Kevin Frank is a highly effective and respected human resources leader with over 20 years of experience. He has a proven track record in developing and executing strategies that improve organizational performance and employee engagement, and he is known for building strong and trusted relationships with employees and business leaders.
Kevin’s career began in the hospitality industry, where he held his first HR position at the Ritz-Carlton. Before joining Golden Hippo, he served as Vice President of Human Resources for Ticketmaster, a division of Live Nation Entertainment, for six years and prior to that as Director & Senior HR Business Partner at Blackboard.
Kevin has been with Golden Hippo since 2020 and played a key role in enriching its culture and contributing to its success post-pandemic. As the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), he is responsible for all aspects of the company’s Human Resources operations, successfully implementing many initiatives that have improved employee satisfaction and engagement levels.
Under Kevin’s leadership, Golden Hippo has been recognized by Comparably as one of the Best Companies for Leadership, Career Growth, Outlook, and Best Company in Los Angeles. This recognition speaks to the strong culture of development and opportunity that he helped create and nurture.
Kevin uses a markedly human approach to HR, meaning he prioritizes the needs of employees, leaders and company culture above all else. He understands that happy and engaged employees are key to organizational success, and works hard to create an environment where employees at all levels can thrive. Kevin believes that HR executives too often focus on the “resources” part of HR more than the “human” factor.
In addition to his emphasis on employee well-being, Kevin is also known for his dedication to hiring, developing and retaining top talent. He believes that every employee has potential to bring and be a better version of themselves at work, and he strives to identify and develop that potential in all employees.
Kevin says, “I’ve even had outreach from former employees… saying, ‘thank you for the coaching and training you’ve offered that got me to this next step in my career and has helped me through some tricky situations.’” He adds that he feels like he’s “really impacting lives which has been my raison d être for getting into HR in the first place”
This genuine and human-centric approach to HR has led to Golden Hippo cultivating a culture of excellence, where employees feel supported and valued. This, in turn, creates a positive domino effect throughout the organization, resulting in higher engagement, productivity, retention levels, and ultimately – business outcomes.
Kevin believes that innovation is a core foundational value of Golden Hippo and that it sets the company apart from its competitors. He says that the company’s culture of innovation has led to its success in many areas, including product development, technology, and digital marketing.
“Everyone is empowered to share their voice, contribute, and be part of the innovative machine of Golden Hippo,” Kevin says, adding that the company “applies those principles to every corner of the organization, allowing them to grow and evolve as an organization.”
“To innovate and be creative, you need to be able to collaborate and communicate well and efficiently across lines and teams, up and down, and in every direction of the organization.” Kevin says they are “making it pretty easy to do so at Golden Hippo, even in our hybrid organization where many of us work remotely either part or full-time.”
Golden Hippo is an employee-owned company, which means that all employees can take pride in ownership and all that comes with ownership. This type of structure creates a natural culture of accountability and responsibility, as all employees are vested in the company’s success.
This culture of ownership leads to higher levels of engagement and motivation, as employees feel more invested in their work, a desire to proactively contribute their best work towards the success of the organization.
“We even have monthly incentives,” Kevin explains, “aligning and reinforcing the [idea] that we are one team and we all win together, or we lose together. It allows for a real sense of trust, collaboration, and focused purpose”
This type of structure creates an environment where all voices are heard and everyone has the opportunity to offer input. It also promotes creativity and innovation because employees are not restricted by hierarchical barriers or red tape. All are encouraged and able to contribute well beyond the confines of one’s own role for the greater good of the organization. That can be pretty exciting!
Kevin believes company culture is powerful because it can help members of an organization feel connected to something larger than themselves. Employees who feel like they are part of a community are more likely to feel included, be engaged and motivated to bring their best, and to bring their authentic selves, offering their best. Kevin shares that “a strong culture with supporting values also informs employees of how they should make decisions and what’s expected, which gets reinforced by recognition and rewards. How we do something is just as important as what we do.”
Speaking about Golden Hippo’s approach, he says the company “tends to hit things head on, without dodging or avoiding the tough questions.” This type of commitment to culture, being real and straight, creates an environment where employees feel safe to be themselves and share their ideas without repercussions.
Transparency is another key tenant of the culture at Golden Hippo, and Kevin believes that it is one of the factors that makes the company unique. He says that employees are given access to the information they need, and leadership is out on the floors with everyone else accessible and open, and in front of the entire company every week in our All Hands willing to take the hard and direct questions. This type of transparency at the top contributes towards a feeling of empowerment and appreciation. We’re not perfect, we acknowledge that publicly, but we do our best – and that tends to be respected.
“Our employees know that we are transparent with as much information as we can give them, and if we can’t give them all the information, they tend to trust why we cannot do so. We’re not afraid of the tough questions. Doing our best to answer them avoids the unproductive rumor mill from forming” Kevin says.
Additionally, Kevin is a big believer in the power of simplicity, and he insists that change doesn’t have to be complex. He says that oftentimes, HR and business executives make the mistake of thinking that they need to create elaborate plans and programs to effect change. But the opposite is typically true: change is best achieved through small, incremental and open steps.
According to Kevin, the key is focusing on the basics and ensuring that employees have bought into the change process. To do so they need to understand the ‘why’ first and foremost, then the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘who’ and ‘how’. He also believes it is important to involve the right level of employees in offering input; people are more likely to support a change if they have had a say. Additionally, he suggests communicating frequently and openly about the changes in order to keep employees informed, aligned and engaged.
“We do less long-term planning. It’s not that we don’t look out to the future. We keep our eyes on the horizon, but our company’s focus is short-term because, in three months or six months, the world can change, and has been changing, and this approach enables us to be agile and quickly respond to the need for change” Kevin says, repeating his foundational belief that although change is inevitable, it doesn’t need to be complex. Keeping it simple is key.
“It’s about involving the right people. It’s about helping people understand the need for change, its value to them and the greater business, helping them be successful through the change, and then checking in and following up with questions like ‘What is working for you? What isn’t working for you?’” Kevin says. He reiterates the idea that involving employees in organizational decisions is best for the company’s future, when too often decisions are made in a vacuum at the top to those farthest from the work and impact.
Summarizing his thoughts on the culture and operations at Golden Hippo, Kevin says, “We have the stability of a tenured and successful company here, but we also have the spirit of an entrepreneurial company with so many white canvases across the organization that our employees can contribute to and put their thumb prints on making it a pretty special, exciting, and fun place to work at. They even have the opportunity to become ‘brand managers,’ becoming business owners of their own brand or product line and teams they can grow. And we have some real examples of that with our current brand managers.”
Kevin believes Golden Hippo’s unique values contribute to its success. He says that the company’s commitment to culture, transparency, and innovation creates an environment where employees feel supported, valued and empowered. He also believes that the company’s flat organizational structure fosters greater agility, creativity, collaboration, and ability to feel they are contributing to the larger company goals.
Ultimately, these values have led to Golden Hippo being an employer of choice, and the organization continues to foster a culture of innovation, trust, and growth.
