Neil Wilks

Neil Wilks has worked in the Human Resources field for over 15 years. Starting in 2006, they were the Head of HR for Nokia in Australia & New Zealand and Japan & Korea, where they were responsible for end-to-end HR services and led teams of up to 15. In 2009, they were promoted to Senior HR Director at Nokia, leading teams of up to 50 and partnering with executives to drive commercial projects and talent initiatives in Northern Europe and the Americas. In 2013, Wilks moved to Amazon as a Senior HR Manager. In 2015, they became the first US HR hire at SoundCloud, building out the company's monetization capability and leading a team of two. In 2017, Wilks worked as a Human Resources Consultant at Meetup, running HRIS processes, payroll, benefits, and immigration activity, as well as delivering company-wide performance management and engagement planning processes and coaching leaders. That same year, they also took on the role of VP People at Translation LLC, where they were a Group People Leader and Management Team member for three companies and was responsible for talent management and people operations for 200 people, leading a team of five. In 2019, Wilks joined Moda Operandi, Inc. as SVP HR, an Executive Team member for People at the 430-person e-commerce fashion retailer. Neil was responsible for a multi-faceted role with an initial rapid growth plan that was pivoted to managing P&L stability during the Covid-19 global pandemic, leading a team of 13 people. In 2021, Wilks was appointed Chief People Officer at DRONAMICS.

Neil Wilks obtained a BA (With Honours) in Geography from the University of Leeds between 1986 and 1989. Neil then went on to obtain an MA in Human Resource Management from Newcastle University between 1990 and 1991. In September 1991, they became a Member of THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. In February 2016, they obtained an MBTI certification from The Myers-Briggs Company.