10 VPs of people
VPs of people at Airbyte, Verily Health, Thorn, Binalyze and Caraway Home are in this group, and their routes differ: four held HR business partner or people partner titles, Catie Maillard and Rebecca Friese also hold founder titles, and Amanda Kurihara's current title covers the 89bio integration at Genentech. That spread suits a company deciding what to build first in HR, when to add specialists, or how to keep culture intact through growth or a merger.
Professionals to explore
Ally Olney
LinkedInExperience: VP, People · Airbyte
Airbyte's VP, People since November 2025, Ally Olney was Senior Director, People & Talent there (2024-2025), Director, People Partners & Programs at Komodo Health (2020-2024) and Head of People, North America at Zip Co (2019-2020). Ally describes scaling high-growth organizations from 50 to 1,500+ employees through talent strategy, organizational design, performance management and leadership development.
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Amanda Kurihara
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, People & Culture (89bio Integration) · Genentech
Genentech has had Amanda Kurihara as Vice President, People & Culture (89bio Integration) since May 2026, directly after five years as Vice President, People & Culture at 89bio (2021-2026). Amanda was Vice President, Human Resources at Catalyst Biosciences (2021) and has sat on the Board of Advisors at Life Science Cares Bay Area since 2023. The person to ask about people work through an acquisition.
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Catie Maillard
LinkedInExperience: Global VP of People · Data Society Group
Catie Maillard is Global VP of People at Data Society Group (since 2024) and Founder & Principal Consultant at Somehow I Manage (since 2018), and leads People & Business Operations at high-growth and VC or PE-backed companies. Catie was SVP, Global Head Of People Success at StreamElements (2020-2022) and Head Of Human Resources at Lord Jones (2019-2020), useful for sponsor-backed companies.
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Cynthia Bergallo
LinkedInExperience: VP People · Plug
Cynthia Bergallo has been VP People at Plug since June 2026 and was Vice President, Human Resources Head of People & Culture at iTradeNetwork, Inc. (2023-2026), Sr Human Resources Business Partner at Lyft (2020-2022) and Human Resources Head, Americas Sr. HRBP Sales and Marketing at Meltwater (2017-2020). Cynthia helps growth-stage companies scale through people, structure and operating discipline, strong on org design.
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Julia Rozovsky
LinkedInExperience: VP, People & Culture · Verily Health
VP, People & Culture at Verily Health since 2025, Julia Rozovsky was Senior Director, Head of People Operations, Talent Acquisition & Total Rewards (2024-2025) and Director, Head of People Operations (Ops, Analytics, Technology) & Talent Acquisition (2023-2024) there. Julia was Director, People Operations (HRBP) at Google (2021-2022) and describes being a strategic, analytical and business-minded People leader, a fit for people analytics questions.
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Megan Katsanevas
LinkedInExperience: VP People · Binalyze
London-based Megan Katsanevas has been VP People at Binalyze since July 2022, with a focus on cybersecurity and global people and culture. Megan was VP People at Decibel, a Medallia company (2019-2022), Senior Director at Medallia (2021-2022) and Senior HR Director - International at Datasite (2019), and describes international, commercially driven HR experience across several industries.
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Niamh Hyland
LinkedInExperience: VP of People · Caraway Home
Niamh Hyland has been VP of People at Caraway Home since August 2025. At Very Great, Niamh was VP, People & Culture (2022-2025) and Head of People & Culture (2019-2022), and earlier Head of People, Culture & Operations at Purpose (2015-2018); Niamh also co-founded Artists Without Walls. Several culture-titled roles make Niamh a fit for building a culture function.
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Rebecca Friese
LinkedInExperience: Former Vice President of People · Zenni Optical
Author of The Good Culture: The Leader's Guide To Creating a Workplace That Doesn't Suck, Rebecca Friese was Vice President of People at Zenni Optical (2024-2026) and is Co-Founder, Managing Partner at FLYN (since 2014). Rebecca was Managing Director at Samudra Group (2022-2024) and Director, Innovation Capability & Culture at ?What If! Innovation | Part of Accenture (2011-2013).
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Robyn Rossi
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, People · Vanilla
Vanilla's Vice President, People since April 2025, Robyn Rossi was Director, People Partnerships at Smartsheet (2019-2025) directly before that. Robyn's earlier roles include Sr. HR Business Partner at Blue Nile (2018-2019), HR Manager at Coinstar (formerly Outerwall) (2006-2018) and HR Generalist at SensArray (2002-2006), a long HR partnering record that suits questions on manager support.
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Shae Frazier
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, People & Operations · Thorn
Helping mission-driven organizations scale by aligning talent, operating systems and execution is how Shae Frazier describes the work, with a background in compensation and total rewards. At Thorn, Shae has been Vice President, People & Operations since January 2026, following Vice President, People & Culture (2024-2026) and Director of People Operations (2022-2024), and suits mission-driven people teams.
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Choose the right perspective
For scaling a growing company's people team, Ally Olney, Cynthia Bergallo and Shae Frazier describe that work directly. Amanda Kurihara is the pick for a merger or integration, Megan Katsanevas for international HR from London, and Julia Rozovsky for people operations, analytics and total rewards; Rebecca Friese and Niamh Hyland suit culture questions.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01When you took over the people function, what did you set up in the first 90 days and what did you deliberately leave for later?
- 02At what headcount did you add a dedicated total rewards, talent acquisition or people operations lead, and why then?
- 03How do you keep performance reviews and pay decisions consistent when teams sit in different countries?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.