WONGDOODY has hired Tarik West as sr. VP, people, for North America, reporting to Michael Chang, general manager of WONGDOODY North America.
This new role has been created to ensure that new people strategies and structures are the right ones to help WONGDOODY expand without losing the culture and values which have made it a success.
As such, West will work to scale the company’s human resources capabilities at all six of its North American studios, located in Seattle, WA, Los Angeles, CA, Houston, TX, Richardson, TX, Providence, RI, and New York, NY, where West is based. He is also responsible for providing leadership and support across all strategic human resources.
He joins from strategic research consultancy Shapiro+Raj, where he was SVP, head of people. During more than 20 years working in HR for transformative companies, West has applied his skills to brands including Swatch Group, Cartier, Variety and Rolling Stone magazines.
Additionally, West has excelled at helping organizations, including Defy Media and PMC, to navigate the mergers and acquisitions space, particularly when it comes to ensuring the seamless integration of people and, crucially, work cultures to ensure long term success.
West said: “The opportunity to join a team like WONGDOODY that cares so deeply about each and every member is a rare find. It’s what HR professionals dream of. My vision for the role involves creating a human resources infrastructure that amplifies the current culture, and providing relevant input and analytics that will inform all aspects of the business. The HR function is a pillar of a high functioning organization. My goal is to create a world class function to support WONGDOODY in its growth.”
Chang said, “Tarik has carved out a rather unique niche in helping both creative and technical organizations to create world class human resource platforms. He has a standout ability to create a ‘real world’ human resources function that is approachable and transparent, and we look forward to benefiting from his talents at WONGDOODY.”
