Shakir, Deena
Global Partnerships Manager, Google
Director, TechWadi
Former Global Partnerships Advisor to Secretary Clinton, U.S. Department of State
Deena joined Google in 2012. As a Global Partnerships Manager, Deena leads strategic partnerships for new products and special projects in Research. Ahe previously spearheaded business development for autonomous units and Google[x], and led strategic partnerships for Google.org, where she was responsible for managing a multi-million dollar deal portfolio in civic innovation and computer science diversity.
Prior to joining Google, Deena worked for the Obama administration--as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of Secretary Clinton, where she led public-private partnerships with Global 2000 companies, and previously as a Partnerships Advisor at USAID's Global Development Alliance, where she helped launch the President’s very first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in DC in 2010.
Passionate about startup entrepreneurship, Deena co-founded her first company at age 19 and is an angel investor and advisor to several young companies. Outside of her work at Google, she is a Director on the Board of TechWadi, the leading nonprofit and accelerator building bridges between Silicon Valley and the MENA region, where she helps broker partnerships for and mentors young startups.
In a previous life, Deena was an Aga Khan Fellow at The Aspen Institute's Program on Nonprofit and Social Innovation, where she supported the Global Philanthropy Program. She also covered the White House for BBC News and was the Lead Anchor for a bilingual news show on Al Arabiya.
Deena holds a joint BA in Social Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard College and an MA from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She delivered the 2008 Harvard Class Day speech, "From Baghdad to Boston: Dropping the Global H-Bomb."
Deena serves on the Board of Directors of TechWadi, The Project on Middle East Democracy, the Harvard Alumni Association, the Arab Film Festival, and the Asian University for Women. She is also on the Brain Trust of Girls Who Code.