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We’ve seen tremendous growth at Carrot over the last year. We tripled our team to more than 300 Carrots across the U.S. and more than doubled our customer base, now bringing fertility and family-forming benefits to over 400 employers globally. As we continue to expand our team and reach more employees, having strong leadership across the organization is more critical than ever. That’s why we’re excited to welcome Melissa Herman as our Chief Financial Officer and congratulate Leslie Neitzel on her promotion to Chief Human Resources Officer.
Leslie and Melissa bring an incredible wealth of experience in people operations and finance to Carrot as well as a passion for our mission. We talked with them both about what brought them to Carrot and what they’re most excited about in the coming year.
Melissa Herman, Chief Financial Officer
Melissa joins Carrot from Wellframe, a digital health management solutions company, where she was CFO. She played a critical role in driving significant revenue and team growth during her five years at Wellframe and led the company through multiple fundraising rounds and an acquisition. In 2020, she was honored as one of the CFO of the Year Award winners by the Boston Business Journal. Prior to Wellframe, Melissa held financial leadership roles at technology and healthcare companies including Iora Health, ObserveIT, Riverbed Technology, and Intel Corporation. She’s currently pursuing her Executive MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, with a focus on business analytics and healthcare.
Why did you join Carrot?
Carrot is growing at an incredible pace, and I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to be part of this next phase. Carrot’s mission is also one that resonates deeply with me. As I started to consider what I would want in my next adventure, I was thrilled to find all of it in Carrot. The combination of excellent product-market fit, palpable momentum, an outstanding team, and a commitment to global expansion has positioned Carrot for extraordinary growth and impact.
What inspired you to focus your career on digital health?
After a decade of working in enterprise technology, I made the transition to healthcare in 2016. Over the last few years, I have taken an interest in social determinants of health, and specifically, access to equitable care. I believe that technology unlocks new pathways for individuals and caregivers to manage their health and navigate options. When great technology is combined with expertise and a passion for transforming care delivery, amazing things can happen.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
Although I was drawn in by the inclusiveness of Carrot’s mission and the potential to impact lives and families, I am most excited about the people and the scope of the role. Carrot has a great culture and a tremendous amount of talent. I am eager to bring our finance, data, and legal teams together to enable rapid growth, deliver business insights, and support strategic risk taking.
Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time?
I like to recharge by spending time with my family and engaging in my community. My partner and I met in college, and we lived in three states before settling in Boston. We have two young kids that keep us busy with a variety of activities. I serve as a member of my town’s finance committee and volunteer with local nonprofits focused on supporting children and families. One of my proudest parenting moments so far was when my daughter was featured on the news for her role in coordinating a kids’ clothing drive during the pandemic.
Leslie Neitzel, Chief Human Resources Officer
Leslie Neitzel, Carrot’s Vice President of People, has been promoted to Chief Human Resources Officer. Under Leslie’s leadership, the Carrot team has tripled in size over the last year. In her new role, Leslie remains focused on all facets of people operations, including talent acquisition, engagement, and retention through culture, employee development, and inclusion efforts. Leslie has nearly 20 years of experience in HR, working in a variety of training, development, and leadership roles at large corporations and high-growth startups, including Bank of America, Tribune Media, SAP SuccessFactors, ServiceMax, and Pendo.
The Carrot team has grown significantly since you joined the team in 2021. What are you most looking forward to this year?
We’ve welcomed some amazing talent to our Carrot team this year and I’m looking forward to the great things we will accomplish together. As a People Team, we’ll be focusing our time on continuing to support our growth as a company and the growth of our employees as individuals through some new and exciting employee and leadership development programs and continuing to invest in the collective employee experience.
As you reflect on the culture at Carrot, what is the one thing you’re most proud of?
As you can imagine, the people. I see the passion in my interactions with the team every day. Regardless of role, experience, or department, I am humbled by the commitment each and every employee brings to our mission of enabling fertility care for all.
Do you have any advice for people who may be interested in working at Carrot?
Reach out. We are growing and while there may not be an exact position match today, we are always looking for amazing individuals to join our growing team.
Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time?
I’m fortunate to have two amazing sons and a supportive partner in my life. So it’s easy to find myself spending time with them. They keep me active, laughing, and grounded. I also am energized by the amazing HR talent out there and do my best to stay active in the HR community. There is so much that we can all learn from each other.
Carrot has recently been recognized by Built In as one of the best remote-first companies to work for and was named one of the Top Workplaces in the U.S. by Energage. To learn more about open roles at Carrot, please visit our careers page.
If you’re a company that’s interested in offering fertility benefits at your workplace, please contact us today to learn more.
