Lynne Oldham was impressed when Stash CEO Brandon Krieg flew from Dallas to Santa Barbara just to have lunch with her. Oldham, who was then chief people officer at Zoom, was weighing taking the same job at Stash. And the personal touch sealed the deal—she started at the fintech startup in March.
“The gesture to fly to me was phenomenal,” Oldham said in an interview.
There’s no doubt it’s a candidates’ market for top HR leaders, and some executive recruiters say chief people officer is the toughest job to fill right now. With searches taking longer and longer as the pool of experienced executives gets tapped out, that’s leaving tech companies short-handed just when they could use the help the most.
