Catherine NolascoSHRM-CP | San Francisco Bay Area, CA
people ops. powered by AI.
Senior People Operations leader with 13+ years of experience. I am a hands-on player-coach who owns the work from signed offer through offboarding, and keeps improving the system while still doing the work.
13+years in People Operations, from coordinator to Head of People Operations
467employees on one Rippling source of truth at Prezent AI
6consecutive clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits supported at Ridecell
$30Ksaved a year on a benefits renewal, with no coverage disruption
Summary
Who I am, in five lines
Senior People Operations leader (13+ years, SHRM-CP) applying as People Operations Lead at Valon: a hands-on player-coach who owns the employee lifecycle from signed offer through offboarding and keeps improving the system while doing the work.
Rippling: led the Rippling implementation at Prezent AI, consolidating Justworks and ADP Workforce Now into one source of truth for 467 employees, and managed Rippling as Employer of Record (EOR) for UK and Dubai employees.
Automation and AI: built Claude-powered Employee Action Forms and Notion onboarding and offboarding workflows (100% adoption, preboarding within 24 hours of offer acceptance), plus Zapier and n8n integrations across HRIS, ATS, Slack, and email.
Scaling operations: built People Operations from the ground up for a 250-300 person global workforce, with a documented SOP library that supported 6 consecutive clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits.
Immigration, benefits, and compliance: coordinated work authorization cases with outside counsel, led benefits renewals and open enrollment with brokers, and developed teammates through 4 promotions of one direct report.
Role fit
What you will own, and what I have done
Each area of the role description, matched to real work from my resume.
Employee lifecycle
From signed offer to offboarding
A Notion New Hire form that triggers preboarding within 24 hours of offer acceptance, and an Offboarding form that routes approvals through Payroll, IT, People, and the manager.
Contractor and contingent worker processes: contract lengths and end dates tracked, system access monitored, onboarding done correctly, and contractors shown how to submit invoices.
Onboarding, offboarding, promotions, immigration cases, and parental leave handled personally for every employee at Ridecell.
HRIS and people systems
Rippling as the source of truth
Led the Rippling implementation at Prezent AI: India moved off Justworks, the US off ADP Workforce Now, 467 employees in one place.
At Ridecell, chose Sapling as the HR single source of truth and integrated it with ADP, cutting approval cycles from 1-2 days to 2-3 hours.
HRIS data governance, permissions, documentation, and quarterly board-level headcount and compliance reporting.
Benefits and leave
Renewals, enrollment, and leave guidance
Led annual open enrollment and renewals with broker WTW. A re-rating from large group to small group, one month before renewal, became a carrier switch to Cigna and $30K a year in savings.
Managed ACA 1095-C, Form 5500, and COBRA notices, and oversaw workers' compensation as a People Operations center of excellence.
Immigration
Organized, timely, confidential
Led the Immigration and Mobility program with outside counsel at Ridecell and implemented Envoy Global to replace a manual, platform-less case process.
Served as the liaison between immigration counsel and employees for H-1B, STEM OPT, green card, and dependent filings at Prezent AI. Legal questions go to counsel.
Team leadership
Coaching, playbooks, and roadmap
Advanced one direct report from intern to Senior People Ops Generalist through 4 promotions, and cross-trained recruiters into People Ops specialties.
Designed a 40+ procedure SOP library with named owners, backup coverage, and annual reviews. Managed an 8-person India-based team through an acquisition and restructuring.
Carried 20 active People programs through a leadership handoff as a consulting Director.
Automation and AI
Redesign the work, then automate it
Built a Claude-powered Employee Action Form that requires documentation and approval before any HRIS change: 100% adoption and the first complete audit trail.
Built Zapier integrations across Sapling, Greenhouse, Slack, and Gmail, and launched ASKPeople, a Jira and Confluence ticketing system with tiered SLAs.
Built automations with no-code and low-code tools (Zapier, Make, n8n) and AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini).
Results
Numbers from my own work
467
employees in one source of truth
Rippling implementation at Prezent AI after an acquisition, with India and the US consolidated.
100%
adoption of the Employee Action Form
A Claude-powered form that requires documentation and approval before any HRIS change.
2-3 hrs
approval cycles, down from 1-2 days
Sapling integrated with ADP at Ridecell to remove double entry.
