FROM “MORAL GUARDIAN” TO THE MINDSET OF CRITICISM: HR DIRECTOR KRISTIN CABOT AND THE SILENT FALL OF THE KISS CAM CEO CASE
When CEO Andy Byron resigned within 72 hours of his “failed big screen kiss” at a Coldplay concert, many believed the media crisis had subsided.

But while the spotlight was on the man who once ran Astronomer, the silent fury from within the company and the HR industry focused on another figure: Kristin Cabot – the HR director who was once considered a “moral role model” in modern corporate culture.

The Internal Conflict of an Ethics Manager

Cabot, 41, joined Astronomer in 2019 and quickly became a shining face in the wave of female senior leaders at technology companies.

Not only did she design the entire code of conduct framework – including strict terms on relationships in the workplace – she also directly led many internal investigations into harassment and abuse of power.

That’s why the fact that she was the second character to appear in the “Kiss Cam” clip – next to CEO Byron, who is married – not only surprised the public but also caused outrage among experts. “It was an ethical blowback, where the person who kept the rules was the first to violate the rules she wrote,” a former Astronomer employee told Business Insider anonymously.

Is silence a protest or an admission?
Unlike Byron, Cabot did not post any public statements after the incident. Her LinkedIn and X (Twitter) accounts are private. The press only received a one-line confirmation from the company’s spokesperson: “Kristin Cabot has taken an indefinite leave of absence to focus on her personal life.”

However, according to insiders, Cabot faced a tense meeting with the executive team just a day after the clip went viral, in which a senior member is said to have asked: “Can we look our employees in the eye when the head of HR breaks such a clear ethical boundary?”

HR industry reacts strongly
A series of HR professionals on LinkedIn and global HR groups have been discussing the incident. A post titled “Kristin, you betrayed us” was shared more than 12,000 times in just two days, emphasizing that the personal ethics violations of senior managers would erode trust in the entire system.

Although there has been no official word on the termination of the contract, multiple sources said that Cabot will not return to his old position – an outcome that is predicted to be “inevitable” for the person who was once the “moral pillar” of the company.