Alison Davis

Alison Davis (born October 27, 1961) is a board director, investor and advisor. Davis is a board director at public companies including Royal Bank of Scotland Fiserv Diamond Foods Unisys, and Ooma. She was formerly a board director of public companies First Data, City National Bank (California) LECG, Gamefly, and Xoom Corporation. She is an active angel investor and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Blockchain Capital Partners.
She is an advisor at Fifth Era and to Keiretsu Capital. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/bizwomen/news/out-of-the-office/2015/11/the-sneak-attack-that-could-change-the-sad-stats.html https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31711/11-p124-women-on-boards-6-month-monitoring-october-2011.pdfhttp://www.mishcongraduates.com/helen-croft-what-will-be-the-most-effective-ways-to-ensure-we-meet-the-30-women-on-boards-target-set-by-lord-abersoch/http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2015/nov/23/why-we-need-quotas-for-women-on-boardshttp://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/Research/Research%20Centres/CICWL/FTSEReport2013.pdf. https://motherincorporatelaw.wordpress.com/tag/alison-davis/
==Early life and education==
Davis was born in Sheffield, UK, the daughter of Jack Davis, a mining industry executive, and Joyce Davis an actress and singer. Her family moved to South Africa in 1963 and after five years returned to Kingston upon Hull,Yorkshire where Davis attended secondary school at Wolfreton School in Yorkshire. She was a frequent singer and guitar player in local pubs.
Intending to become an Economist, Davis took Economics at Selwyn College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, she acted in university plays, founded Enquiring Minds and was an officer of the Cambridge University Industrial Society and AIESEC. While at Cambridge, she launched a furniture business making hat stands but this was not successful. Davis interned at PA Consulting in Cambridge, UK and was accepted, but did not join the UK Foreign Office.
==Early career==
After graduating from Cambridge, Davis joined McKinsey & Company the management consultancy in their London office. The firm sponsored her to attend business school, and she was accepted into Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business. She decided to attend Harvard and entered as part of the class of 1986, receiving first year honors in 1987. On her marriage to superangel Matthew Le Merle in 1987, Davis transferred to Stanford Graduate School of Business where she graduated with her M.B.A in 1988. On graduation, she returned to McKinsey in their New York office where she focused on financial institution clients.
in 1993, Davis was one of a number of McKinsey & Company consultants who joined AT Kearney to form a global financial institutions group. in 1994 half of this group spun off to form Mitchell Madison Group, however Davis remained as a partner at AT Kearney, and transferred to the firm's San Francisco office where she eventually became West Coast Practice leader and a member of the firm's North American leadership team. Davis left AT Kearney in 2000.
In 2000 Davis was appointed CFO and head of strategy at Barclays Global Investors. She worked with CEO Patricia C. Dunn on the rapid growth of BGI into the leader in Exchange-traded funds, and was a management team member at the time of the launch of iShares.
After leaving BGI in 2003, Davis became Managing Partner of Belvedere Capital Partners which was a private equity firm and bank holding company that was able to buy 100% positions in US banks as well as launch de novo banks.
==Board positions==
Davis currently sits on the boards of directors of Fiserv, Royal Bank of Scotland, Diamond Foods, Unisys and Ooma. Previously she was a director of First Data, LECG, City National Bank (California), Gamefly and Xoom Corporation.
Davis is also a judge for the CFO of the year awards annually awarded in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Davis has been a Board Director or Gala Chair for the Red Cross of the Bay Area, and for the American Heart Association.
==Women in business==
Davis sits on the non-profit board of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, a non profit focused on women owned businesses, and was formerly the Chairwoman of The Women's Initiative for Self Employment. Davis frequently speaks on issues surrounding women in business and the difference between male and female leadership models.
Davis has been a leader of the National Conversation on Board Diversity which seeks for women to hold more than 20% of the directorship positions in US public companies before 2020.
She is also a mentor to women in leadership roles in business.
==Honors==
Davis has been ranked one of the "Most Influential Women in Business" by the San Francisco Business Times in each of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
In 2012 she was given the honor "Forever Influential."
==Personal life==
Davis is married to Matthew Le Merle and lives in Tiburon, California with her five children.
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Alison Davis on linkedin
* AlisonDavis — FIFTH ERA
* Alison Davis | Board of Directors | Fiserv, Inc.
* Alison Davis - Co-Founder @ Fifth Era - Crunchbase
* Alison Davis's Articles | Inc.com
* Alison Davis Appointed to SVB's Board of Directors
* About Alison Davis - Amazon.com
* Alison Davis | AngelList
Category:1961 births
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:American computer businesspeople
Category:American corporate directors
Category:American investors
Category:Living people
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Women corporate directors
Category:Women in technology
Category:Women investors
Category:Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
Category:McKinsey & Company people
Category:People from Marin County, California
Category:Private equity and venture capital investors
Category:American businesspeople
Category:Angel investors
Category:Silicon Valley people
Category:People from San Francisco, California
Category:British venture capitalists