6
clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits in a row
Supported by a documented 40+ procedure SOP library at Ridecell.
$30K
saved each year on benefits
Carrier switch to Cigna after a re-rating, with no coverage disruption.
$150K
in savings and cost avoidance
Vendor and tech stack review at Prezent AI covering the ATS, the India health plan, and new-hire swag.
Case studies
Five projects, in detail
Ridecell first, then Prezent AI. Each one includes what I would change.
People Operations built from zero
Ridecell | Dec 2018 - Jan 2026
Challenge
There was no documentation beyond outdated files, headcount lived in spreadsheets, and employees had no tracked channel for questions.
What I did
Built a 40+ procedure SOP library with named owners and backups, launched ASKPeople on Jira and Confluence with tiered SLAs, and made Sapling the HR single source of truth, integrated with ADP and connected through Zapier.
Result
Growth from 3 countries to 5, 6 consecutive clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits, approval cycles cut from 1-2 days to 2-3 hours, and 5-10 tickets a day resolved in 24-48 hours.
What I would do differently
I'd have started the SOP library and ticketing system in the first months. Documenting as I went would have been easier than catching up later.
Sapling
ADP Workforce Now
Jira
Confluence
Zapier
SOC 2
A benefits renewal with one month to spare
Ridecell | Dec 2018 - Jan 2026
Challenge
The company was re-rated from large group to small group with one month left before renewal.
What I did
Analyzed plans with the broker (WTW), compared carriers, and switched to Cigna on a compressed open enrollment timeline.
Result
$30K a year in savings, with no coverage disruption.
What I would do differently
I'd have checked the company's group-size status with the broker well before renewal, so the re-rating wouldn't have been a surprise.
WTW
Cigna
Open enrollment
ACA 1095-C
COBRA
One approval path for every HRIS change
Prezent AI | Feb 2026 - Apr 2026
Challenge
HRIS changes ran through an undocumented, unapproved process, which created audit risk. Early on, some people felt a form would be too process-heavy.
What I did
Built a Claude-powered Employee Action Form that requires documentation and approval before any HRIS change, plus Notion New Hire and Offboarding workflows.
Result
100% adoption within one to two months, an audit trail that had not existed before, and preboarding within 24 hours of offer acceptance.
What I would do differently
I'd have piloted the form with one team first. Some people said it was too process-heavy, and early proof from a small group might have won them over faster.
Claude
Notion
Rippling
Employee Action Form
A reorganization with cost visibility
Prezent AI | Feb 2026 - Apr 2026
Challenge
A reorganization affected 18 employees across the US and India, and leaders had no way to see the cost of each scenario.
What I did
Built AI-enabled severance and cost modeling with Claude and Gemini that calculated severance, COBRA cost, and COBRA months owed and drafted the agreements, tracked on a shared spreadsheet for Payroll and IT.
Result
First-time cost visibility for a reorganization, and agreement prep cut from 20 minutes per employee to about 3 hours total.
What I would do differently
I'd have built the cost model before the reorganization was decided. Leaders could then have compared scenarios rather than just seeing the cost of the chosen one.
Claude
Gemini
COBRA
Severance modeling
A C-suite search, filled in three weeks
Prezent AI | Feb 2026 - Apr 2026
Challenge
A Chief Growth Officer search had 6 to 8 candidates in play at once and a three-week window.
What I did
Managed candidate travel, background checks, references and backdoor references, drafted the offer letter, and set up the new hire's onboarding experience, using Claude to automate candidate communications, interview scheduling, reference checks, and finalist travel.
Result
The role was filled in three weeks, and the executive thanked me for a smooth onboarding.
What I would do differently
I'd lean more into AI and use it for the repetitive tasks. There was a lot to juggle across 6 to 8 candidates.
Claude
Executive search
References
Offer letter
Onboarding
Values
How Valon's values show up in my work
Each of the five values, paired with something I actually did.
Highest-Order Bit
Determine what matters most, and get that right.
What I didAt Prezent AI, a 60-day People Operations audit surfaced the HRIS data, payroll accuracy, and policy gaps that mattered most, and became a target operating model.
Max-Effort Thinking
Do the thinking before you ask others to react to the output.
