Data science platform provider Anaconda promoted former HR head Jessica Reeves to the chief operating officer role. Reeves joined Anaconda in 2017 as vice president of global HR and became the senior vice president of operations in 2020. In her six-year tenure, Reeves has supported HR, recruiting, legal, sales and customer-facing functions while promoting company culture for Anaconda’s remote workforce. Over the last year, Anaconda has nearly doubled its employee count to more than 300 and it plans to continue hiring next year. “I’m excited to take this next step in my career with Anaconda and play an even more involved role in making this company thrive,” said Reeves in a news release.
Financial technology solution provider Brex has named Angela Crossman as its chief people officer. In this role, she will lead the company’s worldwide people organization. Crossman was most recently CPO at wellness startup Noom and, before that, she worked at Yahoo! and Bain & Company in a variety of people and operations roles. “Brex wouldn’t be where it is today without our employees and we’re thrilled to have Angela come in to foster an environment that helps them feel connected, supported and set up to do the best work of their careers,” said Henrique Dubugras, Brex’s co-founder and co-CEO, in a news release.
Talent solution provider Velocity Global appointed Francoise Brougher to its global board of directors, where she will lead the vendor’s compensation committee. Brougher spent eight years running business and operations strategy as well as SMB global sales and operations at Google and afterward worked as COO of Pinterest. “Francoise is exactly the type of board member we need to lead Velocity Global through the next phase of our growth. She led companies that we all admire through keen insights and operational leadership. Francoise knows what great looks like at scale,” said Ben Wright, CEO and board chair at Velocity Global, in a news release.
November moves
Construction management company Procore has named Olga Kibler as its chief people officer. She will lead Procore’s people strategy as part of its executive leadership team and report to founder, president and CEO Tooey Courtemanche. An HR veteran, Kibler worked as CPO for Five9 and as vice president of talent services for DocuSign. “With more than 20 years of experience, Olga will lead our talent organization as we expand globally and continue to build high-performing teams while delivering a remarkable candidate and employee experience,” Courtemanche said in a news release. Kibler added: “Procore is transforming the construction industry, and I’m excited to help drive the company forward by elevating and advocating for our people.”
Human Resource Standards Institute has appointed Andrea Grant as senior vice president for business development. In her role, Grant will deploy a client-focused sales and consulting strategy to build relationships with HRSI stakeholders. “I am excited to have Andrea on the HRSI team. She brings a combination of incredibly valuable skills, including deep expertise in HR, needs analysis, strategic planning and execution of workforce development, to the organization,” HRSI President Dr. Denise Caleb said in a news release. “Andrea’s passion for creating, sustaining and growing business relationships also is a great asset to HRSI.”
HR solution provider for small businesses Justworks announced that Michael Seckler will be its new president and chief executive officer and rejoin its board of directors. Isaac Oates, Justworks’ founder and chair of the board, will transition to the new role of executive chair of the board. Seckler has served as Justworks’ COO since 2019. As CEO, he will lead efforts on strategy, culture and the long-term direction of the company. “We are investing heavily to innovate faster and on multiple fronts so that Justworks becomes the obvious choice for even more small businesses,” said Seckler in a news release. “As Justworks’ new CEO, I am thrilled to have Isaac’s continued support and guidance. We have a lot to build and an exciting road ahead.”
The Benefit and HR Consulting division of insurance brokerage and risk management service provider Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has named John Tournet as its new CEO, U.S. Regions. He started in the newly created role for the Illinois-based consultancy on Nov. 1. Tournet is a 23-year veteran in the employee benefits field and has worked at Gallagher for the last two decades. “John is known for using innovative solutions to solve problems, fostering a culture of mutual trust and appreciation and challenging the status quo in the spirit of continuous improvement,” William F. Ziebell, CEO of Gallagher’s Benefits and HR Consulting Division, said in a news release.
October moves
ADP President Maria Black will succeed CEO Carlos Rodriguez starting Jan. 1. Black will also serve as a director of the HCM company’s board. Rodriguez has been ADP’s CEO and a member of its board of directors since November 2011 and will serve as executive chair of the board starting next year. John P. Jones, the current chairman of the board, will assume an independent lead director role on the board on Jan. 1. “I am committed to fostering meaningful collaboration and empowering the great talent of our 60,000 associates, whose relentless focus on the success of our clients has reshaped HCM time and again by rethinking a better, more personalized world at work,” Black in a news release.
Talent lifecycle manager Beamery named Katie Obi as its new chief people officer. In her new role, she will support the HR tech vendor’s next phase of growth. Before joining Beamery, Obi was chief people and transformation officer for Rizing, an SAP consulting firm. She will oversee Beamery’s people functions as well as help the company achieve new global business strategies. “Beamery is positively disrupting the talent management market and is being recognized as both a company to watch and a great one to work for,” Obi said in a news release. “I’m looking forward to playing a key role in shaping Beamery’s own future of work.”
