her undergraduate degree in economics from DePauw University and her MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.