About - Tricia Montalvo Timm

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Tricia Montalvo Timm

Tricia Montalvo Timm is a first-generation Latina who rose through the ranks of Silicon Valley advising high-tech companies big and small, culminating in the sale of data analytics software company Looker to Google for $2.6 billion. Tricia is one of the few Latinas to have attained the triple achievement of reaching the C-suite, joining the boardroom and cracking the venture capital ceiling. Her career has spanned from working with some of the largest publicly traded multinational companies to stepping on as one the first leaders to help build and scale several high-growth start-ups.

Tricia currently serves on the board at Salsify, a top SaaS software company whose commerce experience management platform helps brand manufacturers, distributors and retailers collaborate to win on the digital shelf. In addition to board service, Tricia spends her time as a venture capital investor and is a limited partner in several venture capital funds and an angel investor in over a dozen companies.

Most recently, Tricia served as General Counsel and Executive Sponsor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Looker. At Looker, Tricia oversaw the company’s legal, data privacy, equity and DEI functions. During the Looker/Google acquisition, Tricia also led the company’s global antitrust regulatory process, which included review and approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tricia’s Story

Tricia was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is from El Salvador and her father is from Ecuador. She grew up speaking Spanish at home and learned English for the first time in elementary school. When she was six years old, her family decided to move from L.A to a nearby suburb in order to give her a better education.

Being so close to Hollywood, Tricia pursued a brief acting career as a child. It was during this time when she first learned that she would be treated differently simply for being Latina. Her talent agent urged her to change her last name from Montalvo to a more “American” name like McLaine in order to be considered for more mainstream parts. At this young age the world was telling Tricia that her true self was not good enough.

Tricia at six years old

Tricia’s multiple headshots – one for Spanish-speaking parts and another for “American” parts

Despite all odds, Tricia went on to graduate cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara with her B.A. in political science and received her law degree cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Tricia, receiving her JD from Santa Clara Law

Tricia began her career as a corporate securities associate at an elite Silicon Valley law firm. There she worked on IPOs, M&A transactions and represented both companies and VC’s in venture financings. In addition to representing tech companies big and small, Tricia has also served as Acting General Counsel and VP, Corporate Governance of Borland (NASDAQ: BORL), a publicly traded software company. While at Borland, Tricia advised on executive compensation, equity incentive plans, financial public company reporting, M&A and corporate governance.

Tricia being “fearless” with the Fearless Girl in NY

Tricia is a fierce advocate for women and girls and serves as a mentor, advisor and more recently as an investor in female-founded companies. Tricia currently serves on the Silicon Valley Executive Board of Advisors of How Women Lead and is a limited partner at its sister organization, How Women Invest (HWI). HWI is a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting women-led companies, with a focus on women of color.

As she progressed through her career, Tricia became deeply passionate about creating spaces of belonging. While at Looker, she launched the company’s first DEI program where she developed a multi-prong solution that consisted of recruiting and retaining diverse talent, cultivating a culture of belonging and establishing the company as a DEI thought leader. Today, she continues her DEI work as a mentor, speaker and thought leader.

Tricia with work collegues at the Women’s March

Tricia is the recipient of multiple awards for her work, including the 2020 Women of Influence and Latino Business Leadership awards from Silicon Valley Business Journal and the title of Diversity Champion from the Silicon Valley Business Journal Corporate Counsel Awards.

Tricia, with her husband Derek, daughters Sophia and Marissa, and mother Julia.