General Catalyst just hired its first female managing director: Holly Maloney McConnell

Holly Maloney McConnell has joined the venture firm General Catalyst Partners as a managing director, operating out of its Boston office.

McConnell joins the firm from North Bridge Growth Equity, which was rebranded last month as Guidepost Growth Equity. McConnell spent seven years as a principal with the firm; there, she sourced and helped lead numerous investments in software-based companies, including the Austin-based managed WordPress platform WP Engine, along with Spoonflower, a Durham, N.C.-based online community built around fabric and textile design.

At GC, McConnell will be focusing on later-stage companies across sectors and geographies, the firm tells us.

Altogether, the firm has 24 people making investments on behalf of the firm across its four offices, which also include spaces in San Francisco, Palo Alto and New York. (Seven of these are women.)

The firm, which closed its most recent fund with $845 million in 2016, now has nine managing directors.

GC is a little late to the game in terms of bringing a woman into its most senior ranks, though it doesn’t trail too far behind some of its formerly all-male peers. In May, the venture firm Benchmark hired Sarah Tavel as the first general partner in its 22-year history.

Last October, 45-year-old Sequoia Capital brought aboard Jess Lee — a former Google product manager who went on to lead the fashion site Polyvore — as its first senior female U.S. investor.

Research has repeatedly shown that companies with more diverse work forces perform better financially.

More women are choosing to create their own venture firms in the meantime. Among the newest: Breakout Ventures, founded by Lindy Fishburne, a longtime investor and advisor to Peter Thiel. The outfit closed its debut fund with $60 million last week.

Correction: The original version of this story reported that North Bridge Venture Partners, a 23-year-old firm, put on ice plans to raise an eighth fund in 2015 as several partners moved on. This is correct. However, a spokesperson for North Bridge Growth Equity notes that North Bridge’s venture capital arm is no longer affiliated with North Bridge Growth Equity (now Guidepost). She further notes that Guidepost is currently investing its second fund, which closed with $580 million in capital commitments in 2013.

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