Hilary Vartanian

Hilary Vartanian is Chief Sponsorship Officer for FESTIVAL NAPA VALLEY a nationally recognized arts organization, and one of America’s top five destination lifestyle and music festivals (USA Today 2025).

Hilary secures and grows multi-year sponsorships and strategic partnerships for the festival including the Kennedy Center, Television Academy Foundation, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Art Basel, and numerous international trade, cultural, and government entities.   

She leads corporate development year-round and has instituted best practices for sponsor cultivation/management, publications, and manages a national team of sales and sponsorship professionals. Hilary is on the executive leadership team for the festival’s international initiatives including the Raimat Arts Festival (Barcelona) and the China Alliance, a multiyear public/private educational initiative between the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Festival Napa Valley.

Hilary has held executive corporate management positions at Time Inc., Meredith, Hearst, Conde Nast and as the first female Vice President for Fortune Conferences, where she led development of the Fortune Global Forum, Most Powerful Women Summit (in conjunction with the US State Department), and other Fortune 500 CEO events. She has managed high performing development teams and conducted business across 5 continents.

In 2010, Hilary founded Meris Ventures, a management consultancy that develops strategic partnerships for arts organizations worldwide. Meris Ventures has led development for CBS Live, Cannes, Hamptons, Toronto, Sundance, NY Film Festivals, the Van Gogh Museum, Sino Americas Forum (in conjunction with Latin Trade, US Dept of Trade, China Council for Promotion of International Trade, InterAmerican Development Bank), Tony Awards, Spirit Awards among others.

In philanthropy, Hilary led development for two iconic film organizations, The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Gotham Film & Media Institute. Her "Spotlight on Women Filmmakers" multi-year partnership was featured in a 2013 HBO documentary. Hilary served as a production executive on feature films Hide Your Smiling Faces (World Premiere NY Film Festival) and Write When You Get Work (World Premiere SXSW).

Hilary holds a BA in English from The University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the editor of Peace Prayers (HarperCollins). In 2023, she was named to the Advisory Board for the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information and serves as the CMDI representative on the CU Council of Advisory Boards.   

She is married to Andrew Borinstein, retired Head of Consumer Research at Time Inc. and a former partner at Yankelovich, where he ran political opinion research.

Her son Alex is a second-generation CU graduate, CMCI alum, and is currently a Strategy Marketing Manager at Kroenke Sports for the championship Denver Nuggets Basketball and Colorado Avalanche Hockey teams.