Gina Vakili

Gina is a seasoned marketing executive with 15 years of experience advising executives from large international organizations to early-stage startups across a variety of industries. She joined Canaan in 2007 to manage the firm’s marketing, entrepreneur relations, corporate communications, branding and public relations. At Canaan, Gina has developed a unique Portfolio Support Program that delivers valuable insights, networking opportunities and market recognition to help build high-performance companies.  In this capacity, Gina and the Canaan team published the Entrepreneur Pitch Workbook, a hands-on guide on how to pitch to venture capitalists.  This workbook has received recognition on social networking sites, as well in worldwide publications including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Business Week Online.

Prior to joining Canaan, Gina held Director-level marketing positions at Bitpass, a digital media payments startup; GlobalWare Solutions, an eBusiness supply chain leader; and Fatbrain.com, the leader in online B2B book sales, acquired by Barnes & Noble.com.  Gina’s trademark is her ability to combine solid traditional marketing expertise with a keen understanding of the e-Business marketplace. In this capacity, she has provided strategic branding and marketing services to some of the industry’s most respected brands, including “…For Dummies®” and Cliffs Notes® books; BlackBerry® Accessories; iUniverse, a leading print-on-demand platform; and Creative Labs, makers of Zen.

Gina received her BA from University of California, Santa Barbara.  She is a member of the American Marketing Association.

CALIFORNIA LOCAL TIME: