Dedicated to a future where merit matters the most
Merify is a queer-founded startup focused on improving the systems for career growth. We started by addressing some of the problems we experienced or witnessed personally, and are building upon that work through key partnerships with experts across many fields.
Founding Team
Greg Gasperin
Co-Founder & CEO
Merify Profile
Shaun Thomas
Co-Founder &
Head of Brand
Greg, a software engineer, and Shaun, a marketing director, both have careers filled with well-executed projects, positive performance reviews, and great relationships with teammates. Despite this, we both suffered from imposter syndrome, struggled to showcase our already-proven talents in stressful interviews and skill tests, and found it difficult to break free from career paths based on titles, not skills. We built Merify to help those like us.
Advisory Board
George LaRocque
Founder, WorkTech
George is the Founder and Chief Analyst at WorkTech, a leading market analysis and advisory service that helps employers understand the trends that are impacting their workforce today and will impact them in the future. He is also a Founding Partner of the Impact WorkTech Accelerator and a Founding Member of the Impact WorkTech Community. George truly leads the ideation of how we can make human capital management better for everyone involved. He has a deep well of industry experience, not just as a founder, but also in c-suite roles across multiple disciplines and companies.
Tameka McNair
HR Director, Microsoft
Tameka is an HR Director and a Customer Engagement & Alumni Network Executive Sponsor at Microsoft. In addition to HR, her professional background spans a variety of industries, such as energy, retail, manufacturing, engineering, and program management. She uses her expansive knowledge and experience to inspire and mentor young people from underrepresented communities on how to pursue STEM careers. Tameka believes diversity, equity, and inclusion should permeate all aspects of work and life, and she frequently consults with companies and communities to improve their DEI efforts.
Matt Baxter
Founder, Wedge HR
Matt is the Founder and CEO of Wedge, a modern recruiting platform that simplifies the job candidate screening and interviewing processes, makes hiring more efficient and cost effective, and helps reduce bias in talent acquisition. Matt has been an entrepreneur since he opened a lawn care business at 15, and has a passion for elevating people’s stories through his business, his personal life, and his podcast, The Matt Baxter Show.
Chris Fox
CEO, Empactful Studios
Chris is the CEO of Empactful Studios, a venture studio associated with Empactful Capital, that helps companies of all sizes and stages with building, refining, launching, and scaling innovative ideas. Over his career, Chris has been a founder and c-suite leader with multiple successful exits, working with several companies and across multiple disciplines. He loves sharing all the things he has learned and unlearned in his leadership journey through advising and coaching organizations who are solving complex challenges.
Josh Akers
Founder, Akers Advisors
Josh is the Founder and Managing Director of Akers Advisors, an advisory firm dedicated to advancing the HR Tech, Employment Software, Recruitment Media, Social Impact, Employment Marketing, and public-sector Workforce market segments. He is also a Founding Member of the Impact WorkTech Community. Josh helps build teams, build partnerships, hone offerings, ensure market readiness, shape storytelling, and execute growth. He brings a wealth of experience as a founder with successful exits, and as a c-suite leader across many disciplines.
Contract Team
Kiyota Sage & Chen Pollina,
Ecliptic Software
Located in the Pacific Northwest, Ecliptic Software specializes in organic, farm-to-cloud, proprietary and custom web-based application development. Kiyota and Chen have worked closely with Greg and Mike to build the front end of our candidate app. Please visit Ecliptic’s website to learn more about their services and to contact them.
Daphne Charles & Tremaine Smith, DEI Consulting
Smith & Charles is a black and queer owned diversity, equity, and inclusion firm. Daphne and Tremaine have worked closely with the team to build Merify and its products with DEI principles and practices at the foundation. Please visit their site to learn more about their services and to contact them.
Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion at Merify
We know that teams comprised of individuals from varying backgrounds — whether that be race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexual identity, age, or ability — have proven to be the most productive and innovative. As we build our company, we will use the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as our cornerstones. We have been working with a focus on identifying any blind spots we might have as we build our platform, so we don’t unintentionally create yet another roadblock that people have to work around. As we grow our team, we will ensure it reflects the workforce as a whole, and not just certain schools, companies, or backgrounds. And we will always design products that serve the majority of the workforce, not just the fortunate few.
Our Values
Be Yourself
We believe people do their best work when they are empowered to show up just as
they are
Change the Game
We seek to enable equitable advancement for people who have earned it and opportunity for those who need it
Clarity is Queen
We elevate transparency for courageous people and organizations that want to grow and thrive
Work in Progress
We advance technologies that amplify good people doing great work