Meet the Wavemakers: 17 HR leaders you need to know

Michelle Colangelo uses 70 workflows to automate everything from sending surveys to enrolling employees in 401(k) plans. Em Spakauskas saves 10 hours a month registering employees for state taxes. These are just two of our inaugural Wavemakers: a new community of elite workforce leaders who each use an average of 13 Rippling products to help their businesses run better. They pioneered new ways to make the most of Rippling. Now, they’re ready to share their discoveries with the world. 

What makes a Wavemaker? 

We chose our 17 Wavemakers out of more than 75,000 Rippling admins. The cohort spans industries, from music and mobile gaming to national security and molecular science—and they have over 40 years of combined Rippling experience.

“I want to be able to come in, own the space, and make the business better,” said Jess Hazlett, Rippling Wavemaker and VP of People at Endless West. “I love to solve complicated puzzles with tech however I can.”

In short, a Wavemaker:

• Challenges assumptions about how businesses are run to find innovative new ways of working
• Shares their insights with peers to inspire the next generation of People leaders
• Partners with company leadership to accelerate business performance

Wavemakers also identify ways Rippling can improve its products and services. 

“The fun thing about software is that you learn from your customer and your customer learns from you,” said Rippling’s Chief Operating Officer, Matt MacInnis. “In fact, one of the greatest joys of being in the software business is seeing customers do things you never contemplated.”

“The Wavemakers program is about learning from leading-edge users who see what's possible and give us direct, sometimes pretty tough feedback about how we should improve the system. I hope the Wavemakers program gives us a more direct channel into the very people who will make us better.”

Why did we build Wavemakers? 

Our customer-facing teams interact with Rippling power users every day, noticing the creative ways they use our software to change how they hire and manage their workforce. 

“We want to spread our brilliant customers’ insights to everyone,” Matt said. “That’s why we created Wavemakers. It’s about empowering our most innovative customers to help everyone achieve more of what’s possible with Rippling.”

Why do Wavemakers choose Rippling?

Any forward thinker re-envisioning what’s possible for their business would feel stymied using antiquated workforce management tools. Wavemakers know it can be better with modern systems. With Rippling, these industry leaders saved time on cumbersome administrative work and successfully positioned themselves as strategic partners to the rest of the business.

“Rippling handles a lot of the stuff that I used to do manually,” said Sarah Kulhanek, Rippling Wavemaker and People Operations Specialist at Brightwheel. “By getting those hours back, I can take on new initiatives and projects that improve the employee experience and insights as an HR team." 

With less time wasted on repetitive tasks, Wavemakers can put more energy toward strategic initiatives. A couple of creative ways Wavemakers have used Rippling to drive tangible business outcomes for their organizations:

• Kimberly Williams used Rippling Performance Management to identify “brilliant jerks"—employees whom supervisors rate favorably but peers rate poorly. High-level performance review data helped Kimberly reveal which employees perpetuate a toxic work environment and deflate company culture. She even calculated their cost to the company’s bottom line. “In systems like Rippling, this can all be set up to run automatically,” she said. 
• Amanda Perry used Rippling to build time-off reports that ensured the Sales team was adequately staffed during critical sales cycles. After setting up the first report, PTO information updated automatically—guaranteeing the company had enough bandwidth to close important deals. 

Meet the 2024 Wavemakers

Our inaugural Wavemakers are:

• Amanda Perry, People Operations Manager
• Ashlyn Gonzales, People Operations Generalist at Hearth
• Brendan Woodroff, Chief People Officer at Chess.com
• Cassandra Margolin, Head of People Operations at Jasper
• Em Spakauskas, People Operations Manager at Sayari
• Emily Parker, People Operations at Rebellion Defense, Inc.
• Jennifer Perea, People Business Partner at Osso VR, Inc. 
• Jess Hazlett, VP of People at Endless West
• Kathryn Lee, HR Manager at Create Music Group
• Kimberly Williams, VP of People at Walker Advertising
• Maddy Hoepf, People & Culture Generalist at Vouch Insurance
• Mario Silva, Director of People & Talent Strategy at My Plan Advocate
• Michelle Colangelo, Senior People Manager at Sibros Technologies
• Nicole Stines, VP of People at Talent to Team
• Patty Kim, Head of People at Vestwell
• Sara Wong, HR Generalist
• Sarah Kulhanek, Senior People Operations Specialist at Brightwheel

Look out for our Wavemakers at:

• Conferences, like HR Tech and SHRM
• Webinars and regional events, such as SHRM chapter meetups and Rippling U Live (Denver and Seattle, and six other cities in 2024)
• LinkedIn, as they share their stories with other Rippling customers and anyone else who wants to streamline their business

Stay tuned for more information about our Wavemakers and how to apply for next year’s class. We’ll add a new cohort of our top Rippling power users every year. You can also learn more about how our customers use Rippling to transform their businesses.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.