Paradox Bolsters Board of Directors, Adding Former Workday and SAP Executives, and a Renowned Stanford University Professor

Appointments include former Workday CIO Diana McKenzie, former SAP Chief Strategy Officer Deepak Krishnamurthy, and Stanford University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Huggy Rao. The additions continue Paradox’s investment in adding innovative leaders with a proven track record of driving transformation in recruiting, HR, and talent management.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#futureofwork–Paradox, the conversational AI platform helping talent acquisition teams at organizations like McDonald’s, CVS Health, and Unilever create the most candidate-centric companies on earth, announced today the appointment of former Workday CIO Diana McKenzie, former SAP Chief Strategy Officer Deepak Krishnamurthy, and Stanford University professor Huggy Rao to its board of directors.

They join Board Chairman Mike Gregoire, who served as CEO of cloud-based talent management pioneer Taleo from 2005-2012, when the company was acquired by Oracle for $1.9 billion. Existing board members Chris Gaffney and John Hayes will also remain on the board.

Unlike typical Silicon Valley companies whose boards are dominated by investors, Paradox founder and CEO Aaron Matos said he was intentional about building a board that prioritized innovation, client value, and inclusivity. That meant focusing on leaders with tangible experience helping global organizations navigate digital transformation and fundamental shifts in talent management.

“When we founded Paradox, I made a commitment to building the best possible team to build the best possible products for our clients,” said Matos, who will continue to serve on Paradox’s board. “That starts with recruiting the best employees and board members we can find — and we certainly checked that box with Diana, Deepak, and Huggy. I couldn’t be happier to add all three to our board. They were at the top of my list and we feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from them as we scale.”

Diana McKenzie

After serving as the CIO of Amgen for six years, Diana McKenzie joined Workday as its first ever Global Chief Information Officer in 2016. During her tenure, she reframed information technology as business technology, and helped Workday scale to one of the leading ERP and HCM systems in the world. McKenzie is a frequent speaker on digital transformation and inclusive hiring, and she currently sits on the board of MetLife, Inc. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology” by the National Diversity Council.

“I’ve spent my career championing next generation technology and I truly believe Paradox will have a transformative impact on the talent acquisition experience — both for candidates and recruiting teams,” said McKenzie. “I share the Paradox team’s passion for embedding customer-first principles into everything they do, and I can’t wait to work with their team to continue to define the future of talent acquisition.”

Deepak Krishnamurthy

Deepak Krishnamurthy is the Managing Partner at Gaia Equity, an investment firm focused on enterprise software, climate tech, and healthcare. Prior to founding Gaia Equity, he led Strategy and Transformation for SAP, where he architected an innovation and M&A strategy that resulted in a nearly 3X increase in top line revenue, a 4X increase in market capitalization, and more than $100 billion in incremental shareholder value. He also led SAP’s Fintech and Healthcare businesses, and successfully launched and scaled SAP.iO, an early-stage corporate venture arm that incubated 100+ startups — including Paradox — across eight global accelerators.

Krishnamurthy has also championed diversity and inclusion throughout his career, launching SAP’s “No Boundaries” initiative — a first-of-its-kind corporate venture initiative focused on accelerating and investing in minority and women-led startups. He’s a thought leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and sits on the board of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Europe Initiative.

Huggy Rao

Huggy Rao is the Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Professor Rao has published widely in the fields of management and sociology, and studies the social and cultural causes of organizational change.

His recent work investigates the role of social movements as motors of organizational change in professional and organizational fields. Professor Rao’s research has been published widely in academic journals and his 2014 book Scaling Up Excellence was named a Wall Street Journal bestseller. He holds a PhD from Case Western Reserve University and previously served on the faculty at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“The board we’ve assembled says a lot about Paradox’s philosophy on transforming the future of work,” said Gregoire. “It’s not about forcing Talent Acquisition organizations to rip and replace core systems. It’s about integrating seamlessly within the platforms they already use to make them better — whether it’s SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, ADP, Oracle, Cornerstone, ServiceNow, IBM Kenexa, Beamery, HiredScore, or others. Aaron and his team are out to create the simplest, most elegant, mobile-first hiring experiences possible. And we’re thrilled to add Diana, Deepak, and Huggy’s expertise to accelerate that mission.”

About Paradox

Launched in late 2016, Paradox was founded with the mission to be the most candidate-centric company on earth. Olivia, Paradox’s conversational AI assistant, helps recruiters and hiring teams spend more time with people by automating administrative work like screening, scheduling, and onboarding to drive efficiency that gives teams hours back in their week. Since its founding, Paradox has earned the trust of more than 200 clients globally, including some of the biggest brands in the world — CVS Health, McDonald’s, Unilever, Intel, Aramark, and many more in the Fortune 500. The company has won numerous awards, including Human Resource Executive’s Best HR Product of 2019, and was recently named one of Forbes’ Top 500 Startup Employers. To learn more, visit www.paradox.ai.