The Team

WSS HR LABS is a team of practitioners innovating workplace practices to co-create thriving workplaces.

The group brings deep expertise in inclusive org design and development, HR, employment law, developmental evaluation, shared and distributed leadership models, curriculum design, nonprofit executive management, fundraising and marketing, hybrid and virtual team arrangements, group facilitation, policy making, mediation, coaching, business development, and more!

Tim Cynova (he/him) is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), trained mediator, and has served on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Hollyhock Leadership Institute (Cortes Island, Canada), the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (Banff, Canada) and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in People-Centric Organizational Design, Co-Creating Inclusive Workplaces, and Strategic HR. In 2021, he concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit technology company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Lauren Ruffin (she/her) is a thinker, designer, & leader interested in building strong, sustainable, anti-racist systems & organizations. She's into exploring how we can leverage new technologies to combat racial and economic injustice. She frequently participates in conversations on circular economies, social impact financing, solidarity movements, and innovative, non-extractive financing mechanisms. Lauren is an Associate Professor of Worldbuilding and Visualizing Futures at Arizona State University and a co-founder of CRUX, an immersive storytelling cooperative that collaborates with Black artists as they create content in virtual reality and augmented reality (XR). Lauren was co-CEO of Fractured Atlas, the largest association of independent artists in the United States. In 2017, she started Artist Campaign School, a new educational program that has trained 74 artists to run for political office to date. Lauren has served on the governing boards of Black Innovation Alliance, Black Girls Code, and Main Street Phoenix Cooperative, and on the advisory boards of ArtUp and Black Girl Ventures. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Political Science and obtained a J.D. from the Howard University School of Law. Learn more on LinkedIn

Katrina Donald (she/her) based in Treaty 7 Territory and is the principal consultant at ever-so-curious. She believes that listening and sensemaking practices bring us into community, reveal pathways forward, encourage and embolden us, and allow for greater impact. Her approach is relational and developmental; she works in partnership with people and organizations to co-design inclusive, collaborative and continuously emerging evaluation and HR strategies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Masters Certificate in Organization Development and Change from the Canadian Organization Development Institute (CODI) and the Schulich Executive and Education Centre (SEEC) at York University. She is a mother, wife, daughter, sister, systems thinker, developmental evaluator, program designer, and a Registered Professional Recruiter (RPR). She’s committed to showing up for her own ongoing learning and to building workplaces that are actively anti-racist, praxis-centered and humble as they work through the prickly bramble of changeLearn more on LinkedIn.

Courtney Harge (she/her) is a nonprofit executive, theater producer, and entrepreneur originally from Saginaw, MI who has been working in the service of artists for the last fifteen years. Currently, she is the CEO of OF/BY/FOR ALL, a nonprofit that guides arts and cultural organizations through building healthy relationships with communities they are connected to. Courtney has worked for the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, Theater for the New City, The Public Theater, Gibney Dance, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Fractured Atlas, where she led the design and implementation of anti-racist practices, like race-based caucusing and an equity-informed customer service strategy. She is also the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Colloquy Collective. She holds a Masters of Professional Studies, with Distinction, in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute and a Bachelors of Fine Arts with Honors from the University of Michigan in Theater Performance. Her credo (#HustlingKeepsYouSexy) is not merely a hashtag; it’s a way of life. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Nico Carpenter (he/they) works on the People team at Fractured Atlas, where he finds ways for tools and processes to better align with the organization’s purpose. At Fractured Atlas they also support Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression work through reimagining policy, procedure, and practice. Prior to joining Fractured Atlas, Nico worked for a variety of arts organizations including MoMA PS1, Walker Art Center, and Heidelberger Kunstverein, and he still has a particular love (and critique) for museums. They also serve on the Board for Fireweed Community Woodshop. Originally from Minneapolis, he received a BFA in Art from the University of Minnesota and continues to stay creative through knitting, sewing clothes, and finding new crafts to learn. When not working or crafting, Nico can be found reading books, teaching people mending, and finding/tending/building queer and disabled community. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Erin Woods (she/her) is focused on values-driven program design and values-led facilitation and delivery. She brings extensive experience and education in organizational design, leadership development, systems theory, and cultural communication, with deep practice in arts and culture, sustainable tourism and leading and learning for social change. She loves working with clients who are honest about organizational, societal, and systemic barriers, who explore challenges with curiosity and humility and who approach complex problems with openness and ambition. Clients know her for thoughtful questions, her ability to see connections, understand systems and solve problems, and her lighthearted, energetic approach. What she and her clients have in common is a willingness to do serious work without taking themselves too seriously. She has an undergraduate degree in theatre from Colorado College, a Master’s in Communication from the University of Denver, and has participated in such systems-shifting programs as Getting to Maybe and Creative Climate Leadership. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Jillian Wright, PHR (she/her) spends her days as an HR consultant, but she’s also a dancer, mother, gardener, and puzzle finisher who enjoys helping small businesses succeed. For over 18 years, she’s had the privilege of working with and learning from some amazing folx who have taught her so much about how to facilitate people support BETTER – and she wants to share what she’s learned with other value-driven companies who are ready to do things differently. Her passion for people-support and behavioral psychology in the workplace along with her deep personal commitment to social justice as a member of the queer community has fueled her desire to help leaders create inclusive places to work. Jillian’s background in small non-profit and mission-driven workplaces has gained her valuable skills in the art of prioritization, efficient use of time, and understanding how to make things happen on a shoestring budget, and she’s worked hard to apply those principles to creating affordable, time-conscious, impact-centered consulting projects tailored to a variety companies specific goals, opportunities, and challenges. Learn more on LinkedIn.