John-Anthony Meza

John-Anthony Meza is the head of Arabella Advisors’ Culture and Talent team. In this role, he leads the vision and day-to-day operations of the company’s human resources team, including total rewards, talent acquisition, and employee engagement and retention. As a member of the senior leadership team, John-Anthony helps develop a firmwide strategy for supporting Arabella’s people and cultivating an innovative, inclusive culture.

John-Anthony brings over 20 years of leadership in human resources; employee relations; change management; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and corporate social responsibility. He has served in HR and operations leadership roles in multiple settings—from private industry to larger and mid-sized nonprofits—and various sectors, including social services, health care, information technology, and professional services. Most recently, John-Anthony served as the vice president of talent, diversity, equity, and inclusion at KABOOM!, an organization that partners with communities to build safe, inspiring playgrounds and other public play spaces. In that role, he spearheaded a review of the organization’s performance management structure, revised its core competencies, oversaw a racial equity-focused salary assessment, and revised the organization’s compensation strategy to better center equity.

Previously, John-Anthony served as the senior director of human resources and office administration for the Raffa Companies, and as the chief of human resources and administration at the Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP).

John-Anthony is a SHRM-certified senior HR professional, a published author, and a frequent presenter on progressive HR topics. In a book focused on common elements of successful organizations, he wrote a chapter about the need for American companies to collaborate with schools and community colleges to support employees. He also co-authored several reports, including an examination of companies’ “grow your own” talent development models. John-Anthony received the University of Cambridge Programme certificate for sustainable leadership through the Prince of Wales Business and Environment Programme; studied industrial/organizational psychology at California State University, Long Beach; and has a degree in psychology from California State University, Northridge.