Ex-VC Avoids Conflict of Interest

Former VC-turned-politician Gina Raimondo was found last month to have taken “appropriate and sufficient steps” to avoid a conflict of interest as Rhode Island’s general treasurer.

Raimondo won the office in November after capturing 62% of the vote as a first-time Democratic candidate. She then had asked the Rhode Island Ethics Commission to decide whether her efforts to distance herself from Point Judith Capital, the firm she co-founded in 2001, met muster. The state’s pension fund is an LP.

The 39-year-old—who went to Harvard University, University of Oxford (on a Rhodes Scholarship) and received a law degree from Yale University—resigned from management positions connected with Point Judith’s two funds and established a blind trust for her investments in the firm.

She also left the firm’s investment committee and resigned from the boards on which she served as a partner of the firm.

In addition, Raimondo agreed to recuse herself from decisions involving her office, the State Investment Commission and Point Judith Capital.

Point Judith Capital is the state’s only venture-capital firm and manages $100 million. It invests in early stage Internet, mobility, health care and cleantech companies.