2024-07-25 00:00:02
Mario Barge will join West Virginia University in August as associate vice president of Talent and Culture.
Barge is an experienced human resources executive with 24 years in the insurance, health care and consulting industries. With experience across many aspects of the human resources industry, he has created and overseen national, enterprise-wide programs and led teams of varying sizes for multiple Fortune 100 companies over the years.
Most recently, Barge served as principal of Geneva Executive Partners, an human resources consulting firm that he co-founded. In that capacity, he provided consulting, development and coaching services for clients across a multitude of industries. Barge also previously served as the vice president of human resources for Unified Women’s Healthcare for which he oversaw the human resources needs of 13,000 employees and affiliates spanning over 20 states and 2,600 providers.
Other notable chapters in Barge’s professional career include his role as a regional human resources executive for the Centene Corporation where he oversaw a team that supported over 3,500 employees and various positions with Nationwide where he created a number of human resources-related programs, including ones focused on human resources compliance governance, ADA/FMLA leave management, data and analytics talent swaps, human resources auditing and sexual harassment training.
Barge has a passion for creating, building and supporting diverse workplaces and cultures. He has a juris doctorate from Lewis and Clark Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.
In August 2023, the University announced reorganization efforts for the Talent and Culture unit to better serve our University. Talent and Culture teams began reporting to Stephanie Taylor in November 2023 amid a reorganization of the former Strategic Initiatives unit, which was dissolved when the former vice president of the unit left the University.
This spring, as part of efforts to create greater efficiencies within Talent and Culture with a stronger customer service mindset, the Human Resources Partner, Talent Strategy, Leadership and Organizational Development, Medical Management and Projects and Operations teams as well as three Shared Services teams were restructured. These efforts resulted in a savings of approximately $500,000.
In addition, effective immediately, Sarah Seime will transition from her role as director of Employee Relations to executive director of Employee Engagement and Solutions. In this role, Sarah will continue her administrative oversight of Employee Relations, Investigations, Medical Management and Leadership and Organizational Development and will direct key strategic projects for the advancement of WVU employees and Talent and Culture.
RaeLynn Regula will now serve as director of Employee Relations and Investigations.
Barge will report to Taylor when he begins his role on Aug. 6.
