Noble People Appoints Melanese Richens-Moody as Chief People Officer

Independent media agency Noble People is making a critical investment in its growth, culture and talent, naming Melanese Richens-Moody to the new role of chief people officer. The hire comes at a time of significant growth for the 10-year-old shop, which grew its staff during the pandemic by 43% and in the past year has seen a 40% increase in revenue, following five consecutive years of 20% average revenue growth. The agency has also experienced a recent slate of new business wins, including The Washington Post, Naked Wines, Athletic Greens, ExtraHop, Carlotz and Scribd.

She joins Noble People’s executive leadership team alongside founders Greg March (CEO), Lindsay Lustberg (COO) and Todd Alchin (CMO). She most recently held director of HR roles at two holding companies – Omnicom and M&C Saatchi, respectively – and prior, was global director of HR at artist representation agency Great Bowery.

As chief people officer, Richens-Moody will build out and lead Noble People’s human resources department, focusing on employee relations and growth, DE&I practices and initiatives, recruitment, performance management, and compensation. More specifically, she is charged with putting into place policies and procedures that support the agency’s core values, ensuring all employees are given the proper training and support in their current roles while helping to set them up for continued career success. She will also work with the management team to amplify organizational performance and operational integrity.

In addition, Richens-Moody will develop a proactive recruitment and retention strategy to stay ahead of business demand, seeking to establish relationships with talent and builders excited to disrupt the industry.  She will focus on further building an agency of all kinds - ethnicities, upbringings, personal passions, skillsets, and specialities–with an eye toward creating an environment ripe for collaboration, big ideas, bold solutions, and long term growth.

“The last two years have forced employers to face harsh truths about the world of work and employee engagement. HR departments now, more than ever, are essential to businesses in order to help reevaluate internal processes, ensure equitable and equal opportunity for success and succession, and attract and retain top talent,” said Richens-Moody. “Noble People is at a crucial point in its expansion, which is one of the reasons I was so drawn to this opportunity. They’re fully invested in recalibrating their HR function into an intentional practice adding resources for career training, education, compensation transparency, equity and inclusion and mental and emotional health support—and I’m fully invested in partnering with the agency and its employees to navigate its next phase of growth.”

“We've grown so quickly in the last couple years and we're priming ourselves for what's coming. Our unique product requires deliberate teaching, coaching and mentorship. And at scale, it also requires a full-service HR practice,” said Lindsay Lustberg, COO of Noble People. “Mel knows people and gets behind what personally drives their fulfillment and ultimately their performance. I have a tremendous amount of faith in her ability to harness personal passions toward big thinking, and to attract the kind of talent that’s excited to do bold things in this industry.”  

Richens-Moody brings over 20 years of global experience overseeing talent development and human resources for companies within the advertising, media and production industries, with a history of building HR practices from the ground up. Prior to her role at Hearts & Science (Omnicom), Richens-Moody worked at M&C Saatchi US where she introduced a shared HR service model for the network’s US operations. Before M&C Saatchi, she was Global Director of HR for artist representation agency Great Bowery, whose roster included the who’s who in the business of fashion industry. There she built an entire HR function while establishing process alignment across multiple M&A deals on a global scale. She also held Director-level HR positions at Gardner Nelson & Partners, where she spent 12 years, and at the former award winning broadcast creative design agency Pittard Sullivan.