Talent intelligence provider Eightfold AI has hired Darren Burton as its first chief people officer. Burton joins the company’s senior leadership team and will report to Ashutosh Garg, Eightfold AI’s CEO and co-founder. “It’s my belief that the path to resilience and sustainability is through creating a values-based culture that is equitable and inclusive,” Burton said in a news release. “I could not pass up the opportunity to do so at Eightfold AI, working directly with its incredible network of customers, partners and employees to shape the future of how organizations engage their talent.” Burton has more than two decades of experience as a strategic advisor, executive and talent leader for such firms as DuPont, Campbell Soup Company, IBM and Raytheon. Most recently, he was the CPO of KPMG.
Monica Pool Knox is the new chief people officer of Domo, a low-code data app platform company. Pool Knox has served in senior HR roles at Microsoft, Twitter, Sony, PepsiCo, The Walt Disney Company and Verizon Wireless, Puerto Rico. At Microsoft, she developed people programs and practices as well as created and implemented AI-enabled HR technology solutions for internal and external use. “Monica’s blend of large and start-up company experiences, functional excellence and human-centric leadership is exactly what we were searching for in this executive position,” CEO John Mellor said in a news release.
Real estate tech provider MRI Software appointed Susan Avelluto to the role of chief people officer. The technology firm is headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio, and has nearly 2,200 employees in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. Avelluto previously worked as senior director of HR for PayPal and held chief talent officer roles for U.S. Bank and Huntington Bank.
HR solution provider ADP has promoted Jessica Zhang to the role of senior vice president, Asia Pacific Region. Zhang will be based in Singapore, where she will be responsible for developing talent, expanding the company’s regional footprint and accelerating the introduction and growth of new solutions in the region. In her new role, she will join ADP’s senior leadership team. Zhang joined ADP in 2007 as vice president of finance and accounting for China.
September Moves
HR credentialing and learning organization HRCI announced the addition of Dr. Janet L. Walsh to its board of directors. Walsh is president and CEO of Birchtree Global, a workforce training and research consultancy with clients in all 50 states and 81 countries. She also served in top HR roles at Minerals Technologies, Mead Corp. and financial services entity S.W.I.F.T.
HR and compliance solutions provider Mineral has hired Chris Lanier as its new chief technology officer. The former EVP of engineering at BetterWorks, Lanier is charged with growing the engineering team and helping Mineral become a “product-led growth company,” according to a news release from the company.
Matt van Geldere is the new and first chief people officer at Thunes, a global B2B payments company that currently supports 79 currencies and enables payments to 130 countries, the company announced this week. In this role, van Geldere will lead Thunes’ global human resources strategy, including talent acquisition, training and leadership development, and building and maintaining company culture, diversity and inclusion. The Singapore-based organization anticipates a period of rapid growth.
Risk service provider Sigma7 appointed Jodi Cheek as its vice president of HR, a new role for the firm. Cheek will design and implement new HR development processes and oversee a collaborative culture across Sigma7’s core companies, including Paragon Risk Engineering, RWH Myers and Intelligence Fusion. Prior to joining Sigma7, Cheek was North American HR director at Descours & Cabaud, a French global construction materials distributor.
Recruiting tech company Wedge has added Kelly Hoppesch as head of sales and customer success. Before joining Wedge, Hoppesch helped to grow revenue at LinkedIn, Glassdoor and CareerBuilder. Most recently, she advised Comparably, a workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform provider. “Kelly has an amazing understanding of our industry, the problems Wedge solves, the companies we support and the relationships we’re looking to build,” said Matt Baxter, CEO of Wedge.
Leave management and accommodations platform AbsenceSoft named Mark Schiff as its new CEO. Schiff previously was president of Gordian, a facilities and construction solutions provider, which he joined after its acquisition of Sightlines, where he also was CEO.
Engineering services firm Bowman Consulting Group appointed Clay Worley as CHRO and executive vice president. Prior to joining Bowman, Worley was chief human resources officer and chief ethics officer for NCI (now Empower AI). Worley previously held the senior HR role supporting 9,500 employees at DXC Technologies (formerly Hewlett Packard Enterprise). In his new role, Worley will oversee the strategic direction of Bowman’s HR and talent acquisition departments and will work with the firm’s integration team for company acquisitions.
Medical network Summit Health named Amy Smith as chief people officer. Smith will oversee the firm’s people strategy, attracting and retaining talent and building EX and DEIB. Prior to joining Summit Health, Amy was staff vice president for HR at Anthem, and vice president of implementation at ADP, the global provider of cloud-based HCM solutions. Smith will report to Summit Health CEO Jeff Alter.
