Karly Gelardi

Chief of Staff

Austin, Texas, United States

About

Experienced leader in people operations with an emphasis in training and development, talent acquisition, talent management, and strategic planning. Proven expertise in establishing rapport and building trust across diverse stakeholders. Possess strong skills in project and program management, written and verbal communication, and data analysis.

Experience

  • Zapier (3 yrs 11 mos)
    • Chief of Staff to the Chief People and AI Transformation Officer
      Dec 2025 - Present · 8 mos

      Develop and drive company-wide AI transformation strategy and provide flexible executive support by assuming interim leadership responsibilities and leading high-impact special initiatives.

    • Senior Talent Operations Manager
      Sep 2022 - Dec 2025 · 3 yrs 4 mos

      Led talent strategy, operational planning, and executive enablement for a 50-person People department, serving as strategic chief-of-staff to the Chief People Officer. Owned org-wide planning infrastructure, leadership operating mechanisms, and led high-impact cross-company initiatives. Served in interim leadership roles to stabilize and elevate critical functions, including Co-Head of Total Rewards and People Business Partner for the Sales organization.

  • IDEA Public Schools (7 yrs 1 mo)
    • Chief Of Staff
      Mar 2022 - Aug 2022 · 6 mos

    • National Program Director, EmpowerED Teacher Certification Program
      Jul 2020 - Mar 2022 · 1 yr 9 mos

      • Designed teacher certification program consisting of over 300 hours of skill-based training aligned to multiple states’ certification requirements to ensure the long-term scalability of the program • Managed the Florida Department of Education and Texas Education Agency education preparation program application process to completion in 2020 • Led the successful launch of IDEA’s first teacher certification program in Florida with 20% of instructional staff enrolled • Managed regional EmpowerED staff and budget to meet program success metrics in candidate retention, completion, and satisfaction

    • Director of Recruitment and Talent Pipelines
      Jul 2017 - Jun 2020 · 3 yrs

      • Executed national recruitment strategy to expand brand awareness and increase teacher applications to receive over 8,000 applications for the 19-20 school year • Managed teacher pipeline initiatives: Founding Teacher Fellowship, Relay Residency, J-1 International Teacher Program, Special Education Certification Program, IDEA Alumni Career Pathways, and IDEA Ambassador Program. • Coached and co-managed eight recruiters to fill 800 roles for the 2018-19 school year and 1,000 for the 2019-20 school year • Established and launched internal referral system and incentive strategy to yield over 2000 referrals for the 2018-19 school year • Project manager for Salesforce and Jobvite Engage implementation

  • Fellow, Emerging Human Capitol Leaders, Fall 2019 Cohort at Education Pioneers
    Oct 2019 - Jun 2020 · 9 mos

  • Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) Mentor at The Nature Conservancy
    Jun 2015 - Aug 2015 · 3 mos

    • Led over 100 culvert stream crossing surveys and participated in one dam removal • Managed and oversaw four high school interns' schedules, recreation, diets, and budget

  • 7th Grade Curriculum Lead at St. Bernard Parish Public Schools
    May 2013 - Jun 2015 · 2 yrs 2 mos

    • Crafted and calendared English Language Arts 7th grade Common Core curriculum for 350+ students • Created and oversaw the implementation of unit and biweekly assessments along with scripted novel units • Collaborated with 16 teachers to differentiate materials for different class needs • Led five district-wide and school professional development sessions