Kathleen Chalmers DeShields

Kathleen Chalmers DeShields General Information

Biography

Ms. Kathleen DeShields served as Vice President & Chief People Officer at SmartBear Software. She leads SmartBear's global strategic people initiatives. She is responsible for the entire employee lifecycle and fostering a company culture that emulates SmartBear's values. Kathleen's diverse and impressive professional credentials span more than 25 years in the high tech industry. She has built and led numerous human resources teams for both start-up and major corporations. Prior to joining SmartBear, she held various key leadership roles in Human Resources both in the corporate, government and non-profit community. Kathleen was also the principal of an independent consulting firm, SK Consulting focused on the creation of innovative people strategies for start-ups, primarily in the high tech industry. She spent 15 years at Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) initiating her career there in an operational role as a Materials Manager in Logistics/Supply Chain Management, US Field Service and Manufacturing. As an HR leader, she played a key role in facilitating and leading through change management one of the largest restructuring initiatives in the history of the company. Kathleen's diverse background has enabled her to build strong partnerships with a true understanding of "what it takes" in leading as a key business partner to senior leaders. Kathleen has a bachelor's degree, in Education and Psychology from the University of Western Connecticut.