Bio

Ashley Smith joined Instar in 2016 where she develops and leads communications strategies to drive business growth and enhance overall stakeholder engagement, drawing on her diverse insight and experience in Canada’s private capital markets. Ashley has extensive expertise with both traditional and digital communications, creating and leading initiatives to increase brand and business profile through community engagement, thought leadership, and investor, stakeholder and media relations, both corporately and for Instar’s portfolio companies in Canada and the United States. Ashley was previously a Communications Manager for the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA), where she helped to lead the organization through several foundational initiatives, including establishing the CVCA’s first social media strategy; developing a new online hub for industry news, and refreshing the overall CVCA brand, marketing materials and website. She was also responsible for leading the CVCA’s official print publication, “Private Capital”, and marketing Canada’s largest annual venture capital and private equity conference. Ashley holds a Master of Arts (Honours) in Social Anthropology from the University of St. Andrews with a focus on digital communication and resource extraction.