Team

Hillary built Flatiron Health from 30 to 1000 employees in five years, working directly with the founders, leading all executive searches herself and building all hiring processes and operations along the way. She’s also spent time at top hedge funds, including Bridgewater and most recently Citadel, as MD, Global Head of Technical Recruiting. Search has and always will be where her heart is and she started this company because she wanted a search firm to exist that would serve the needs that were most pressing for her as an in-house recruiter.

Before joining Sterling Strand, Emily led Creative & Product recruiting at Squarespace, post series B to IPO, scaling those teams from ~20 to 200 in 3 years as the company grew from 650 – 1,350 FTEs. Earlier in her career, Emily led talent acquisition at rag & bone and joined as recruiter #1 where she scaled their HQ teams from ~100 to ~350 FTEs. Emily began her career in executive search placing VP through C-level leaders in global retail, luxury, and fashion businesses.

Chris has spent the last 10 years of her career hiring engineering talent in the San Francisco Bay Area. She started her career at Aerotek where she placed Software and System Engineers building communication systems for the DoD. She later went on to work for Tesla hiring a variety of hardware and software engineers building everything from the coolant systems in the battery back to the firmware in the door handles. Most recently she spent seven years at Netflix leading Engineering hiring, overseeing hiring for virtually every engineering organization at the company including Security, Platform, Content, Product, Data Science, CDN  and UI Engineering.

Chrissy began her career on the client side, working in the fashion, retail and lifestyle industries. She transitioned into executive search where she has nearly a decade of experience across full-cycle recruitment, research and agency operations. Prior to joining Sterling Strand Chrissy contributed to the growth of several boutique executive search firms where she was responsible for internal administration including hiring, training, workflow, research and strategy and planning initiatives.

Before joining Sterling Strand, Sarah was an Engagement Manager at Heidrick & Struggles where she worked with private equity firms to recruit senior investment professionals. Prior to executive search, Sarah spent 8 years in the finance industry, starting in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and then in private equity as an investor relations/fundraising product specialist at KKR & Co. and Apollo Global Management. Sarah earned her BA from Brown University with a double concentration in Economics and Political Science.

Before joining Sterling Strand, Matt was the lead account manager for the Flagship Clients at Arcesium, a global FinTech organization. The role required senior relationship management for a unique set of clients + investors, including but not limited to D. E. Shaw, Blackstone Asset Management and J.P. Morgan. Matt held oversight across Technology, Product, Engineering and Financial Operations to solve complex Client bespoke needs while maintaining the company’s longer term vision. Prior to his 8+ years at Arcesium, Matt worked across a trio of asset management organizations spawning just under a decade, accumulating vast industry knowledge and the hands on experience allowing him to transition across the industry with a unique perspective and offering.

Before joining Sterling Strand as an Executive Recruiter, Zane served as an Associate at True Search, where he successfully placed executives in VP and C-level roles across diverse set of industries (SaaS, AI, FinTech, Consumer, Hardtech, Energy, Defense, etc.)  He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human & Organizational Development and Political Science from Vanderbilt University.

Before joining Sterling Strand, Jane worked as an AE at Yelp, working with SMB clients to help grow their business through Yelp’s suite of services. She always knew her passion was people and quickly grew an eagerness to move into the recruitment side of things during her time there. Prior to this, Jane has worked in customer facing retail sales and was a top earner for her store. Through this, she became a number two to her manager, extensively training and onboarding new sales employees while keeping day to day operations afloat. Jane has also spent some time freelancing in casting recruitment for commercial and “real people” talent. With Jane’s array of experience, drive and passion for people, Sterling Strand was the perfect opportunity to finally make her leap into the world of recruiting!

Before joining Sterling Strand, Julie Rathert was a Principal Talent Partner at Alloy Partners, where she partnered with founders and venture studio leadership teams to recruit executive and foundational talent for early-stage software companies. Her work focused on building leadership teams across product, go-to-market, operations, and technical functions, while advising companies on hiring strategy, organizational structure, and talent market positioning during critical growth stages.

Prior to Alloy Partners, Julie was Head of People & Talent at Mechanism Ventures and held recruiting and talent roles at AWS, InVision, and Varsity Tutors. Across her career, Julie has spent more than a decade partnering with high-growth and venture-backed companies to help scale teams and attract leadership talent in fast-moving and evolving environments

Stephen specializes in engineering and product executive search with placements into early-to-growth stage startups backed by firms like Sequoia, a16z, Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, Craft Ventures, Lightspeed, and Accel. Prior to Sterling Strand, Stephen hired Product leaders in-house at Google before joining a boutique search firm called Build Talent, which was later acquired by Riviera Partners. He started his career as a social worker helping refugees land their first jobs on the path to the American Dream.

Before joining Sterling Strand as an Executive Recruiter, Julia was a Senior Consultant at Daversa Partners, a boutique executive search firm, where she placed executives across VP and C-level functions for a variety of industries (SaaS, Consumer, InsurTech, FinTech, Robotics, Frontier Technology, Defense Technology, etc.) She previously attained her Master’s Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Sacred Heart University.

Lindsee began her career as an executive assistant in the government sector, where she supported officials through fast-paced, detail-driven work. She later launched her own virtual assistant business, partnering with small business owners and high-level executives to provide reliable, high-touch support. With a focus on building trust and easing the day-to-day demands of leadership, she specializes in managing complex schedules and serving as a seamless point of contact with both clients and candidates.

Before joining Sterling Strand, Alicia spent over 6 years providing executive support and managing virtual assistant operations for multiple organizations. She specialized in becoming the trusted right-hand for overwhelmed executives, expertly managing complex calendars, confidential communications, and operational workflows that allowed leadership to focus on strategic initiatives. Her extensive experience includes partnering with C-suite executives and high-level entrepreneurs to streamline their operations and enhance productivity.

Kica has experience in sourcing for technical and non-technical roles. He started his sourcing & recruiting career more than five years ago, and has worked successfully with numerous companies in the EU and US.

Vasilika began her career as a Tax Consultant at PwC, before transitioning into executive search as a researcher in an agency environment. She later moved in-house to Slice, supporting hiring across the US and European markets. Prior to joining Sterling Strand, Vasilika has been working as an independent research and recruitment consultant, supporting global tech companies with talent mapping, sourcing strategy, and leadership hiring projects. Vasilika holds an LL.M. in Finance & Financial Law, as well as an MSc in Energy.

Maya is a seasoned search consultant with over a decade of experience in technical and executive recruitment. She specializes in sourcing top-tier talent across tech, product, sales, etc, supporting clients ranging from early-stage startups to enterprise companies across Europe and the US.

Caryl was a former full-stack software engineer who turned into talent researcher after discovering she had a keen interest in the field of recruitment and startups. She now has over four years of experience in identifying top engineering talent for reputable startups in the Bay Area and across US.

Anjolee has spent nearly a decade specializing in talent sourcing and recruitment across agency, in-house, and consulting roles. She partners with organizations—from seed-stage startups to global enterprises—in SaaS, fintech, healthtech, consumer, and AI, sourcing tech and non-tech talent—engineering, data & AI, product & creative, sales & GTM, and executive leadership—through every phase of the product lifecycle. Anjolee holds an MBA plus PMI and SHRM certifications.