The mid-spring edition features important appointments at three UK companies, Associated British Ports (ABP), Sodexo and Stagecoach
Rachael Parri, Associated British Ports
ABP, UK’s largest operator of ports, announced Rachael parr as the new director for group human resources.
Parr comes from Electricity North West where she served as director of corporate and people services.
Alison Rumsey retired from ABP last May.
Parr expressed her delight at “heading the people agenda, which is crucial to achieving the twin missions of the company: Keeping Britain Trading and Facilitating the Energy Transition”. I have been impressed by ABP’s ambition, which was evident in the entire recruitment process.
Henrik L. Pedersen said that Parr’s HR experience in an “important infrastructure business” which played a key role in the energy transformation was relevant for ABP.
Parr and Rumsey are to share the handover period after Parr’s arrival.
Sarah Blake, Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group, a bus and coach operator, has named Sarah Blake its new Chief People Officer.
Blake will report to Claire Miles as chief executive officer of Stagecoach and be responsible for the people strategy within the organization. Blake will be responsible for overseeing the people strategy across Stagecoach, including key areas like talent acquisition, employee values proposition, learning and developments, employee engagement, rewards and benefits.
Sarah was the chief people officer of TalkTalk before joining Stagecoach. She led the people agenda in the digital consumer business, which is a fast-paced and dynamic environment. She played a major role in the development of the people strategy and the growth of the company during her tenure.
Blake said: “I will be working with a talented and dynamic team in order to drive the company’s vision forward, foster an environment that thrives on inclusion and empowers all employees to make a positive difference.
Blake’s new role will see her supporting Stagecoach as it transitions to an all-electric fleet. Blake’s appointment, according to the firm, reinforces their commitment to strengthening its leadership team by adding experience from outside of the bus industry to compliment a wealth in expertise. The company’s senior team now has a gender balance of 50:50.
Helio Fujita, Mars
Helio Fujita has been named as the global VP of people and organisations for Mars’ pet nutrition, health services and business. Fujita will be joining the company in July and will report directly to Loic Moutault. President of Mars Petcare.
Fujita has over 25 years of experience as a HR leader in diverse industries, including automotive, health and pharmaceuticals. He brings to Mars a wealth knowledge and expertise.
Moutault stated: “Helio’s deep experience in HR and commercial strategy combined with his proven track records of building organisational capability to drive business growth, will be an incredible asset to our team.”
Fujita, who has worked for major health care companies such as Fresenius, Abbott, Novartis, and Sandoz, throughout his career, said that Mars is known for its “special company culture and values.”
Fiona Lavery, PPL
Fiona Lavery, a director of operations and people at PPL’s social enterprise management consultancy, has been appointed to a newly-created role.
She will be responsible for leading the PPL in-house team, with strategic responsibility over the finance division, people division, and facilities. This includes the PPL Hub in central London, which is a free office space for community and charity groups.
Fiona has over 20 years of experience in strategic HR, primarily within the charity and health sectors.
Claire Kennedy and Simon Morioka are the joint chief executives at PPL. They said Lavery’s “passion for work culture and creating and maintaining psychologically safe and inclusion workplaces” will allow us to continue to provide excellent service for our clients.
Lavery, a former WaterAid global leadership and employee-experience director, will focus on the employee experience to ensure that individuals and teams can maximise their strengths, and work effectively and efficiently to deliver outstanding work to clients.
Lavery, an associate member of CIPD, is currently studying organisational behavior and leadership at Cranfield Management School.
Bill Buchan is the UK and Ireland Sodexo representative.
Bill Buchan, the new HR director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, is a food services company.
He will continue to serve as a member of the global HR leadership team and join the UK & Ireland regional leadership team.
The firm stated that he will play a crucial role in driving service quality amongst teams on client sites, and ensure the organisation has the best talent to support their continued growth.
Buchan began his career with Sodexo as the HR Director for Health and Care in the UK and Ireland in 2009. He then moved on to other senior HR positions in global organizations. Buchan was also senior vice president of global HR operations where he had responsibility for HR strategy and HR projects.
He held several HR positions with BAE Systems in the UK, Airbus, and BG Group.
Angus MacGregor, Shaw Gibbs
Shaw Gibbs, a tax and accounting advisory firm, has appointed Angus MacGregor to the position of chief people officer. This appointment will take place this month.
MacGregor, a HR and legal professional with over 30 years of experience in the legal and financial sectors, has been working for more than three decades. He was passionate about creating talent management strategies and people policies that align career growth with business growth.
He said: “It’s clear that [CEO] Peter O’Connell and his leadership, as well as the Apiary Team are passionate about developing their people side of business. This is part of their overall strategic plan.”
O’Connell stated: “Scaling sustainable requires more than just headcount growth. It also requires investing in the way we empower professionals, starting with those on their first rungs of the career ladder and moving up to strategic hires. Angus will lead our HR teams at Shaw Gibbs, which includes recruitment and learning and growth. His position will be crucial in many ways.
Sarah Williams, OCS
Sarah Williams, the new chief human resources officer of OCS in the UK and Ireland, has been appointed by facility management company OCS.
Her role, according to the company, would be focused on delivering initiatives driven by people that allow every OCS employee thrive as well as embedding values of the firm into daily practices. Williams’ role would be to align leadership and development frameworks to its values and embed the firm’s values into everyday practices.
Williams, who has experience in the construction, retail, and distribution sectors, is passionate about people-led initiatives. She is dedicated to creating a workplace culture that empowers frontline staff to do their best work.
She said: “To be a good leader, I must understand the realities of what our employees do.” This means spending time at the frontline and shadowing shifts to better understand challenges and support teams. “Our values are more than just words. They are already being lived by OCS.”
Beth Conway UKG
Beth Conway, a chief people officer at UKG, a multinational technology company that specializes in HR and workforce management, has been appointed by the firm. Conway, who will report to Jennifer Morgan, chief executive officer, will be responsible for talent acquisition, total reward, people operations, and employee relations.
Conway, who has more than 25 years’ experience in HR, has led HR technology transformation initiatives, supported mergers and acquisitions and provided environmental, social and governance guidance.
Conway was most recently executive vice president and chief places and people officer at AI firm Nuance Communications. He has also led a global human resources organisation and worked for enterprise management software development organisation CA Technologies.
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Conway stated: “UKG’s growth ambitions are both bold, and achievable. Our ability to scale our business rapidly depends heavily on our ability develop, support and empower our employees.”
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