20 Chief People Officers Across the United States

People leaders shape far more than hiring. They help decide how an organisation grows, how managers lead and how work feels when the pressure rises.

This list focuses on current Chief People Officers at US growth companies and technology organisations. The people are not ranked. They are a useful starting point for founders, executives and people leaders who want to study the choices behind healthy growth.

In 2026, the most useful people leadership work sits close to the operating model. It connects talent, culture, leadership development, employee experience and the systems that help teams do good work together.

1. Sharawn Tipton

Chief People Officer, Greenhouse

Sharawn Tipton is the Chief People Officer at Greenhouse, where she leads global talent strategy, organisational development and workplace culture. Greenhouse appointed her after she served as Chief People and Culture Officer at LiveRamp.

Her background also includes global inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility work at Micron Technology. That combination makes her a useful example of people leadership that connects commercial growth with the everyday conditions that help people contribute.

2. Katy Shields

Chief People Officer, Notion

Katy Shields is the Chief People Officer at Notion. Her earlier work includes Google X and Waymo, VSCO and DoorDash, where she helped the company through its IPO and rapid growth.

Those settings give her experience across experimentation, creative culture and large-scale expansion. For a growing company, that range matters because the people system has to evolve without losing the qualities that made the organisation worth joining.

3. Nick Avery

Chief People Officer, Carta

Nick Avery is the Chief People Officer at Carta. He oversees the company’s global People and Culture strategy, including employee experience, talent density and the infrastructure needed to support growth.

Before Carta, Nick spent seven and a half years at BlackRock as Global Head of Talent Management and Head of Human Resources for Asia Pacific. His career shows how people leadership can combine cultural work with the less visible systems that make scale sustainable.

4. Helen Russell

Chief People Officer, HubSpot

Helen Russell is the Chief People Officer at HubSpot. She leads recruiting, learning and talent management, total rewards, culture, ESG, diversity, inclusion and belonging, and people operations.

Her earlier roles include Chief People Officer at Rivian and Chief Human Resources Officer at Atlassian, Sonos and Kantar. That breadth is relevant to leaders who need one people strategy to work across different markets, business models and stages of growth.

5. Carmel Galvin

Chief People Officer, Klaviyo

Carmel Galvin has served as Klaviyo’s Chief People Officer since April 2024. Her remit sits inside a fast-growing software company where talent, leadership and employee experience need to keep pace with commercial momentum.

Before Klaviyo, Carmel was Chief People Officer at Stripe and held senior human resources roles at Autodesk and Glassdoor. Her path offers a practical lesson in carrying people leadership between technology companies with very different cultures and operating pressures.

6. Rob Allen

Chief People Officer, GitLab

Rob Allen is the Chief People Officer at GitLab and is responsible for the company’s overall team member experience. He works with leaders to support a customer-centred, values-driven culture as the company grows.

Rob held senior HR leadership roles at GitLab before becoming Chief People Officer. Earlier work at Atlassian and Red Hat gives him a useful perspective on recruiting, talent operations and culture in distributed technology organisations.

7. Jennifer Christie

Chief People Officer, Docusign

Jennifer Christie is the Chief People Officer at Docusign, where she oversees the global human resources function and contributes to the strategy for the company’s HR market.

She previously held Chief People Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer roles at Bolt and Twitter, after senior work at American Express. Her remit shows how a people executive can influence both internal culture and the way a company serves a people-focused customer group.

8. Melanie Rosenwasser

Chief People Officer, Dropbox

Melanie Rosenwasser is the Chief People Officer at Dropbox. She oversees the global people team, including people operations and recruiting.

Before Dropbox, Melanie held HR leadership roles at Apple and GE. Her career is a reminder that a people function has to balance the human experience with the operating discipline needed to support a large, distributed technology business.

9. Jevan Soo Lenox

Chief People Officer, Writer

Jevan Soo Lenox is Writer’s Chief People Officer. Writer appointed her to its first Chief People Officer role as the enterprise AI company built the people foundations for its next stage of growth.

Writer describes Jevan as a four-time Chief People Officer. Her earlier work at Square, Stitch Fix and Blue Bottle gives this list a useful example of people leadership across different high-growth companies and customer environments.

10. Lisa Mulrooney Gross

Chief People Officer, Headspace

Lisa Mulrooney Gross is the Chief People Officer at Headspace. She joined the company after serving as Chief People Officer at ChargePoint and Fitbit, where her work included building high-performance cultures.

Lisa brings more than 20 years of human resources leadership across GE, Tyco Electronics, Applied Materials and Bayer Healthcare. Her experience shows why people leaders need to understand both business change and the lived experience of employees.

11. Marcelo Modica

Chief People Officer, Coursera

Marcelo Modica is Coursera’s Chief People Officer. He leads the global strategy and initiatives designed to foster a high-performing and inclusive workplace.

Marcelo brings more than 30 years of experience across technology, consulting and finance. Earlier Chief People Officer roles at OneTrust, Robinhood and Mercer give him a broad view of how organisations build people systems across industries.

