Ella Bennett, Fujitsu
Jan-Harald Fuchs, Vodafone
Bernard Galton, Welsh Government
Kathryn Gray, Legal & General
Paul Kane, Shell
Jez Langhorn, McDonald's
Cathy Lewis, Prudential Assurance
Clare Mayo, Hanson
Jim McLaughlin, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
David McNerney, Sellafield Ltd
Emma Simpson, Royal Bank of Scotland
Matt Stripe, Nestlé UK
John Whelan, BAE Systems
Nominated Members
Ella Bennett
Fujitsu, HR Director, UK & Ireland
Ella passionately believes that any sustainable business can only succeed through its people; it is how the people are led that makes the difference between success and failure. As HR Director for Fujitsu UK & Ireland, Ella is a key member of the Fujitsu leadership team and currently leads a highly engaged HR function of over 200 people.
Joining Fujitsu in 2000, Ella has held several significant divisional HR roles as well as masterminding the company’s lean-based approach to continuous improvement in a service environment. This approach, which encourages and allows people to take responsibility for resolving problems and issues as they arise, really demonstrates the powerful combination of transformational leadership and trust.
Ella’s early career was spent in the voluntary sector with Mind, the National Association for Mental Health, and the Family Services Unit.
Ella’s other passions are for the arts and cultural experiences and she enjoys swimming, cycling and running.
Jan-Harald Fuchs
Vodafone Group Services Limited, Head of Organisation Effectiveness & Change Director
Bernard Galton
Welsh Government, Director General
Bernard Galton joined the Welsh Government as HR Director in January 2004. A career Civil Servant, Bernard spent the majority of his career in the Ministry of Defence in different posts across UK and overseas. He is a HR professional with many years experience of both operational and strategic Human Resources together with experience of Health and Safety Emergency Planning and Security.
Bernard is the Board's Career Development Champion. He is also a member of the Civil Service HR Leaders Council and CAPTIA HR Advisory Board.
Kathryn Gray
Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd, HR Director - Protection & Annuities
Kathryn joined L&G in 2010 as HR Director for the Protection & Annuities Division. She recently added the Leadership & Talent function to her responsibilities for the wider L&G Group - and has a keen interest in this topic.
Kathryn has worked in HR for nearly 20 years and previous organisations have included RBS, Vodafone, De La Rue, Tesco and Astra Zeneca. Her early career was in science with Astra Zeneca where she made the move into HR. She holds a Masters degree in People and Organisational development and is a keen recreational walker, traveller, and part-time Geordie.
Paul Kane
Shell International B.V., VP HR Functional Excellence
Paul was born in Manchester and holds an MA from Oxford University (PPE) and an MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics. He joined Shell in 1981 in the UK working in international HR. Following an assignment to a refinery construction project in Saudi Arabia he returned to the UK operating in a variety of HR and Industrial Relations roles in Shell Downstream in marketing, distribution and refining. He was HR manager for the Shell Expro Brent Field in the North Sea during a challenging phase of offshore reconstruction, before moving to a role supporting the HR function in the Shell companies in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This was followed by a stint as HR Manager for the Shell marketing companies in Africa – a role involving significant change management as the business moved to a clustered model. The theme of change management continued in his subsequent roles as European HRM for Shell’s B2B businesses and as OE/IR Manager for Global Manufacturing (refining and chemicals manufacture). He has been recently appointed as Senior Advisor HRFE, based in The Hague, supporting Shell’s HR Executive Team in ensuring that the function stays at the forefront of global HR strategy and thinking. Paul is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. When not in The Hague he resides in Kent, is married with two sons, has a keen interest in history and rugby football and is an active Masters Rower.
Jez Langhorn
McDonald's Restaurants Ltd, Vice President, People
Jez was appointed Vice-President People for McDonald's UK in January 2011. He has responsibility for Human Resources, Employer Reputation, Education, Training and Development, Customer Services, Environment, and the company's sponsorship of the volunteering programme for London 2012. In addition, Jez also plays a key role in aligning the People strategies of the company's Northern European Division.
