Open positions at the employee well-being company Limeade—with its stellar reputation and high visibility in the global HR community—naturally attract a high number of applicants. The real challenge? Finding that elusive needle in the HR haystack who, as Chief People Officer, delivers company growth via 1. A heightened culture-forward approach and 2. Proven abilities to expand globally via streamlined HR operations.

The maker-focused, fun, and philanthropic baking-mix company has teamed with Big Wave for 7 years and counting. Among the challenges over the years: Finding four great hires in HR to round out a suddenly too-small team in the midst of a critical Continental Mills-to-Krusteaz rebrand.

Treehouse, provides more than 8,000 youth in foster care in Washington with academic and other essential support to graduate from high school and pursue their dreams. They needed to hire a mission-oriented HR Director with strong fluency in racial equity to advance the Treehouse work culture.

Millions of gamers worldwide know Pokémon, the global gaming brand. So when positions open up, many clamor to apply at this cool place to work. Yet only a tiny slice of these are the right candidates—those fully capable of handling the company’s complex HR needs in a competitive, creative, dynamic, and fast-moving sector. For this project, the company didn’t just need a few people, though: they needed to build an entire HR team from the top down.

Michelle Wardian, President of the rapidly growing sportswear company Outdoor Research, needed to find a VP of HR for a newly created role. More than simply needing a traditional HR Generalist for an existing position, Michelle sought an entirely different skill set for this vital role—one involving long-term strategic planning at a transformative inflection point for the company.

GE Healthcare Digital—well-known for its vast portfolio of innovative medical products—announced a split into three public companies in 2021. To lead the operations of this massive transition, the C-Suite engaged a fractional team of Big Wave consultants in 2018. The biggest challenge? Everything was under a cloak of secrecy! GE couldn’t disclose to the Big Wave team OR to their own people the multiple (and unavoidable) business changes needed to form these three new companies.