12. Jolen Anderson

Chief People and Community Officer, BetterUp

Jolen Anderson is BetterUp’s Chief People and Community Officer. She oversees human resources, talent strategy, people operations, leadership development and inclusion, while also leading corporate communications and community work.

Before BetterUp, Jolen was Chief People Officer and Global Head of Impact Citizenship at BNY Mellon, supporting more than 50,000 employees across 35-plus countries. Her work connects the employee experience with the wider social responsibilities of a large organisation.

13. Mike Gutner

Chief People Officer, Toast

Mike Gutner is the Chief People Officer at Toast. He oversees global People, Real Estate and Corporate Social Responsibility teams, strategies and programmes.

Mike joined Toast in customer success before moving into the People organisation. Earlier management roles at Google and work as COO of a connected-devices start-up give him a useful operating perspective beyond traditional HR.

14. Vina Leite

Chief People Officer, GoodRx

Vina Leite has served as GoodRx’s Chief People Officer since February 2022. She leads the people function at a consumer health technology company focused on making healthcare more accessible.

Before GoodRx, Vina was Chief People Officer at The Trade Desk and Cylance and Chief Human Resources Officer at QLogic. Her career reflects the value of people leaders who can work through growth, technology change and different business models.

15. Chris Trombetta

Chief People Officer, ServiceTitan

Chris Trombetta is the Chief People Officer at ServiceTitan. He joined the company after serving as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Talent at Red Bull.

ServiceTitan’s founders described Chris as bringing both people leadership and customer empathy to a fast-growing business. His earlier work at Bain and service as a US Army captain add another perspective on building teams around high standards and a clear mission.

16. Darren Burton

Chief People Officer, Amentum

Darren Burton is the Chief People Officer at Amentum. He leads talent strategy and talent management for a global workforce working across engineering, technology, security and sustainability.

Before Amentum, Darren was Chief People Officer at Eightfold AI and held senior HR roles at KPMG and Raytheon. His career is relevant to leaders responsible for people systems across complex, technical and rapidly changing organisations.

17. Keri-Lynn Pajer

Chief People Officer, Agero

Keri-Lynn Pajer is the Chief People Officer at Agero. She aligns Agero’s people strategy with the growth and empowerment of its employees.

Her background combines behavioural insight, disciplined leadership and service in the United States Army National Guard. That combination is a useful reminder that people leadership is both a systems role and a daily practice of helping people do their best work.

18. Stephanie Garcia

Chief People Officer, Uniphore

Stephanie Garcia is the Chief People Officer at Uniphore. She leads the global people and places team across talent acquisition, onboarding, HR business partners, total rewards and facilities.

Stephanie previously served as Chief People Officer at 8x8 and Real Chemistry and held senior roles at Postmates, PayPal and Salesforce. Her path shows how a people leader can carry strong operating habits between several high-growth technology environments.

19. Tiffanie Boyd

Executive Vice President and Global Chief People Officer, McDonald’s

Tiffanie Boyd is McDonald’s Executive Vice President and Global Chief People Officer. She is responsible for the talent, organisation and culture strategies that support business outcomes across the company.

Tiffanie joined McDonald’s after almost 23 years at General Mills and previously led the people function for McDonald’s USA. Her role illustrates how people leadership can connect frontline experience, leadership development and a global operating model.

20. Dorria Ball

Chief People Officer, The Honest Company

Dorria Ball is the Chief People Officer at The Honest Company, where she leads the People and Workplace function and helps steward the company’s purpose-driven culture.

Before Honest, Dorria founded an executive coaching and organisational development practice and held HR leadership roles at Mondelez and Kraft Foods. Her work brings together executive coaching, organisational design and the practical systems that help a growing company keep its purpose visible.

Conclusion

Across this group, three themes stand out. People leaders are increasingly responsible for the operating conditions around growth, not only the mechanics of hiring. They also connect culture with leadership development, employee experience and the choices that shape how work gets done.

The strongest examples make the people function practical. They give leaders better systems, clearer expectations and a healthier way to handle change. That is the standard worth aiming for, whether the organisation has a few hundred people or a global workforce.

I help leaders build organisations people would move cities to work at. The work is practical rather than motivational, with a focus on the conversations, decisions and habits leaders can use on Monday morning.

About the Author

Jonno White is a leadership consultant, keynote speaker and author. He helps leaders build organisations people would move cities to work at, with practical tools for leadership, culture and team development.

Next Read

If you want to keep exploring the people function, read Consult Clarity’s human resources thought leader guide, its guide to HR leaders in engineering and its wider people and culture leadership guide.

For a practical conversation about building a stronger leadership culture, get in touch with Consult Clarity.

Work With Jonno

If your people leaders are carrying growth, change or culture work that needs a clearer operating rhythm, I can help turn the pressure into a practical leadership plan.

If you want to explore the right next step in writing, email jonno@consultclarity.org.