What I didWith one month before a benefits renewal, I came to the broker with the plan analysis done and a carrier switch ready, saving $30K a year.
Seek Truth and Speak Literally
Say what is true, and hear what is said.
What I didAt Munchery, a proactive audit uncovered 30+ fraudulent Social Security cards. At Prezent AI, I-9 governance reached 100% reverification.
Own the End Outcome
Own execution to the end result, across teams, departments, and clients.
What I didThe Offboarding form I built routes approvals through Payroll, IT, People, and the manager, so nothing is left between teams.
Play the Long Game
Think on the order of years. Do things that compound.
What I didSeven years at Ridecell: an SOP library, 6 clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits, and one teammate taken from intern to Senior Generalist through 4 promotions.
Tools and systems
The systems I know
Grouped by what they do.
10 tools
HRIS, Payroll and PEO
Rippling
Kallidus Sapling
ADP Workforce Now
Justworks
Workday
SAP SuccessFactors
UKG
FinancialForce HCM
PeopleSoft
Employer of Record (EOR) for Canada, UK and Dubai
3 tools
Recruiting (ATS)
Greenhouse
Workable
Taleo
2 tools
Performance and Engagement
Lattice
15Five
4 tools
Compliance and Mobility
Envoy Global
E-Verify
LawLogix
Checkr
7 tools
AI and Automation
Claude
ChatGPT
Gemini
Zapier
Make
n8n
Hermes
6 tools
Reporting and Collaboration
Slack
Notion
Jira
Confluence
Excel and Google Sheets
DocuSign
23 areas
Core competencies
Employee Lifecycle Operations
Onboarding and Offboarding
Contingent Worker and Contractor Processes
Leaves of Absence
Benefits Administration
Open Enrollment and Renewals
Vendor Management
Immigration and Work Authorization
HRIS Data Integrity
Audit-Ready Documentation
Workers' Compensation Oversight
Multi-State Compliance
Employer of Record (EOR)
Process Automation
AI Workflow Design
Playbooks and Operating Standards
Roadmap and Program Management
Team Coaching and Development
Cross-Functional Partnership
Confidentiality and Discretion
Performance-Cycle Operations
Job Classification (FLSA)
Employee Self-Service
Card illustrations are simplified examples with sample shapes, not screenshots of real systems or data.
Experience
Where I have worked
Director of People Operations
Dec 2018 - Jan 2026
Ridecell Inc. | Remote, San Francisco, CA | Fleet intelligence platform, 300+ employees in US, Canada, Germany, India, and Japan
Built People Operations from the ground up for a 250-300 person workforce across 3 entities, replacing outdated files and manual processes with centralized, documented lifecycle operations; the infrastructure scaled as the company grew from 3 countries to 5, adding Canada and Japan.
Served as the go-to point of contact for employee support, personally handling onboarding, offboarding, promotions, immigration cases, and parental leave for every employee, in close partnership with IT, Finance, and outside counsel.
Managed contractor and contingent worker processes end to end: tracked contract lengths and end dates, monitored system access, ensured correct onboarding, and trained contractors on how to submit invoices.
Owned the decision to move from ADP Workforce Now to Sapling as the HR single source of truth, then integrated Sapling with ADP to eliminate double entry and cut approval cycles from 1-2 days to 2-3 hours; maintained HRIS data governance and quarterly board-level headcount and compliance reporting.
Built Zapier integrations connecting Sapling, Greenhouse, Slack, and Gmail to automate the offer-to-hire handoff, and launched ASKPeople, a Jira and Confluence ticketing system with tiered SLAs that resolved 5-10 tickets a day within 24-48 hours.
Designed a 40+ procedure SOP library with named owners, backup coverage, and annual reviews, supporting 6 consecutive clean SOC 2 Type 2 audits; ran FLSA exemption reviews, job classification audits, wage and hour audits, and multi-state policy reviews.
Led annual open enrollment and renewals with broker WTW; after a re-rating from large group to small group with one month to renewal, negotiated a carrier switch to Cigna for $30K in annual savings with no coverage disruption. Managed ACA 1095-C, Form 5500, and COBRA notices, and oversaw workers' compensation as a People Operations center of excellence.
