Recruiting technology
10 heads of talent
These ten heads of talent hold or have held a title containing Head of Talent, including Head of Talent Acquisition roles, in their own work histories. A reader can learn how a talent leader builds a recruiting function, sets hiring strategy with executives and keeps hiring on track while a company grows.
Professionals to explore
01—10Anushree Kothari
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent Acquisition - India, South East Asia & ANZ · Netflix
Head of Talent Acquisition - India, South East Asia & ANZ at Netflix since 2026. Other Netflix roles include Head of Talent Acquisition - India (2023–2026) and Recruiter - Talent Acquisition (2021–2023). The profile also lists Founder & Chief Recruiter at The Big Switch Recruitments (2012–2021) and Marketing Manager at The Walt Disney Company (2007–2012).
Craig Pyke
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent Acquisition · Rivian
Head of Talent Acquisition at Rivian since 2025; the headline describes scaling talent acquisition for EV and advanced manufacturing. Other Rivian roles include Director, HR and Talent Partners - Go-To-Market Commercial (2024–2025) and Director, Talent Acquisition - Operations (2020–2024). The profile also lists Talent Acquisition Manager at Continental (2012–2020).
Francesca Puddu
LinkedInExperience: Global Head of Talent Acquisition · Decathlon
Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Decathlon since 2025; the headline lists executive recruiting and employer branding. Former Global Senior Executive Talent Acquisition at Zalando SE (2021–2024). Other listed roles include Global Senior Team Lead - Executive Recruiting at adidas (2019–2021) and Global Sr manager - Talent Acquisition & Executive Recruiting at adidas (2017–2018).
Jordan Wong
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Ivo
Head of Talent at Ivo since 2026 and former Manager of Global Talent Acquisition at Hiya Inc. (2021–2026). Other listed roles include Talent Leader at StartupExperts since 2024. The profile describes working as a talent acquisition leader with experience scaling companies through hypergrowth and building global teams.
Lana Whiteford
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Augment
Head of Talent at Augment since 2025 and former Head of Recruiting at Augment (2025). Other listed roles include Founding Director at Puffin Talent (2023–2025), Sr. Talent Leader at Shopify (2022–2023) and Director of Recruiting at Puffin Talent (2016–2020). The profile describes building talent acquisition programs from the ground up and scaling HR programs across developing organizations.
Mercedes Sanchez
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · EXTE
Head of Talent at EXTE since 2024, where the profile describes leading the talent acquisition function, defining its strategy for the company and its locations, and leading the talent development area. Other listed roles include Associate Recruitment Partner en ISPROX at ISPROX (2024) and Human Resources Executive at ISPROX (2002–2006).
Meredith Kaplan
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Leap
Head of Talent at Leap since 2026 and former Senior Director of Talent & People at PlayVS (2020–2026). The profile also lists Talent Acquisition, Executive Search at Airbnb (2019–2020), Talent Acquisition at Meta (2018–2019) and Technical Recruiter at Viacom (2015–2018), and describes helping high-growth companies scale through periods of rapid change.
Sean Asir
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Mysten Labs
Head of Talent at Mysten Labs since 2021. Other listed roles include Talent Leader Portal Diem Novi at Facebook (2017–2021), Sr. Talent Acquisition at Faraday Future (2016–2017) and Sr. Talent Acquisition (Executive Recruiter Sourcer) at Yahoo (2013–2016). The profile describes leading and managing recruiting teams to scale companies and establish recruiting best practices, and building talent operations teams.
Stephanie Happ
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Perceptyx
Head of Talent at Perceptyx since 2025, where the profile describes leading enterprise talent and workforce strategy and partnering with executive leadership to align hiring and org design with company growth. The headline describes building AI-native recruiting infrastructure. Other listed roles include Senior Talent Partner at Sequoia (2023–2025) and Senior Recruiter, GTM at BetterUp (2021–2023).
Teresa Tan-Vial
LinkedInExperience: Head of Talent · Lambda
Head of Talent at Lambda since 2024. Former Partner at Spire (2023–2024), Director, Global Talent Acquisition, Strategy and Programs at Snap Inc. (2020–2022), Senior Director, Global Head of Executive Recruiting at Pinterest (2019–2020) and Senior Executive Recruiter at Google (2015–2019). The profile describes expertise in global talent strategies, executive search and organizational development.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's company stage and hiring scope, such as a startup building its first recruiting team or a large company hiring across regions, to your own situation. Check each person's other listed roles to see whether their experience comes from in-house recruiting, executive search or talent partnering.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you build a recruiting function from scratch when a company starts hiring quickly?
- 02Which metrics do you use to judge whether the hiring process is working?
- 03How do you decide when to use agencies or executive search instead of in-house recruiters?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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