The former vice president of people at HR solution provider Workday, Mandy Jeffrey, is the new chief people officer for Board, an enterprise planning soliton provider. During her eight years with Workday, Jeffrey helped increase its headcount from 2,500 employees to more than 15,000 and increased its global footprint. Previously, she was senior director of HR operations at digital payments facilitator Verifone, where she was responsible for international regions. Smith will report to Marco Limena, CEO of Board International.
August Moves
General Motors’ former head of global talent acquisition lead, attraction, sourcing and insights, Kyle Lagunas, has started his role as principal analyst for Aptitude Research. This marks the recruitment superstar’s return to research after working for several analyst firms and then at ATS-provider Beamery before his recent stint at GM. Read his revealing exit interview with HRE here.
Financial tech provider DailyPay has hired Stacy Greiner as its chief operating officer. She will report to DailyPayCEO Kevin Coop and will be responsible for both external and internal operations. These duties include overseeing people operations, building corporate culture and overseeing service to clients and partners. Greiner previously worked as general manager of Dun & Bradstreet’s sales and marketing solutions division and in senior executive roles for Cisco, IBM and Accenture.
Microsoft veteran Pushkaraj Kale joined recruitment skills start-up iMocha as head of go-to-market strategy. Before joining iMocha, Kale served as the co-founder and chief operating officer of TheDataTeam, where he was involved in HR will overseeing customer-facing functions and scaling the business. Previously, Kale was the country director for Microsoft’s Financial Services organization in India. iMocha delivers a business skills intelligence platform that helps talent managers make recruitment and reskilling decisions.
Patagonia CHRO Dean Carter announced that he is leaving his role as CHRO for the outdoor clothing and gear company. In a LinkedIn post, Carter writes that he is looking forward to his next adventure after working as Patagonia’s vice president of HR & shared services since May 2015. Before joining Patagonia, he was CHRO and vice president of talent & human capital services for Sears.
Nava Benefits hired Patrick Kehoe as its new chief operating officer. A software-as-a-service veteran with experience at real estate tech company VTS and tech provider Hightower, he also spent five years at McKinsey. “In order to truly change healthcare benefits from the inside out, you need to invest in the people, technology and operations to reimagine the broker’s function and impact,” said Kehoe. “Nava is doing just that.”
Health systems tech provider Lumeris appointed Julie Hammes as senior vice president of people and culture. Prior to this role, Hammes spent 15 years with Epiq Global, JP Morgan and Farmers Insurance. Her new mission includes expanding Lumeris’ culture, benefits package, DEI initiatives and its professional development and recognition programs. “I look forward to bringing my passion and expertise to this role and cultivating the best teams to support the company’s next phase of growth and excellence,” she said.
Talent solution provider Crosschq named Jacob Paul as chief product officer. Paul was the co-founder and CEO of TalentWall, which Crosschq acquired in May. “Having Jake driving our product vision will accelerate our roadmaps and enable us to go to market with additional solutions that carefully consider customer design input,” said Crosschq CEO Michael Fitzsimmons.
Recruiting solution provider PivotCX has hired David Bernstein as executive vice president of corporate development and strategy. An HR tech veteran who has worked at six start-ups, Bernstein will run business development, strategic alliances and marketing for PivotCX’s talent acquisitions hub.
As part of onboarding provider Silkroad Technology’s acquisition of Entelo’s technology, Entelo CEO Robert Tsao has been appointed CEO of SilkRoad Technology. Entelo’s CEO since last year, Tsao previously worked as chief product officer for Jobvite and Taleo. “I look forward to building new capabilities to provide new strategic talent acquisition and mobility offerings to meet and exceed client expectations,” said Tsao.
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HR veteran Lissa Minkin joins payroll solution provider Wrapbook as chief people officer. Minkin most recently worked at Tile and has served in HR roles for eBay, Facebook and Time Warner. She will now oversee Wrapbook’s people experience, talent acquisition, people operations and total rewards program. “Lissa brings top-shelf expertise and leadership to her role, so we’re thrilled to welcome her to the team,” said Wrapbook CEO Ari Javid. Streaming video provider
Brightcove has named Trisha Stiles as chief people officer. An HR veteran for the past two decades, Stiles has served in HR roles at Tableau, CBS Interactive and NBC Universal, among other firms. In her new role, she will oversee talent and performance management and DEI efforts and will develop people practices. Stiles starts Aug. 29 and will report to Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise.
Canadian talent-acquisition platform provider Communo has named Olivier Gachot as CEO. A Silicon Valley veteran, Gachot will help clients find and hire talented and diverse people using the company’s AI- and ML-fueled talent matching platform. Gachot replaces current CEO Ryan Gill, who will continue to serve as an adviser and remain executive chair of the board. Gachot most recently served as chief revenue officer at Workspot and NewVoiceMedia and has held senior leadership positions at Lombardi, Spredfast and Skire.
