Maria Gotsch

Maria G. Gotsch is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership Fund for New York City, the $130 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund has built a network of top venture capital and corporate experts to identify and support the city’s most promising entrepreneurs to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers.

In addition to leading the Fund’s investments and operations, Maria has spearheaded the creation of the Fund’s strategic initiatives, helping grow the city’s innovation sectors, including fintech and commercial life sciences. These initiatives include three private sector labs (FinTech Innovation Lab; NY Digital Health Accelerator; NY Fashion Tech Lab); three public sector labs (Transit, Environmental and Buildings Tech Labs); NYCSeed; BioAccelerate Prize NYC (proof-of-concept funding for university-based biomedical research); and, the Arts Entrepreneurial Loan Fund.

Maria has also led the creation and operations of several small business relief programs: ReStart Central and Financial Recovery Fund (assistance and funding for small businesses impacted by 9/11/01); and, the NYC Small Business Resource Network (assistance for small businesses impacted by COVID-19 economic shutdown).

Maria has been featured in Crain’s “Most Powerful Women in New York,” “Notable Women in Tech,” and “Notable Women on Wall Street”; City & State’s “The Life Sciences Power 50” and “2024 Trailblazers in Economic Development”; Institutional Investor’s “The FinTech Finance 40,” and one of three winners in American Banker’s “Most Influential Women in Fintech for 2023.”

Before joining the Fund in 1999, Maria was Managing Director at BT Wolfensohn (now part of Deutsche Bank), providing strategic and financial advice related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and the development of business strategies. Maria also worked at LaSalle Partners and for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New York and London. Maria has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She was also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study international relations at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland.

Maria is a member of the boards of Sonepar SAS and Sonepar USA Holdings and serves as Chair of the audit committee of Sonepar SAS. Headquartered in Paris and privately-held, Sonepar is the global leader in B-to-B distribution of electrical products and services.

She is also a member of the NYS Department of Financial Services’ Financial Innovation Advisory Board, Hospital for Special Surgery Innovation Advisory Council, the Cornell-Tech Runway Visiting Committee, the New York City and New York State Life Sciences Advisory Councils, Columbia Business School’s HPM Advisory Board, and the ProPublica Leadership Council.