Profile
Silda A. Wall Spitzer is a businesswoman, lawyer, and former First Lady of New York State. A result-driven innovator, she is CEO of New York States of Mind LLC, including its NewYorkMakers.com , the first digital marketplace and magazine for New York State, and maker of Silda’s Jam, a distinctive brand of locally sourced fruit preserves.
Silda was Director and Principal with NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm investing in environmental opportunities, and, previously, as Managing Director at the investment firm Metropolitan Capital Advisors. She presently serves on the Advisory Boards of SER Capital Partners (investing in sustainable, environmentally focused, and renewable energy companies), HODL (a venture firm building and investing in emerging technology and digital asset companies), and Rodi Pharmaceuticals (a venture offering solutions for infertility and miscarriages in women), as well as on the Advisory Committee of the green chemistry venture fund Safer Made.
Silda also practiced corporate law for ten years, first at Skadden and then at Chase Manhattan Bank, including high profile mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and divestitures, corporate finance, and international transactions.
As First Lady of New York State, Silda originated and implemented economic sustainability, green building, and other initiatives. She also chaired the New York State Commission on Volunteering & Service. Prior to that, she co-founded and led Children for Children, a nonprofit organization engaging children of all backgrounds from an early age in volunteering and service, ultimately merging it into the largest national service nonprofit, Points of Light Institute, to become its inaugural youth service division and renamed generationOn.
Silda currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior; Vice Chair of the Board of Urban Green Council; and member of the President’s Council of Ceres, the Advisory Council for the NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence Design Competition, and the Advisory Boards of The Sustainable Endowments Institute and The Common Good.
A respected thought leader, Silda is an invited speaker and panelist on topics related to environmental and impact investment, sustainability, entrepreneurship, women’s leadership and financial literacy, and youth service. She has written and co-authored articles and essays, including “What Boards Need to Know About Sustainability Ratings,” HBR.com, May 30, 2019, “The Pleasures and Perils of Private Company Investing,” and “Impact Investing: Trading Up, Not Trading Off.”
Silda is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Women’s Forum of New York, and the New York State and City Bar Associations. She holds a JD from Harvard Law School and an Honorary Doctorate and BA summa cum laude from Meredith College.
She enjoys family time, painting and sculpting, reading, walking, travel and adventure. Most importantly, she is the grateful mother of three values-driven, hardworking, compassionate young adults.
