Biography
Merritt is an operating advisor at Bessemer, an employment lawyer, and the founder and principal consultant at Merritt+ Consulting.
Merritt advises high-growth startups on building strong people organizations and developing and defining company culture. She brings years of experience in employment law and human resources to the boardroom to increase organizational performance and employee engagement.
Previously, Merritt served as GitHub's vice president of employee experience and engagement, overseeing the learning and development, diversity, inclusion, global workplace operations, and people programs teams. She joined GitHub in 2014 as the company's first employment counsel and later served as the global head of human resources. Most recently, Merritt was the VP of people & culture and the strategic advisor to the CEO at Abstract, a leading design workflow management system.
Merritt has successfully co-led several acquisitions, including leading the diligence and integration process for GitHub's acquisition by Microsoft in 2018, as well as in a broader operational capacity in the acquisition process of Abstract Notebooks by Adobe Creative Cloud in 2021.
Merritt cares deeply about community, diversity, and inclusion. She serves on the School Advisory Council for her children’s school and is a Limited Partner of The Fund XX, an early-stage fund investing exclusively in women-led businesses. Previously, Merritt served on the board of Worldwide ERC, the premier trade association for talent management and global mobility.
Merritt holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Santa Clara University and a JD from the University of San Francisco. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, three children, and their dog. When she's not creating communities of belonging, Merritt is cheering on her three kids at sporting events or reading a good book.