First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom Launches California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council
Photo Credit: California Governor’s Office
SACRAMENTO, October 29, 2025 (CALIFORNIA NEWS TODAY) — California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom has announced the formation of the California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council, a new state initiative intended to expand access to capital, ownership, and financial opportunity for women across the state. The council will include leaders in finance, venture capital, and government and is designed to address long-standing financial disparities affecting women in the state’s economy.
“I’m proud to launch the California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council to help shape an economy that includes women at every level of decision-making. California is bringing the best and brightest minds together to meet this moment of historic wealth transfer and shape the foundations of a more equitable economy. When women control capital, they strengthen communities and expand opportunity. The work ahead is to redesign the systems that decide who has access and who benefits, so our growth reflects the values and potential of all our people,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
The council’s launch coincides with what economists have called the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in modern history, with an estimated $84 trillion expected to change hands nationally over the next two decades. California’s economy, home to the country’s largest public pension systems and a major venture capital sector, is expected to play a key role in that shift.
According to the Governor’s Office, the advisory group will focus on closing the women’s wealth gap and ensuring women have greater participation in California’s innovation economy. Women continue to receive a small share of venture funding, remain underrepresented in asset management, and hold a smaller proportion of business and household wealth compared to men.
“GingerBread Capital’s mission has always been to steer more capital into the hands of women founders and funders who are innovating and transforming our future economy, and who are a driving force in creating more equitable economic opportunities for women, their families and their communities. I am thrilled to co-chair the California Women’s Wealth Advisory Council, which is bringing together some of the best and brightest experts in finance and business to address the chronic financial inequities women face and harness the power of the great wealth transfer to close the gaps in women’s economic potential and power”, said Katherine Rice, Co-Chair of the Women’s Wealth Advisory Council and Partner at GingerBread Capital.
The new council builds on Siebel Newsom’s previous initiatives promoting pay equity, financial literacy, and representation in leadership roles. In 2019, she launched the California Equal Pay Pledge, which hundreds of companies and organizations have signed, committing to annual gender pay analyses and equitable hiring and promotion practices. Her office later released The Equal Pay Playbook and The Board Culture Playbook, both developed in collaboration with Stanford University’s VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, to help employers and boards implement diversity and equity strategies.
In addition, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2927 in 2024, requiring California public high schools to offer a one-semester personal finance course beginning in the 2027–28 school year. Starting with the class of 2030–31, completion of the course will be a graduation requirement, ensuring all students graduate with basic financial skills in budgeting, banking, credit, loans, and investing.
For more information, visit www.gov.ca.gov.
Source: California Governor’s Office
