Rich Ha
Sequoia Capital
“I fell into recruiting not exactly knowing what it was.”
Rich Ha has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing up to 100 leaders in each category of talent acquisition. Honorees are nominated by peers or found by committees that look for excellent work wherever it happens, then chosen for the depth of their craft and their impact on hiring. This is Rich's story.
Rich Ha, Head of Talent at Sequoia Capital, discovered recruiting through the very phone calls that would define his career: mysterious out-of-state numbers pitching entry-level sales jobs that weren't even for the companies calling him.
Fresh out of college and hunting for work, he kept fielding calls from different parts of the country, all of them about roles at other companies entirely. Somewhere in that steady stream of unfamiliar area codes, it clicked: there was an entire industry built around connecting people to opportunities, and nobody had ever told him about it. He researched the field, moved, and landed his first job at a recruiting agency.
"I fell into recruiting not exactly knowing what it was," he says. He has been in love with it ever since.
The Product Mindset Shift
The AI wave sweeping through business has not left recruiting untouched. Every company seems to be building something AI-related, with new tools launching every twenty-four hours. For Rich, though, the most consequential shift is not the technology itself.
It is that AI has forced recruiting and talent professionals to think like product people. The old recruiting workflows were sales-funnel oriented, built around moving candidates through stages. The discipline now demands a different kind of strategic thinking entirely.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Rich. We are honored to welcome Rich Ha to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Rich. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
