Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor is managing partner of Caldwell’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Practice and a member of the technology, consumer digital and media teams. She focuses on investor and executive level search for their portfolio companies. She has deep expertise in SaaS, payments, ecommerce, security, and other transformative technologies. Mercedes has completed over 75 CEO searches as well as partner, principal, and other CXO level assignments for her clients. Experience Prior to joining Caldwell, Mercedes held leadership positions at executive search firms including Heidrick & Struggles, where she helped re-establish and run their global Venture Capital Practice; Highland Partners; and iCOM Consultants, an emerging technologies boutique she co-founded in 1999 to address the unique hiring needs of venture-backed technology companies. 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. Prior to that, she was vice president 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 and lead the firm’s efforts to impact the difficult Asian/Pacific insurance and financial risk management industry. Education Mercedes is a graduate of Boston University, where she received a BA in business communications and a BFA in graphic design.