A New Chapter for Startup San Diego’s Executive Director, Alexa-Rae Navarro

After over 3 years of serving the startup community, Startup San Diego Executive Director, Alexa-Rae Navarro, has decided to transition out of the Executive Director position to serve as the Managing Director of her family’s wine business, The Navarro Family Vineyards.  The Startup San Diego team and board are grateful for the time, passion, and dedication she brought to the organization. Through her leadership, the organization and startup community have grown tremendously and thrived.

Although Alexa-Rae is stepping down from the organization we fully support her decision to focus on her family’s wine business. We will truly miss Alexa-Rae, but we are excited to see where her new chapter takes her.

“After three years of blood, sweat, and tears, I am so beyond proud of what #StartupSD has become and am grateful for the community, volunteers, partners, investors, and Board who played a part in that! I’m excited for this next chapter for both myself and Startup San Diego and am fully committed to helping to find my replacement and support the organization through the transition.” said Alexa-Rae Navarro.

10 Highlights of Alexa-Rae’s Impact on the San Diego Startup Community 

• December 2019 – The SSD board went through over 1,000 job applicants and Alexa-Rae Navarro was chosen as the new Executive Director of Startup San Diego.
• August 2020 – Introduced the new Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program, a program that would aid the organization while supporting San Diego entrepreneurs and getting them connected to the local startup ecosystem.
• September 2020: With the help of Ryan Kuder, Managing Director at Techstars Anywhere, she launched the Startup Incubator program connecting local early-stage founders to expert mentoring, resources, and workshops to scale and grow their companies. 
• October 2020 – As a response to COVID, Alexa-Rae and the team pivoted San Diego Startup Week to a fully virtual event and led the team to a new “month” format. 
• May 2021 – Reintroduced Convergence, connecting local tech talent with the San Diego startup ecosystem. 
• October 2021 – Adapted to a “hybrid” San Diego Startup Week as a response to relaxed COVID regulations, a mix of in-person and virtual experiences. 
• October 2021 – Held the first Startup Awards Ceremony at San Diego Startup Week to recognize leaders and top startups in the community.
• January 2022 – Transitioned 1st Mondays to a quarterly event and partnered with various startups to host small panels to educate and inspire the community.
• September 2022 – Alexa-Rae Navarro Wins San Diego Business Journals Non-Profit Executive of the Year Mid-Size Category Award
• October 2022 – Organized the 10th Annual San Diego Startup Week, fully in-person, held in 4 locations throughout 4 days.

What’s Next for Startup San Diego?

As Alexa-Rae transitions out of the Executive Director position, she will be working part-time for Startup San Diego while the team looks for a new leader to take over her role. Once we have the right candidate Alexa-Rae will work as a guide to the new Executive Director to make sure they are fully integrated into the position.

With that said, we are officially taking applications for our next Executive Director! If you have a passion for startups, tech, or get excited about supporting startup founders, growing businesses, and partnering with universities and other organizations, make sure to apply. 

Share this job application with your network and help us find our new Executive Director.