Vanessa Colella

Vanessa Colella is the Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Citi Ventures based in San Francisco. Before joining Citi in 2010, she served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at US Venture Partners and held senior executive roles including Head of North American Marketing at Yahoo and Partner at McKinsey and Company. During her impactful tenure at Citi, she has directed global venture investing and notably conceived the CitiBike initiative, which earned a 2013 Advertising Age Creativity Award and a 2014 Gold Pencil. Her early career included teaching for Teach for America, and her academic credentials feature a doctorate from the MIT Media Lab alongside a graduate degree from Columbia University. Colella currently focuses on driving corporate development and strategic partnerships to advance the global banking sector through emerging financial technologies, fintech venture investments, mobile payments, security, and big data.