Bessemer Venture Partners welcomes Todd Carlisle as chief people officer

We’re thrilled to announce that Todd Carlisle has joined Bessemer as chief people officer, a leader who brings with him more than two decades of experience and expertise in human resources. 

As Bessemer reaches new geographies and continues to expand, it’s important to us that we remain committed to our core values and operating principles that have contributed to our success. Venture capital thrives on an apprenticeship model — learning and mentorship is vital for the founders and leaders we back, as well as the investors, operations, and platform professionals who are building enduring careers. In this spirit of growth, Todd will build and lead a small team of HR professionals to support the high-performing and ambitious people we have at the firm. He will be focused on all things people-related at Bessemer, including performance management, career progression, compensation, learning and development, and employee relations and experience.

"People determine how we live and work by our values and the innovation we back and build.”

"As our firm grows, Todd brings his unique blend of scholarly expertise in organizational psychology and practical experience, coupled with genuine empathy and dedication to achieving excellence when building new programs and fostering cohesive teams,” shares Sandy Grippo, partner and chief operating officer at Bessemer Venture Partners.

“While it often feels like technology runs the world, people are still the foundation to any organization — people determine how we live and work by our values and the innovation we back and build,” says Todd Carlisle. “I look forward to cultivating and growing talent at a world-class organization like Bessemer Venture Partners.” 

Throughout his career, Todd has worked in people-related roles at a handful of technology companies, including Google, where he spent 11 years. There, he was a founding member of the People Analytics team, a director of recruiting whose teams hired 5,000 people, and he also acted as a director of HR for the Trust & Safety team. After his time at Google, he spent seven years working at startups in the beauty e-commerce subscription and connected fitness industries. His work on topics like scientific hiring, the wisdom of crowds, and performance management has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Public Radio and Harvard Business Review. 

Todd has a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Texas A&M University. Originally from Chicago, he now lives in Oakland with his wife and three kids.