4D Executive Search Places Senior Director of People Operations for TrueCar 

December 20, 2019 – Los Angeles-based recruitment firm 4D Executive Search has helped place Sonya McLelland as the new senior director of people operations for TrueCar Inc., a digital automotive marketplace, in Santa Monica, CA.

Ms. McLelland will be responsible for ensuring a high-level experience for both employees and managers across all human resources transactions and programs, said 4D Executive Search. She will work closely with all levels of the organization to ensure planning, design and oversight of human resources functions to meet business objectives.

Ms. McLelland joins TrueCar from Tastemade, a Santa Monica-based media company which creates food, travel and home programming, where she was head of people operations. Before that, she served as a recruiter for Whole Foods Market in Austin, TX. She has also worked in HR operations for Indeed.com and as HR manager for Wild Radish. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington. Ms. McLelland is also a SHRM certified professional.

In her new role, Ms. McLelland will be expected to drive consistency and continual process improvement across the people operations team to deliver seamless service to the business in all TrueCar locations, said the search firm. She is charged with managing people directly, while also providing functional guidance and expertise to resources stakeholders across the business.

Strategy and Oversight

As TrueCar’s senior director of people operations, Ms. McLelland is further charged with providing strategy and oversight of the administration of the HRIS system, benefits and core HR activities across the company, with the goal of moving towards employee self-service, said 4D Executive Search.

Ms. McLelland will also be responsible for the delivery and support of all of the following: benefit programs, HR and recruiting policy, procedures and handbook, HRIS, compliance and reporting. She will be expected to provide exceptional service levels to the organization and instill those expectations for the rest of the operations team.

TrueCar was looking for a service-oriented self-starter with the ability to balance conflicting points of view, function effectively under pressure and demonstrate discretion, integrity and fair-mindedness, said 4D Executive Search. Candidates were required to have strong experience handling sensitive HR legal issues related to California and U.S. labor laws, with bonus points for multi-state hourly experience. The ability to anticipate business needs, think proactively and respond appropriately was also essential.

Relationships Matter

TrueCar shows consumers what others paid for the car they want, so they can recognize a fair price. Users receive upfront pricing information when they connect with TrueCar certified dealers, helping them have a more confident buying experience. TrueCar operates its own site and powers car-buying programs for over 500 companies, including brands like USAA, AARP and American Express. The company,  which prides itself on transparency, has a network of over 14,000 certified dealers and currently, over one third of all new car buyers engage with the TrueCar network during their purchasing process.


Longevity and Integrity Prove Hard to Beat at 4D Executive Search
When it comes to her work of placing human resources executives for companies, Robin Levitt, president of 4D Executive Search has two main sources of pride. One is her integrity as a search professional. The other is her longevity in a marketplace that has grown increasingly complex and competitive since she conducted her first HR search more than 20 years ago. “When I started in this business there was only one other firm that was doing human resources placement,” she said recently. “Now there’s more, and I’m still standing.”

Ms. Levitt serves businesses across a wide range of industries and along the way has built untold numbers of lasting relationships with clients and candidates alike. It all comes together in experience and insight and a network that few of her competitors can match. “I’ve been doing this since 1998, and I have seen this market shift from personnel to HR business partners to talent management,” said Ms. Levitt, whose firm is based in Los Angeles.


4D Executive Search bases its approach to recruiting talent in the belief that relationships form the foundation of organizational culture, and that culture provides the basis for morale, productivity and profit. The search firm prides itself on its ability to consistently identify and recruit candidates who possess both desired skill-sets and the “X factors” contributing to ideal workplace dynamics. In each search, 4D Executive Search works closely with management to ensure that any insights from the process are incorporated into long-term best hiring practices.

The firm uses a proprietary methodology to assess candidates and streamline the interview and recruitment process, making the most of its clients’​ time and resources. Working across industries with start-ups and Fortune 100 companies alike, 4D Executive Search makes placements in human resources, finance, operations, sales, and marketing. Its clients have included BeautyCounter, justfab, LRW and Nova.

The search firm is led by president and CEO Robin Levitt. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Ms. Levitt began her recruiting career in San Francisco in the mid-1990s. After honing her skills, she moved to Los Angeles, where she launched Human Resources International. Ms. Levitt partnered with leaders across the country, to brand the company, build the internal ATS system and develop nationwide training. She then moved on to recruiting in the bio/pharma arena, placing in the areas of R&D, operations, sales and marketing and scientific. She worked for a boutique search firm and St. Jude Medical, a leading cardiac device company. Ms. Levitt formed A&R Consulting in 2003, and then six years later became president of RSL Associates, a firm she led for over eight years. In 2011, she founded 4D Executive Search, focused on the human resources needs of start-ups and emerging market and high growth businesses.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

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