Experience

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  People Puzzles

  • East of England

  • Portfolio People Director

    • Jan 2024 - Present
    • East of England

    I am a People Director working with People Puzzles, a portfolio HR Director business. Our purpose is to help business owners achieve their goals by developing people strategies to help them transform and grow. Underpinning my approach is a firm belief that if you can get the best from your team, your business will be more successful and profitable as a result.As a Portfolio People Director, I oversee all people-based activities within your organisation, both strategic and tactical, to help enable your business to deliver its vision and business goals. Most mid-tier businesses don't want, don't need or can't afford a full-time People Director. Yet all businesses need the expertise to ensure they have capable, motivated and well-trained people. We work flexibly as part of your top team to find straightforward solutions to your people puzzles, for a fraction of the cost of a full-timer. People Puzzles People Directors work with over 200 SMEs on a recurring basis, usually weekly, providing them with strategic and operational advice and support. Regions: Hertfordshire and surrounding areas

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  GAMA Healthcare

  • Hemel Hempstead

  • Interim Chief People Officer

    • Sep 2022 - Sep 2023
    • Hemel Hempstead

    I was invited back to GAMA as interim CPO. Four key priorities were: (1) secure key hires at ExCo and ExCo-1 levels (2) Oversee the effective roll-out of GAMA's Leadership Development Programme (IMPACT) (3) Put in place policies and processes to support business change and (4) Recruit my successor.

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  GAMA Healthcare Ltd

  • Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

  • Chief People Officer

    • Mar 2017 - May 2022
    • Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

    GAMA Healthcare is a fast-paced, innovative company operating globally. Its purpose is to help prevent infections to save and improve lives. Specialists in the design, manufacture and distribution of unique infection prevention and control (IPC) products with exceptional aftercare support. GAMA Healthcare is ranked 58 in the UK's fastest growing privately owned businesses, June 2022, as reported by The Sunday Times.I had the privilege of partnering with two Founder CEOs who had the ambition and commitment to build a distinctive as well as innovative business - a place which would attract and retain great talents. In this context, I facilitated the creation of GAMA's Purpose, Mission, Goals and Values and the formation of the GAMA Leadership Team; I led the design and embedding of a range of lean, effective people practices (communication and engagement, development, reward and recognition); All of which were key to shaping the GAMA culture and values (leading to a series of business awards: Leading with Purpose, Wellbeing, Business Culture).

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  People Puzzles Ltd

  • St Albans, United Kingdom

  • Portfolio HR Director

    • Jul 2016 - Feb 2018
    • St Albans, United Kingdom

    The purpose of People Puzzles is to help ambitious business owners achieve their goals by addressing their people issues and setting a strategy that gets the right people on the bus. As part-time HR Director, I work in partnership with several SME business owners to build the right capabilities and people practices to equip their business for the next step of their journey

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  Rob Cook Consulting

  • St. Albans, Hertfordshire

  • Director

    • Jan 2014 - Jun 2016
    • St. Albans, Hertfordshire

    Freelance HR professional supporting large and small businesses.Key activities: Addressing key organizational & behavioral issues impeding strong collaboration. Recruitment of key Marketing and Medical Affairs leaders; Developing strong individual specialists so as to make a broader business impact. Managing the closure of a luxury retail business in Mayfair (redundancy process, career coaching, outplacement support)

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  NKD Learning

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Operational Managing Director

    • Apr 2013 - Jan 2014
    • London, United Kingdom

    Responsible for all operational aspects of NKD (25 Learning Directors, Consultants and project support).Strategic issues: Grow the business and expand client base; Drive flexibility in resource allocation; Strengthen relationships with key clients. Bring process and infrastructure to a young organization.

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  AstraZeneca

  • United Kingdom
  • Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Area HR Director, Eastern Europe

    • Apr 2012 - Apr 2013

    Accountable for all aspects of HR for 4 businesses (Turkey, Poland, Central Eastern Europe, Southern Eastern Europe) and 1400 employees. Strategic issues: Transforming from 26 country to 4 cluster management teams; Moving from 'traditional well resourced pharma' to business clusters sharing resources; Driving innovation in ‘go to market' thinking; Building a highly connected Area Leadership Team; Alignment of HR strategy and organization to business priorities. Building new capabilities in Marketing and IT through matrix structures.

  • EMEA Transformation Lead, AZ Engage HR Transformation Programme

    • May 2010 - May 2012

    Lead a small team of technical experts to lead HR transformation across every business in EMEA, from country-specific systems and infrastructure to one global platform.Strategic issues: Building an effective commercial partnership with an external partner. Ensuring quick mobilization of capable local teams; Strong stakeholder management with EMEA business leaders and HRDs to ensure delivery against challenging tollgate deadlines.

  • HR Vice President - The Netherlands

    • Sep 2005 - Apr 2010

    Management Board Director responsible for all aspects of HR, including sales training and coaching. Strategic Issues: Building a highly engaged connected organization to better respond to a rapidly changing health care system. Increasing capability/ credibility of HR through building expertise in Business Partnering supported by improved technology. Introducing modern HR practices to develop employees, leadership, and to build succession pipeline. Strategic review of total reward to promote high performing cross-functional and commercial teams. Continually review of organization design to ensure the right capabilities at the right cost.

  • HR Director - Greece

    • Jan 2005 - Aug 2005

    Management Board Director responsible for all aspects of HR.Strategic issues: To support boardroom leadership changes, including the recruitment of HR Director. To co-lead a culture change to ensure alignment to Global values and practices. To organize, align and inspire the HR team to support business priorities and to professionalise people management practices across the organisation.

  • Head of HR Business Partnering

    • Jun 2002 - Jan 2005

    Leading a team of 12 HR Business Partners, Consultants, Administrators and Specialists to deliver the full range of HR business support. Strategic Issues: Moving from a poorly equipped, reactive HR team to a credible and capable function with a compelling value-add business proposition. Helping business leaders understand and capture the value of a coherent people agenda, underpinned by effective tools. Up-skilling of line managers to build strong teams. Significant organization downsizing to reflect new requirements of the UK health care system

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  Barclays Bank

  • United Kingdom
  • Financial Services
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Head of Reward - Corporate Banking

    • May 2001 - May 2002

    Managed a team of 5 Reward professionals in the delivery of reward solutions to 6 SBUs (c. 10,000 employees)Strategic Issues: Leveraging pay flexibility to differentiate according to performance levels (‘Top Ranking’). Reposition the reward team as a credible and capable business-savvy team.

  • Head of Reward: Strategic Marketing & Distribution

    • Apr 1999 - Apr 2001

    Managed a team of 8 Reward professionals in the delivery of reward solutions to 750 branch networks and 3 call centres (c. 25,000 employees)Strategic Issues: Differentiating reward in favour of high performers, rather than tenure; Giving business managers flexibility and skills to use pay to attract and retain good people in labour market ‘hot spots’. Moving from fixed Christmas bonus awards to 6-monthly performance bonus plans to support high performance culture. Rebuilding the reward team with new capabilities and more effective stakeholder management skills to make a bigger difference.

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  Kraft Heinz

  • Hayes, Middlesex

  • Head of Reward, Europe; Factory HR Manager; Employee Relations Manager, Development Manager

    • May 1988 - Apr 1999
    • Hayes, Middlesex

    Various roles in Heinz Operations and European Head Office. Initially as Development Manager at HQ; 7 years in Factory roles (Employee Relations, Group Manager then overall HR Manager) then returning to Euro HQ as Head of Reward with dual reporting to European Management Services Director and USA Reward VP.