July Moves
Brian Crofts has joined BambooHR as its chief product officer. Crofts hails from Auditboard and Pendo and spent 11 years at Intuit, where he helped develop QuickBooks and TurboTax. In the last five years, BambooHR has grown rapidly to reach annual recurring revenue of more than $100 million. Crofts’ appointment follows several recent hires including Anita Grantham as head of people.
Long-time HR exec Allison Manne has joined AI-recruiter Findem as its vice president of customer success. Manne moves from Gloat, where she served as global vice president of customer success. She previously held leadership positions at HR technology providers Namely, HireVue and Ultimate Software. “Over the past 15 years, Allison has built and led teams across pre-sales, customer success, account management and operations,” according to a statement from Findem.
Talent platform SeekOut has hired Claire Fang, Qualtrics’ former CPO, as its first chief product officer. In her new role, Fang will oversee product strategy and the teams that create the full suite of talent optimization offerings, including talent acquisition and internal talent solutions. SeekOut has added three key players to its team recently, including Jana Morrelli as VP of Customer Success. “What attracted me to Seekout are its purpose and values,” says Fang. “What Seekout is trying to solve is to surface the right job opportunities for employees and conversely find the right talents for the skills needed, while doing it at scale for thousands of companies and millions of people.”
HR technology provider HiBob has appointed Ze’ev Rozov as its new COO. Based in London, the technology veteran has previously served as CEO and co-founder for tech startups RewardPod and IconicFuture. “Ze’ev served as the COO of a HiBob customer, helping grow revenue 20x, completing five acquisitions and building a world-class organization. I don’t doubt he will duplicate this success here,” says Ronni Zehavi, CEO and co-founder of HiBob.
Talent recruitment solution provider Wedge has named Jason Seiden as head of strategy. The 20-year veteran has more than a decade of experience in the talent recruitment space and co-founded Brand Amber, an employer branding firm that was sold in 2017. Since then, he has served as an HR tech and recruitment consultant.
Performance management tool Betterworks hired Jamie Aitken as its new vice president of HR transformation. In this role, the 25-year HR veteran will support Betterworks customers with “innovative strategies to improve talent management practices, employee engagement and culture,” per a Betterworks announcement. Aitken has previously worked at SAP SuccessFactors, Bombardier Aerospace, PeopleFluent and other firms.
Talent acquisition and people analytics provider Crosschq has named Jo Avent as chief people officer following the company’s acquisition of recruiting analyst platform TalentWall. Avent was co-founder of the latter company and, earlier in her career, she was an independent consultant specializing in recruiting selection process design. “Going from co-founder to Chief People Officer is perhaps an unusual path but since I’ve done some aspect of every role in an organization,” she says. “I’m keenly aware of the dynamics between different teams and the challenges faced by each role.”
June Moves
HCM platform provider Lattice has added Cara Brennan Allamano as its first chief people officer. A 20-year HR veteran whose last role was as senior vice president at Udemy, Allamano will lead the firm’s global people team’s talent acquisition, onboarding, learning and development, and DEI efforts. Allamano’s HR resume runs deep, with leading HR roles at Planet, Pinterest and Adobe, along with founding PeopleTech Partners and StartupHR. “We are thrilled to tap her for deeper insights into the HR tech landscape as we continue to expand Lattice’s products and features through the employee lifecycle,” says Lattice co-founder and CEO Jack Altman.
Sudha Kaki has joined HR and benefits solution provider Ease as CTO. Formerly serving in tech roles at WebMD and Oracle, the 20-year technology veteran will lead Ease’s efforts to enhance its employee benefits and HR ecosystem for small- to medium-sized businesses. “Sudha’s technical expertise and experience executing innovative strategies will help Ease scale as a leading benefits administration and insurance software solution,” says Ease’s CEO and co-founder David Reid.
Jill Popelka announced that she left her role as president of SAP SuccessFactors last week after working for 12 years at the company, including the last two as president. She wrote on LinkedIn: “Wow! What a great adventure! After 12 amazing years, Friday [June 2, 2022] marked my last day with SAP. And while I’m sad to close an incredible chapter of my career, I’m excited and hopeful for the next!” Popelka does not mention her next move, and SAP did not announce her successor. Watch this space.
Human capital management provider UKG announced that Chris Todd, president of UKG, has been appointed chief executive officer effective July 1. Current CEO and chairman Aron Ain will transition to executive chair where he will “remain actively involved with UKG,” per a press statement. As CEO, Todd will lead day-to-day operations, serve on the UKG board of directors as well as lead and communicate the company’s strategic, operational and cultural agenda.
