Atlas HXM, a global workforce platform built on compliance, has appointed John Fennelly as chief executive officer. Fennelly, who has served on the Atlas HXM board since September 2025, brings more than 30 years of experience leading global technology, information services and human capital businesses. He joins from Lionbridge, a pioneer and leader in localization, games and AI services, where as president and CEO since 2017 he led more than 7,000 people and built technology solutions while delivering consistent growth. Before Lionbridge, Fennelly was CEO of HireRight, a global HR technology leader serving more than 40,000 customers, where he led a major transformation that delivered record revenue and earnings growth.
At Atlas HXM, Fennelly will lead the company's vision for the next generation of global workforce management solutions, helping customers scale global operations with agility and ease.
The appointment matters because companies of all sizes are increasingly looking across the globe for talent, but they need partners who can engage that talent responsibly and quickly, regardless of location. Atlas HXM helps businesses decide how each worker should be engaged: as an employee through Employer of Record (EOR) or as a contractor through Agent of Record (AOR), and then manage the entire lifecycle in one place. The Atlas HXM EOR service operates entities in more than 160 countries and is backed by more than a decade of practitioner-led compliance expertise.
"Companies of all sizes are looking across the globe for the people that will help them innovate and grow," Fennelly said. "Companies are no longer bound by where talent lives, but they need the right partner with the expertise to engage that talent responsibly and can get them up and running, regardless of their location. Our opportunity is to bring technology and human expertise together in a way that makes global workforce management dramatically simpler."
The CEO change signals continuity with Atlas HXM's long-standing "For People, By People" philosophy, which holds that technology should make global employment smarter while people remain at the heart of it. Bill Keenan, chairman of the board at Atlas HXM and a principal at Sixth Street Growth, said Fennelly's record of scaling global businesses, leading transformation and building winning cultures aligns closely with where the company is going next.
Atlas HXM is recognized as a category leader by NelsonHall and Everest Group and builds Human Experience Management into its direct EOR, AOR, payroll and compliance capabilities. Fennelly's appointment positions the company to compete in a global workforce management market that increasingly demands both technological sophistication and deep compliance expertise.
