Veteran entrepreneur Anastasia Valentine has been appointed Chief Executive Director of Startup Canada, following the decision by CEO Victoria Lennox to become the organization’s President.

Ottawa-based Valentine has been working as a volunteer with the national business development group for the last two years—most notably as host of the Startup Canada LIVE digital series.

Speaking last week, during one of her first days in the job, Valentine said she is getting to know the needs of Canada’s 2.3 million entrepreneurs so the organization can work towards meeting those needs.

“We want to provide a one stop shop for everything that’s required throughout an entrepreneur’s journey,” she said.

“Our goal, as Canada's entrepreneur organization, is to ensure that the journey is mapped and resources are available at every step, from idea, through to startup and growth of a scaleup.

“This requires a combination of tools, resources and people, and it is our goal to bring those all together to deliver on our promise to support every entrepreneur across Canada.”

Valentine said she brings the voice of a seasoned entrepreneur to her new role. She has held executive leadership roles with startups and billion-dollar companies in the areas of innovation, commercialization, marketing and sales.

She founded her own company Sandbox, an idea-to-launch company, and has been through multiple exits, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer at Versature, a communications venture which has been acquired by net2phone.

She is also known for her community and educational work. She is a regular speaker at business conferences and an advocate of women in STEM, education and entrepreneurship. She established the Anastasia Valentine Bursary for Young Parents in conjunction with Ottawa’s Bethany Hope Centre to fund the costs of post-secondary studies for young mothers and fathers.

Victoria Lennox, the head of Startup Canada since it began in 2012, became the group’s first president on January 14 in order to focus on growing the organization and developing national and global strategic partnerships.

“Anastasia brings more than 20 years of experience to the role and will build and nurture a team to take the organization to the next level,” Lennox told Entrevestor.

The day-to-day operations of the CEO, including managing the organization's team and programs, were managed for several months by Interim CEO Richard Rémillard.