After moving to New York, Rees began working for the Paris, France-based food company Groupe Danone,[6] leaving in 1989 to attend business school at Columbia University. After graduating from Columbia, she took over a family-owned hotel business which brought her back to her hometown of Montclair.[3][7] After rehabilitating and selling that business, she moved to San Francisco, California, and opened Eric Restaurant in San Francisco with her now former husband, Eric Gallanter.[3]
Rees spent more than two years in investment banking with Vrolyk & Co and BA Securities. In 1996, Rees formed Venture Strategy Partners (VSP). The firm received an injection of $25 million in March 1999, followed by $190 million in March 2000.[6] The San Francisco-based venture capital firm also assists technology start-ups in establishing their brand marketing strategy.[8] As of 2000, the firm was funding companies like AllBusiness.com, eStyle, and Flooz.com.[9] VSP also backed Danger Inc., the company that developed the Sidekick. It was Rees that gave the phone to celebrities as a marketing strategy.[3]
Rees is Chairman of the USA Advisory Board for Fon[10] and also serves on the boards of NewSchools Venture Fund,[11] the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship's Bay Area Board, and Duke University's Annual Fund board.[12] She previously held a 4-year term with the National Venture Capital Association. Rees is also a Lecturer of Management at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.[13]
Rees, along with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and fellow Silicon Valley venture capitalists John Doerr and Bill Gurley recently hosted screenings of the new educational documentary "Waiting for Superman".[14]
Rees currently serves on the Board of Directors of Endeavor, an international non-profit development organization that finds and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
In March 2010, Rees began making plans to run for Mayor of San Francisco in the November 2011 elections.[3] She filed campaign papers announcing her intent on September 1, 2010. Her candidacy was endorsed by Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, the wife of Gavin Newsom, the former mayor and current Lieutenant Governor of California.[15] Rees refused to use her own money in the campaign and ran as an independent.[1] She was previously registered as “decline to state”. Her campaign was led by SCN Strategies, the same firm running Newsom’s bid for Lieutenant Governor.[16] Rees lost the election which ended with the election of Ed Lee as mayor from a field of sixteen candidates.[17][18]
Rees is currently managing partner of West, a venture studio which works with purpose-driven companies to find and reach their ideal markets. West also raised a fund and selectively invests in emerging companies.