Led the Immigration and Mobility program with outside counsel and implemented Envoy Global to replace a manual, platform-less case process; set up Canadian payroll through an Employer of Record instead of a new entity, and partnered with Payroll on time and attendance.
Developed teammates over 7 years, advancing one direct report from intern to Senior People Ops Generalist through 4 promotions and cross-training recruiters into People Ops specialties; built a manager training toolkit and ran performance review cycles and calibration (Lattice, 15Five).
People Operations Consultant (Director)
Jan 2026 - Jun 2026
Ridecell Inc. | Remote, San Francisco, CA
Served as a consulting Director after the 7-year full-time tenure, supporting knowledge transfer and operational continuity across 20 active People programs for the incoming Senior Director, with hands-on work across HRIS, compliance, and immigration.
Head of People Operations
Feb 2026 - Apr 2026
Prezent AI | Remote | $70M+ VC-funded AI SaaS, 500+ employees in US and India, reporting to the CEO
Led the Rippling implementation after the Prezent Services acquisition: moved the India team off Justworks and the US off ADP Workforce Now, unified People Ops for 467 employees, and created a source of truth for Finance and executive reporting; managed Rippling as EOR for UK and Dubai employees.
Built a Claude-powered Employee Action Form requiring documentation and approval before any HRIS change (100% adoption, first complete audit trail), a Notion New Hire form triggering preboarding within 24 hours of offer acceptance, and an Offboarding form routing approvals through Payroll, IT, People, and the manager.
Ran a 60-day People Operations compliance audit that surfaced HRIS data, payroll accuracy, and policy gaps, then designed a target operating model; ran I-9 governance to 100% reverification and an annual compliance calendar with 100% signature completion.
Led a reorganization affecting 18 employees across the US and India, using Claude and Gemini to model severance and COBRA costs and draft agreements; cut prep from 20-30 minutes each to about 3 hours total.
Served as liaison between immigration counsel and employees for H-1B, STEM OPT, green card, and dependent filings, and ran a vendor and tech stack review that identified $150K in savings and cost avoidance (ATS, India health plan, new-hire swag).
Managed an 8-person India-based team through acquisition and restructuring, reorganizing the remaining 6 into specialized functions and retaining all of them.
Manager, People Operations
Oct 2017 - Dec 2018
Munchery | San Francisco, CA | Meal delivery, 700+ employees across NY, SF, Seattle, and LA
Managed People Operations for 700+ employees across onboarding, benefits, payroll, compliance, and HRIS, with I-9 audits and FLSA, COBRA, ACA, and multi-state requirements; a proactive audit uncovered 30+ fraudulent Social Security cards.
Scaled HR infrastructure for multi-city growth: cut the onboarding cycle 30%, redesigned New Hire Orientation for a 75% efficiency gain, and digitized workflows to reduce paper usage 80%.
Managed a WARN Act-compliant closure of the LA kitchen affecting close to 100 employees, including help with CA EDD unemployment claims.
Earlier experience
HR Generalist (Contract), Off the Grid | San Francisco, CA | Jul 2017 - Oct 2017
Employee Success Generalist (Contract), FinancialForce (Certinia) | San Francisco Bay Area | Feb 2017 - Jul 2017
HR Operations Analyst, Dolby Laboratories | San Francisco, CA | Sep 2016 - Feb 2017
HR Specialist, VF Corporation (The North Face / lucy) | Alameda, CA | Feb 2015 - Sep 2016
HRIS Coordinator, Pacific Dental Services | Irvine, CA | Apr 2014 - Feb 2015
HR Coordinator, Quiksilver / Roxy / DC Inc. | Huntington Beach, CA | Jan 2013 - Apr 2014
Career arc
Thirteen years, drawn to scale
Bar length shows real start and end dates. The two 2026 roles overlapped.
Six messages and four LinkedIn recommendations, shared as written.
Really good work on how we have managed costs for our team the past few months. Very grateful to you for being proactive about this and being on top of it. It'll help.
SamyakExecutive, Ridecell | Slack, Jan 2023
Special thanks for helping me out regarding California paid family leave and immigration things. Appreciate your proactiveness for being a helping hand 🙂
BhargavColleague, Ridecell | Slack, Oct 2021
You both did a fantastic job today with the All Hands! Thank you for all the hustle and the quality work. It really shows in the production and results of a smooth and great All Hands. You are a HUGE part of the behind the scenes and often front-of-the-line magic ✨🙏
JacqueSenior Leader, Ridecell | Slack, Oct 2022
Thank you for making my onboarding so smooth and a lovely experience. Wishing you all the best.
