About

Stephanie Brecher, general counsel of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), began her career as a federal court law clerk and in private practice at several top law firms after graduating from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, the LSE and the University of California Berkeley, where she earned her JD. Qualified to the bar in California, New York and District of Columbia, Brecher has over 20 years of experience in venture capital, complex M&A and other corporate transactional work and has led in-house deal teams at other top companies including Nortel Networks. Her experience lends itself perfectly to NEA’s expansionist model as one of America’s largest venture capital firms. Brecher has been involved in many of the fund’s recent portfolio company investments and exits. She identifies that, ‘as a transactional lawyer, I love the adrenalin rush of a big deal’. Accordingly, one of her top highlights has been representing NEA as one of the largest selling shareholders in the acquisition of Jet.com by Walmart in 2016. The $3.3bn deal itself was the largest sale of an e-commerce start-up to that date. She was actively involved in deal negotiations alongside Jet’s general counsel and outside counsel, and brought many years of M&A experience to the table, from term sheet discussions to final definitive agreements. She adds that, ‘the transaction had a significant impact on me in that it was a stellar example of the venture capital model working, and showed how lawyers could solve problems in real-time to pave the way for the ultimate success of all parties involved’. Additionally, in June 2017, NEA announced the closing of the largest venture capital fund ever, its $3.3bn 16th fund. Brecher was a part of the large team of in-house and outside professionals on this complex project.