From building software to building teams, a career shaped by deliberate moves and the people who opened doors.
The foundations
A language in mathematics. A future in technology.
Arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Haiti at five, without English, Merline found a language in mathematics. A college career fair opened a path to computer science.
A career would grow from that starting point—through technology, the businesses it enables and the people doing the work.
Merline during her Intuit years. Photograph published by Career Contessa.
The operator
People as much as product.
At Pratt & Whitney, Merline built software for jet engines. At Sun Microsystems, she became a team leader and found that she loved building products with a team of people. The move from PayPal to Joyent was a bet on learning: working closer to cloud technology added a perspective she would carry into Intuit.
Her Intuit years put that perspective to work across business operations, acquisition integration and divestitures. Technical detail became part of a wider view of the enterprise.
Carnegie Mellon Software Management Diploma Ceremony, August 2018. Return on Education Award.
Learning keeps moving
Return with something to share.
Merline earned her master’s at Carnegie Mellon in 2005. In August 2018, she returned for the Software Management Diploma Ceremony and received the Return on Education Award.
The photograph marks that return and recognition, a different moment from her own graduation.
Caretha Coleman nominated Merline for board training while she was an Intuit officer. That act of sponsorship helped shape her path to public-company board service, beginning with Banner in 2017.
It also became part of how she thinks about the next person’s opportunity.