Francine CarrickPresident, Prezent Vivo | LinkedIn, May 2026
Photos are AMAZING!!!! OMG. You have a great talent. Thank you for rallying the crowd last week at CONVERGE! Love the energy and sense of fun you brought to the event. Great work!
Mark ThomasRidecell | Email, Mar 2022
Cat? You are fan-tastic! Just saw the photos you shared, so much gold. You bring the best out in people by being you. Even better, you can capture it.
JeremyColleague, Ridecell | Slack, Mar 2022
LinkedIn recommendations
Richie Gharapetian
Helping people build careers they love and lives that matter | September 28, 2026 | Worked with Cat on the same team
I had the pleasure of working with Cat Nolasco and was consistently impressed by her ability to combine strong People Operations judgment with systems thinking and practical execution. Cat is a true builder who creates scalable processes, controls, and operating rhythms rather than allowing organizations to depend on manual work or individual heroics.
She brings deep experience across HRIS, payroll governance, employee lifecycle operations, compliance, benefits, global workforce support, and cross-functional partnership with Finance, IT, Legal, and leadership teams. She is especially skilled at identifying process gaps, clarifying ownership, improving data integrity, and designing workflows that strengthen both accuracy and the employee experience.
Cat also has a forward-thinking approach to AI and automation. She understands that the goal is not simply to automate an existing process, but to redesign the work first, preserve human judgment where risk requires it, and create more efficient, auditable, and user-friendly systems.
Cat is thoughtful, highly capable, collaborative, and calm under pressure. I would gladly recommend her to any organization looking for a strategic People Operations, People Systems, HR transformation, or AI-enabled operations leader.
Kouros Vala, MBA, PMP
IT Manager at Ridecell | September 23, 2026 | Worked with Cat on different teams
I had the absolute pleasure of working with Cat at Ridecell. She is an incredibly organized, capable, and trusted People Ops leader who brings a high level of accountability to everything she does.
We partnered closely on several key initiatives, including the rollout of Sapling HRIS, streamlining onboarding, and supporting global headcount growth across the US, Canada, EMEA, Japan, and India. Cat didn't just adopt new systems, she owned them: she kept our People data clean and reliable even as we scaled across five regions. Cat was a true extension of the IT team throughout these efforts and consistently demonstrated her ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives at a global scale.
She is a trusted partner to executive and C-suite leaders and a strong team leader. You can always count on Cat to get things done. She made a lasting impact at Ridecell, and I'd gladly work with her again.
Carthey Van Dyke
Compassionate human first leader / Customer Success Executive / Culture Enthusiast | September 3, 2026 | Senior to Cat, did not manage her directly
I had the distinct pleasure to work with Cat and see the amount of structure she was able to implement while injecting an overwhelming amount of caring for the people. She was always thinking about how to balance the well being of the company with the well being of the people, advocating for each. What stood out most to me was how personally invested she was in my own growth. I went through some difficult personnel situations during our time working together, and Cat took the time to coach me through them directly, helping me think clearly, stay grounded, and come out the other side more confident in how I handled it. She didn't just manage from a distance. She checked in, asked the right questions, and made sure I felt supported, not just evaluated. That kind of guidance made a real difference in my satisfaction and confidence in my role. Cat has a rare ability to hold high standards for the business while never losing sight of the person in front of her.
John Nguyen
Member of IT Staff at OpenAI | March 31, 2021 | Worked with Cat on different teams
It's rare that you come across standout talent like Cat. I had the pleasure of working closely with her during my time at Ridecell on IT/HR projects. We were working on refining the onboarding/offboarding process and she always came to the table with new ideas for improvement ready to share. I quickly learned that she is a results driven leader that always keeps culture on top of her mind. I was also particularly impressed by Cat's ability to build trusting relationships with not only her teammates, but everyone at the company in a matter of minutes! That skill often takes years to develop among leaders, but it seemed to come perfectly natural to her. Any company would be lucky to have Cat on their team. My highest recommendations goes out to her.
