Hesham Hanafi

Hesham Hanafi is the Head of Talent at Roadrunner Venture Studios. In this role, he leads all people-related functions for both the studio and its portfolio companies. Most recently, Shem served as the Director of Recruiting at Schmidt Futures and Hillspire, where he spearheaded talent acquisition for startup ventures and programs in science and technology. Before that, he was the Director of Recruiting and Executive Search at Audible, an Amazon company. There, he collaborated with executive leadership to establish new functions and launched Audible’s first Hollywood studio. Prior to his tenure at Audible, Shem led non-technical and sales recruiting for Yodle, reporting directly to the founder. He successfully guided teams through a significant hiring surge, which culminated in Yodle’s acquisition by Web.com. Shem's recruiting career began at the global search firm Michael Page before he joined UBS, where he played a key role in expanding their wealth management business following a major leadership change after the financial crisis. Shem holds a B.S. from New York University, where he studied organizational development and political science.