Our leadership

Nat Friedman is CEO of GitHub, and drives the company’s vision of a global community of developers building the future together. Nat is passionate about building products that delight developers, and is a long-time leader in the open source community. He has co-founded two companies: Xamarin in 2011, where he served as CEO through acquisition by Microsoft in 2016, and Ximian in 1999. He is also co-founder of AI Grant, the GNOME Foundation, and co-founder and chairman of California YIMBY. Nat lives in San Francisco with his wife, daughter, and three dogs.

Erica is the Senior Vice President of Revenue at GitHub. Erica joined GitHub in 2013 to develop the operational foundation for scaling the Sales and Customer Success Team. Prior to GitHub, Erica spent over four years at ServiceSource International in Business Excellence and Operations, where she focused on sales strategy and operations for enterprise customers. She also worked in financial planning and analysis in the healthcare sector.

When Erica isn’t talking to companies about GitHub, she’s watching football or trying new restaurants in New York with her family.

Keith Ballinger is GitHub’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, where he leads the global engineering organization.

Keith has an extensive background in engineering and product development. Prior to joining GitHub, he held leadership positions at Microsoft and Xamarin. At Microsoft, he led the teams shipping Azure DevOps, App Center, and the internal-focused 1ES initiative, designed to improve the systems, process, and culture that power software development at Microsoft. At Xamarin, Keith was VP of Product.

Keith has also led engineering teams at a number of startups. He is passionate about building teams and shipping software.

Dawn Beatty is Chief Human Resources Officer at GitHub, where she is dedicated to fostering a culture fueled by people who are passionate about building a global community of developers and doing the best work of their lives.

Prior to joining GitHub, Dawn was with Microsoft for 15 years, where she was the General Manager of Global Talent Acquisition for sales, marketing, and stores, and also held various HR leadership roles across Microsoft’s Office Engineering Division. Dawn has also served in key HR positions at start-up and Fortune 500 companies.

Dawn is a native of Detroit, MI. Outside of work Dawn supports charities focused on the education and empowerment of minority women. She also enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and live music.

Erica Brescia is the Chief Operating Officer at GitHub, where she partners with the rest of the leadership team to build the best possible home for 50 million developers and counting. Prior to joining GitHub, she was the COO and co-founder of Bitnami (acquired by VMware), which automates the deployment of applications to the cloud. Erica serves on the board of directors of the Linux Foundation and as an operating partner at X Factor Ventures, an angel fund out of which female founders invest in the next generation of female founders pursuing billion dollar opportunities.

Thomas is Vice President, Strategic Programs at GitHub, managing key initiatives including the GitHub Archive Program, mergers and acquisitions, as well as engineering systems. Fascinated by software development since his childhood, Thomas writes small apps whenever he finds a free minute. He joined GitHub through the Microsoft acquisition, which he led through the deal phase to a successful close. He was the co-founder and CEO of HockeyApp, which Microsoft acquired in 2014. Thomas holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from University of Glasgow, UK.

Thomas lives in the Seattle area and, in his spare time, he enjoys running, snowboarding and gardening.

Mike Hanley is the Chief Security Officer at GitHub. Prior to GitHub, Mike was the Vice President of Security at Duo Security, where he built and led the security research, development, and operations functions. After Duo’s acquisition by Cisco for $2.35 billion in 2018, Mike led the transformation of Cisco’s cloud security framework and later served as CISO for the company. Mike also spent several years at CERT/CC as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff and security researcher focused on applied R&D programs for the US Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.

When he’s not talking about security at GitHub, Mike can be found enjoying Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and seven kids.

Laura Heisman is GitHub’s Vice President of Communications & Corporate Marketing, where she leads a global team that builds GitHub’s brand awareness and company storylines to showcase the platform, community, and new developer opportunities. Prior to joining GitHub in 2017, Laura spent more than a decade at Citrix as Vice President of Communications leading the worldwide communications program. Previously, Laura led corporate communications for a variety of technology startups and global companies.

Laura is passionate about the power of communications and raising awareness about how open source and GitHub are changing people’s lives and the future of software, including the impact it will have on her own children’s future.

Shelley is the Chief Legal Officer at GitHub, where she leads teams responsible for Trust and Safety, Social Impact, Developer Policy, Product & Regulatory Legal, Commercial Legal, and Legal Operations. Shelley started her career at Microsoft supporting parts of the Developer Division in 2005. Prior to joining GitHub, she was the head of Microsoft’s Technology and Corporate Responsibility organization, where she oversaw a team that drove the use of technology to benefit society through priorities such as Accessibility, Environmental Sustainability, Broadband Access, Responsible AI, and Justice Reform. She has also led legal, corporate, and external affairs teams across Europe and worked on products in Microsoft’s gaming division, including developer communities and Xbox Live. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was legal counsel at Wizards of the Coast, where she supported the “Dungeons & Dragons” and “Magic: The Gathering” brands.

Shelley is an outspoken proponent of mental health awareness and uses her voice to help address the affiliated bias and stigma, by advocating for a culture of openness and inclusion. Outside of work, you can find her enjoying outdoor concerts, tearing up the slopes on her snowboard and relaxing with her family and friends.

Shanku Niyogi is GitHub’s Senior Vice President of Product, where he leads the teams responsible for GitHub’s product roadmap, including product strategy, management, and marketing.

Shanku has had a career-long passion for building products that empower developers and software teams. Prior to joining GitHub in January 2019, Shanku led developer product teams at Google, Microsoft, and Chef and was involved in products such as Visual Studio Code, TypeScript, ASP.NET, and Google Cloud.

When he’s not building products at GitHub, Shanku enjoys travel, photography, poetry, and time with family.

Max Schoening is GitHub’s VP of Design, where he leads the design teams that shape how GitHub works, looks, and feels. He has previously built products at Google, led design teams at Heroku, and co-founded several developer tool startups.

Max lives in San Francisco with his wife and dog, is a wannabe hiker, and loves making things for people who make things. He believes computers should be designed to encourage humanity’s noblest pursuits: science, reason, art, philosophy, and memes.

Mike is GitHub’s Chief Financial Officer. He oversees our Strategic Finance, Accounting, Deal Desk, Tax and Treasury, and Business Systems Teams. Mike is passionate about growing both GitHub’s business and impact on the world.

Prior to joining GitHub in 2017, Mike spent nine years at Tesla in a number of executive roles including Vice President of Finance and Treasurer. Mike raised over $8 billion and helped expand Tesla’s operations around the world. Before Tesla, Mike served as CFO at both Tropos Networks and Benchmark Capital.

On the weekends, you can find Mike testing how many miles he can hike vertically with his wife and two sons.