- He was previously McDonald's UK Human Resources Director, and in this role he helped transform the reputation of the company as an employer through a series of industry-leading initiatives which included:
The accreditation of McDonald's as an awarding body in 2008, and the subsequent introduction of nationally recognised qualifications. - The use of leading-edge technology to engage with predominantly young, techno-savvy employees
- The creation of an on-going, disruptive promotional campaign to challenge inaccurate preconceptions about working in the hospitality sector.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Jez is also a member of the Functional Skills Employers Advisory Group and the Employer Partnership Board at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, and a member of the Qualifications Advisory Group at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
Cathy Lewis
Prudential Assurance Co Ltd, HR Director UK & Europe
Cathy Lewis joined Prudential UK & Europe as their Executive HR director in November 2009. Prior to this Cathy has spent her HR career in the financial services sector for Abbey as their Group Director of Reward and Employee Relations and more recently as Executive HR Director of Cooperative Financial Services.
Cathy’s early HR career was with BAA, as HR Director for Gatwick Airport and Group Head of Management Development.
Clare Mayo
Hanson UK, HR Director
Clare joined the construction company Hanson in 1994 and held a variety of generalist HR positions. Clare became Director of Human Resources for the Hanson UK business in 2008. Throughout the course of her career with Hanson she led many change programmes and supported a number of mergers, acquisitions and disposals. She is a chartered member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has a BTEC diploma in Business and Finance. Her interests include talent management, employee relations and M&As. Clare is married with two children.
Jim McLaughlin
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Director of Human Resources
Jim joined the NDA in April 2008 from the Royal Bank of Scotland where he had worked since 2003, most recently as their Head of Learning. Jim has more than 25 years of experience in the construction, power generation and supply industries, including the roles of Director of Learning for Scottish Power and International HR Director for Pacificorp based in the USA. He is a chartered member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has an MBA. Jim is also a Non-Executive Director of Direct Rail Services, Nucleus Training and is a trustee of two nuclear industry pension schemes.
David McNerney
Capability Director, Sellafield Ltd
David McNerney is the Executive Director of Human Resources at Sellafield Ltd. He has spent the last 23 years working in Human Relations, Change and Business services roles both here in the UK and abroad. He has worked in a variety of industries from manufacturing through telecoms and utility management. Prior to joining the Sellafield Ltd team, David was working as Business Services Director for a highly successful water infrastructure programme on the South Coast of England.
David is married with a 12-year-old daughter. He enjoys most sports and is a keen rugby fan.
Emma Simpson
Royal Bank of Scotland, Leadership & Performance, Group Talent
Matt Stripe
Nestlé UK & Ireland, Group Human Resources Director
Matt started his career in manufacturing in the defence industry, designing manufacturing facilities for missile systems. He then moved to Human Resources and progressed to hold a number of senior HR roles within the European defence contractor Matra BAe Dynamics before joining BAE Systems to take up the role of Head of Human Resources and Head of Employee Relations for the Hawk Aircraft. During that time Matt spent two years working with Wayne Brockbank and CK Prahalad of the University of Michigan on the future role of Human Resources as well as guiding the Brough site through a major restructure.
Mid 2003 he joined Nestlé and in 2006 was promoted to the role of Director of Human Resources for the Nestlé Rowntree Division. In 2008 Matt moved to Switzerland as Assistant Vice President Human Resources Nestlé SA before returning to the UK in August 2010 to take up the role of Group Human Resources Director Nestlé UK & Ireland. Matt has a Masters in organisational design and development and his interests are in organisational design, employee relations and NLP. Matt is married and has one daughter.
John Whelan
BAE Systems (Operations) Limited, HR Director Programmes & Support and MAS HR Director
After gaining a degree in Business and a diploma in Human Resource Management John spent ten years in a variety of HR roles in engineering and manufacturing businesses.
In 1994 he joined Matra-Marconi Space as Human Resources Director in the UK and was later appointed as overall Human Resources Director, based in Paris. The UK share of Matra Marconi was then acquired by BAE Systems, following the merger with Marconi.
John transferred to BAE SYSTEMS as Avionics Group Human Resources Director at the end of 1999. He led the HR merger integration project and process for Avionics.
At the end of 2001, John transferred to BAE Systems Head Office as HR Director, Organisation Development and Learning, responsible for management development and talent at Company level.
In September 2007 he was appointed as Human Resources Director, Military Air Solutions. In this role he worked with the MAS Board to help implement the people and organisation plans in support of the strategy.
In December 2009, John was appointed as Human Resources Director for Programmes and Support in addition to the MAS role; he works with the P&S Board on cross-cutting organisational and people issues and UK employment policy and Employee Relations.
John is married to Tina and has two children – Michael 19 and Grace 16, they live in Hampshire and most of John’s spare time is taken up with family activities and watching rugby.
