Jabu Dayton

Jabu Dayton, the founder, and CEO of the consulting firm Jabu HR, has a 25+ year career of guiding and scaling companies, with a start-up and a corporate lens. After 13 years of progressive HR leadership experience at Nordstrom Inc., Jabu moved to South Africa to launch her own company.

Upon returning to the US, in 2011 she moved into the founding HR role at Airbnb, propelling her 12-year career with tech companies in Silicon Valley and global markets. Jabu thrives in complicated spaces, she enjoys the challenges and freedoms often found in the startup markets. Driven and creative, while she builds people operations for her clients or companies, she adds immediate value by advocating for employees, coaching executives, designing strategies to mitigate risk, and helping companies articulate a compelling employer brand. She is known for building loyal relationships and positive, thriving cultures. In her years of experience, she has typically been responsible for Payroll, HRIS, Compliance, Compensation Leveling, DEI strategies while also leading international HR, compliance, hiring, immigration, recruiting, and relocation processes. She is widely known as an advocate for underrepresented communities in tech, a voice for those without power in those spaces, is relentless about leading discussions about equity wherever her work takes her, and is a mentor to many in her community.

Through her consulting firm launched in 2014, JabuHR, Jabu has worked as an interim Chief People Officer for over 24 companies to date. Consulting with notable startups spanning software technology, green energy, healthcare, consumer, eCommerce, retail, agriculture, food, and beverage industries. You can find her on Instagram @jabulile and Twitter @jabulilesaidso and she is an avid traveler, yogi and dog wrangler. Jabu is a graduate of The Evergreen State College with a dual degree in Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and African American Studies, 1993.