Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor

Partner

Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor is a Partner at The Caldwell Partners International, San Francisco office, the Practice Leader of the Venture Capital Practice and a member of the Technology and Telecommunications team. She focuses on executive level search for high growth technology companies with deep expertise in software as a service, internet, ecommerce, gaming and other consumer technology. Mercedes has completed over 50 CEO searches as well as other CXO level assignments for her clients.

Prior to joining Caldwell, Mercedes was a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles where she ran their Global Venture Capital Practice. She joined Heidrick through the acquisition of the premier boutique search firm, Highland Partners, where she also focused on Venture Capital backed portfolio and investment professional assignments. Prior to joining Highland Partners, Mercedes was President and Co-founder of iCOM Consultants, an emerging technologies boutique she co-founded in 1999 to address the unique hiring needs of venture backed technology companies. At iCOM, Mercedes built an elite team of talented, search consultants, leveraging technology and allowing iCOM clients to maximize their global talent acquisition.

Before founding iCOM, Mercedes was Vice President of VF&Co (a Silicon Valley based HR Consulting firm), where she established and managed their executive search practice. Preceding her involvement with VF&Co, Mercedes was VP of Marketing for XL Insurance (a global excess insurance, reinsurance and financial risk-management company, with holdings of over US$13 billion). Mercedes managed XL’s marketing efforts at their head office in Bermuda before moving to Sydney, Australia to open the company's first office in the Pacific Rim. In Sydney, she led XL's efforts to impact the difficult Asian/Pacific insurance and financial risk management industry. Mercedes international business experience includes employment and residence in Bermuda, Australia, South East Asia, New York, San Francisco and Boston.

Mercedes is a graduate of Boston University, where she received a BA in Business Communications and a BFA in Graphic Design.