Shelie Gustafson

Shelie Gustafson is an Operating Partner, Talent for AEA Investors’ Middle Market Private Equity team. In this role, she partners with portfolio company leadership teams to accelerate value creation through talent, organizational effectiveness, and operating performance, while driving cross-portfolio best practice development. She leads AEA’s Best Practice Council for portfolio CHROs.

Shelie currently serves on the AEA board of SCIO Automation GmbH and is a board member of HRCI (HR Certification Institute), where she contributes to advancing the HR profession. She brings prior advisory and board experience across nonprofit organizations and higher education.

Previously, as Chief People Officer at Jacobs Solutions, Shelie helped lead the multi-year transformation of a $16B global enterprise with 60,000 employees, supporting a shift toward higher-growth, higher-margin markets. She also played a key leadership role at CH2M in enterprise restructuring ahead of its $3.3B acquisition by Jacobs. Her experience spans public and private companies, including startup, ESOP, and Fortune 500 environments across industries such as technology, financial services, and energy, providing a broad perspective on governance, risk, culture, and enterprise performance.

Shelie holds a master’s degree in organizational communication and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She is NACD Board Director Certified and holds SPHR and GPHR certifications.