Stanford • NVCA Venture Capital Symposium 2020
Heather Gates
National Managing Director, Deloitte LLP
Heather Gates is the US Deloitte Private Audit & Assurance leader and national Emerging Growth Company (EGC) practice leader at Deloitte. She has more than 25 years of experience working with private and emerging growth companies, including 15 years at Deloitte. Heather is a master at cultivating and maintaining strong relationships throughout the startup and venture capital communities. In her national leadership roles, she brings the power of the firm to practitioners in key EGC markets throughout the US.
With her vast personal network and knowledge of the industry, Heather has unique insight into the people, institutions, and technologies that shape many of the major business metros in the US. She regularly meets with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, and has significantly grown Deloitte’s stature, presence, influence, and service to leading companies based in the Bay Area and nationally. During Heather’s tenure at Deloitte, she was responsible for introducing the firm to LinkedIn in its early startup phase as a client of the EGC practice.
Heather’s professional experience is drawn from years of nurturing her career in all aspects of the private company market. Prior to Deloitte, Heather was the chief financial officer for a telecommunications company where she wrote the business plan and led financing discussions and operations. Previously, she worked as an investment banker at Hambrecht & Quist, focusing on the software and internet industry and executing IPOs, M&A, and private equity opportunities. Heather launched her career with another Big Four firm where she spent nine years serving the technology sector and helped take several companies public – including early internet companies such as Yahoo.
Heather earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Colorado and is an active CPA in both California and Colorado. She serves as a board member and treasurer for the Churchill Club, a leading Silicon Valley business and technology forum.
Outside of work Heather is dedicated to her two children, ages 16 and 15. She enjoys hiking and cycling and has traveled to New Zealand and France in search of the best pinot noir.
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