Janet J. Jensen

Janet J. Jensen is the founder of Human Investments, a foundation that supports survivors of sexual assault, ensuring that they receive the assistance and counseling they need.

Expertise

For years, Ms. Jensen has dedicated her life to traveling across the country, speaking at colleges and universities in order to empower students and teach them the importance of civil behavior and treating others with respect.

She developed one of the first volunteer programs at a private hospital to help victims of sexual assault and assisted in the production of the first television documentary about sexual assault. She continues to advocate for legislation to assist victims.

She also owns J. Jarie Gallery, which creates inspirational greeting cards and stationery. She started her career at Raytheon, where she quickly advanced up the corporate ladder.

In 1993, she founded BestConnections, which provided marketing and sales expertise for Matrix Telecom, a company in 1995 that was ranked the seventh fastest-growing company in America by Inc. magazine.

Community Service

Most recently, Ms. Jensen launched The Jensen Project, a social awareness initiative committed to supplying young children and students with the tools and resources they need to lead a lifestyle in which they demonstrate compassion and empathy towards others.

In 2016, as part of this initiative, she started the Stand Up, Speak Up video contest, which she sponsored at the University of New Haven. It is designed to raise awareness about instances of, and issues related to, sexual misconduct on college campuses. She also developed with the University a series of interactive student roundtable discussions and participated as a panelist and guest speaker at campus events related to awareness and prevention of sexual abuse.

A passionate supporter of education, she has, over the last 20 years, helped provide more than 300 renewable scholarships, totaling more than $5 million, to assist low-income high school seniors and college students. She was elected to the University of New Haven’s Board of Governors in 2017, and she has served on the boards of many philanthropic and nonprofit organizations.

Education

Ms. Jensen earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of New Haven in 2017.