Executive Spotlight: Lexi Reese, Co-Founder and CEO of Lanai
Lexi Reese is the co-founder and CEO of Lanai, an enterprise AI company that helps large employers see and measure how AI is used across their workforce. Lanai announced general availability of its AI @ Work Operating System on April 16, 2026.
Before Lanai, which was founded in 2024, she was Chief Operating Officer of Gusto and a global vice president of programmatic advertising at Google. The University of Virginia School of Data Science lists her as a board member, and several profiles note she is a former candidate for the U.S. Senate in California.
This page uses public professional information only.
Current role and company
Lanai's own announcement lists Reese as co-founder and CEO. Sources describe the company in slightly different words: an enterprise AI observability platform (Techstrong.ai) and an enterprise AI governance company (CIO.com), so we use the plain description above. UVA's School of Data Science says she co-founded it with former VMware CTO Steve Herrod.
- TitleCo-founder and CEO, Lanai.
- CompanyLanai, founded in 2024, based in San Francisco; product is the AI @ Work Operating System.
- Leadership teamRajesh Raman is CTO and Mohit Mehta is CPO, per Lanai's announcement.
- Investors namedLux Capital, Juxtapose, BAG Ventures, f7ventures and BenchStrength.
Career path
The sources give few dates, so we list roles in the order the bios present them and add years only where a source states them.
- Early career. Avila VC says she started in film and public policy, including nonprofit work advocating for hundreds of millions of dollars in microfinancing.
- Harvard Business School. Avila VC lists it in her path; UVA lists her as a former Harvard Business School Fellow.
- American Express. Per Avila VC, she led the launch of Make Mine a Million, offering loans, coaching and networking to women and BIPOC small business owners.
- Google. Global vice president of programmatic advertising, per CIO.com. UVA says she led a multi-billion dollar, ML-powered programmatic advertising platform that became Google's third-largest revenue source.
- Gusto. Chief Operating Officer. Avila VC says the customer base grew from 10,000 to 200,000 small and medium businesses; UVA cites 30x revenue growth.
- Lanai. Co-founder and CEO since 2024, per UVA.
UVA also lists her as a University of Virginia graduate, class of 1996, and an Echols Scholar.
What she is known for
- Scaling Gusto. Avila VC says Gusto customers paid and insured over 1 million workers, and that she pushed during the pandemic for small businesses to access over $2.5 billion in federal loans.
- Google's programmatic ads business. Described by UVA as a multi-billion dollar platform.
- Enterprise AI visibility. Lanai's product discovers AI workflows across copilots, agents and embedded SaaS tools, including unsanctioned use, and measures capacity gained per workflow, per the company.
- Writing on AI and business. She has written for CIO.com (March 31, May 18 and July 22, 2026) and Techstrong.ai (July 31, 2025 and January 5, 2026).
- Boards and councils. UVA lists board roles at Gap Inc. and Lattice, a UVA School of Data Science board term from 2025, and membership of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Several bios also say she was a candidate for California's U.S. Senate seat. The pages we read give no dates or results, so we state only that.
Leadership style and philosophy
We found no interview or talk transcript. The one statement we can attribute comes from Lanai's announcement, where she says AI has moved from experimentation into day-to-day operations. Techstrong.ai describes her as focused on workforce transformation and on making enterprise AI adoption more strategic.
Key numbers
These figures are company-reported or self-reported in bios and are not independently audited.
- Lanai general availabilityApril 16, 2026 (per Lanai).
- Employees who tell a leader nothing actionable65% of employees who use AI (Lanai's announcement).
- Renewal prep example4.5 hours saved per rep at 36% adoption (Lanai's announcement).
- Leverage by team1.4x in engineering versus 1.1x in sales (Lanai's announcement).
- Gusto customersFrom 10,000 to 200,000 small and medium businesses during her time as COO (Avila VC).
- Deployment timeAs little as one day through MDM and SSO (Lanai).
What to watch next
Worth tracking: how Lanai's customer base grows after its April 2026 general availability, whether it discloses funding, and what she writes next on AI governance for boards.
Questions people ask
Who is Lexi Reese?
She is the co-founder and CEO of Lanai, an enterprise AI company, and a former COO of Gusto.
What is Lexi Reese's current role?
Co-founder and CEO of Lanai, per Lanai's own announcement.
Where did Lexi Reese work before Lanai?
Gusto, as Chief Operating Officer, and Google, as a global vice president of programmatic advertising. Avila VC also lists American Express.
What does Lanai do?
Its AI @ Work Operating System discovers how employees use AI across tools, including unsanctioned use, and measures the capacity gained per workflow, per the company.
Who co-founded Lanai?
UVA's School of Data Science says Reese co-founded it with former VMware CTO Steve Herrod.
Did Lexi Reese run for office?
Several bios describe her as a former candidate for California's U.S. Senate seat. The pages we read give no dates.
Sources
- Lanai: AI @ Work Operating System launch · Title, product, investors, figures, quote
- UVA School of Data Science: Lexi Reese · Bio, career, boards, education, photo
- Avila VC: Lexi Reese · Career path and Gusto figures
- CIO.com: Lexi Reese profile · Bio and article dates
- Techstrong.ai: Lexi Reese · Bio and article dates
Facts were read from the linked pages on October 31, 2026. Some pages were read through a fetch tool that returns summaries, so confirm details on the original page. The hero photo is the University of Virginia School of Data Science headshot, centered on a card. This page covers public professional information only.
Top photo: University of Virginia School of Data Science (datascience.virginia.edu/people/lexi-reese)