Sarah Valdovinos

Founder and Managing Partner, Golden Sail Ventures

2017 Law & Finance Award Winner

Sarah Valdovinos is the Founder and Managing Partner of Golden Sail Ventures, which invests venture capital and early growth private equity in companies delivering the next generation of innovative decarbonization solutions. Before founding Golden Sail Ventures, Valdovinos co-founded Walden Green Energy, a company focused on developing utility-scale renewable energy projects. Earlier in her career, she was a Managing Director at Barclays and served as Head of Commodities Origination for U.S. Oil and Gas, Latin America, and Canada. Prior to Barclays, she was part of Goldman Sachs’ Commodities Latin America team. She began her career in energy at Southern California Edison.

In addition to her current work at Golden Sail Ventures, Valdovinos serves as an Advisor to Walden Renewables, a renewable energy development company; a Board Member to Galt Energy – Energía Solar, a Mexican company that installs solar panels; and an Advisor to PsiQuantum, which aims to build the world’s first useful quantum computer that could unlock powerful advances in energy, medicine, and finance. Furthermore, Valdovinos seeks to ensure the workforce will be prepared to harness the net-zero economy trend. For example, she sponsored an initiative with the University of California (UC), San Diego, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to incorporate clean energy and sustainability science into middle school curriculums to provide career and technical education built on a strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) foundation.

Valdovinos holds a BA in Political Science and a BA in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.