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Isaac Oates is the Founder and Executive Chair of Justworks, an HR technology company he led as CEO from 2012 to 2022. Under his leadership, Justworks grew from a startup to profitability with more than 1,000 employees, helping small businesses access corporate-level benefits, seamless payroll, and compliance support.
Isaac is currently pursuing graduate studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, focusing on urban public policy. He is committed to applying his entrepreneurial leadership experience to public service in New York City.
Previously, Isaac was Vice President of Special Projects at Etsy, where he led the development of Direct Checkout, following Etsy’s acquisition of his startup, Adtuitive. He began his career as a software engineer at Amazon, Yahoo!, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
A former military intelligence captain, Isaac served for 12 years in the Army National Guard, receiving the Army Commendation Medal. He serves as an independent director at Fohr and was named EY’s 2018 SaaS Entrepreneur of the Year. Isaac holds an MBA from Cornell and a computer science degree from the University of Illinois. He is a 2022 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
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