Dr. James Hooks is a leadership philosopher, coach, and talent executive in tech, currently as Senior Director and Head of People Experience and Learning at Roblox. He previously led teams at Airbnb, Meta, Twitter, and a variety of management consulting firms. He also manages TilTheDay.com, a studio that develops concepts for popular entertainment franchises. James brings innovation, influence, and mindfulness to how he builds, develops, and inspires organizations and teams.
At Roblox, he built and scaled from 0 to 1 the company’s first learning and development group, eventually expanding the group’s scope beyond learning into employee experience and people product management, and creating a production studio for internal and external video production. At Airbnb, he created and led Learning Labs, an innovative high-touch leadership development experience focused on delivering rapid behavioral change in key skills areas. He partnered with the company’s CTO and tech leadership team to drive key transformations across the company. At Facebook, he provided direction, oversight, and management of research educators, ensuring consistency in design principles and delivery across the entire research organization. He was also featured in Imposter Magazine, published by Facebook, where his piece Lead Like A Loser was first published.
His dissertation research was on the Meaning Making of African American Leaders in Technology Organizations. He also holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership from University of Massachusetts , where his thesis was on Guiding Leadership Through Technologies in the Development of Transformative Organizational Cultures. Other academic achievements and work include Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Chapman University.
He previously served as Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of Urban City Fresh in Atlanta, a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on food education, and mentored with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
He primarily resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his dog, Kingsley.
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