Brittany Heyd is the Managing Director and General Counsel of 1776, a global incubator and seed fund that focuses on startups tackling critical societal challenges. Its core industries are education, energy, health, cities and transportation. One of 1776's first investments, RideScout, was sold to DaimlerChrysler last fall. Brittany was part of 1776's founding team in 2013, turning down a big law firm offer to take the entrepreneurial path. She helped execute the inaugural Challenge Cup, a global startup competition spanning 16 cities worldwide. This May, DC will host the week-long Challenge Festival: the global Challenge Cup finals, along with a series of events bringing together thought leaders, innovators and policymakers to discuss reinventing entrenched industries.
What you didn't know about Brittany:
She worked in the White House Chief of Staff's office and for the Council of Economic Advisers during her first two summers in law school.
In eighth grade, she started a math tutoring business. Her first customer was her younger cousin.
She's a new mom, currently at home with a baby boy for the next couple of months.
Brittany's lived in three other countries—Mexico, Chile and Spain—and is fluent in Spanish. (Or at least was when she was speaking it every day.)
