Chief People Officer play a crucial role in any startup. It takes an extraordinary person to fulfil the Chief People Officer role. We have selected these Chief People Officer’s for this list as they are inspiring for a variety of reasons – whether that’s pushing boundaries, creating groundbreaking products, or doing their bit to save the world.
Our analysts did their best to select be best, and most innovative Chief People Officer’s. The list is in no particular order!
Caleb Merkl
Chief People Officer @ Deliveroo
Follow Caleb Merkl on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Caleb Merkl is the Chief People Officer at Deliveroo. He helped found New York-based Maple in 2014 where he served as CEO until the company was acquired by Deliveroo in 2017.
Learn more about Caleb Merkl on Crunchbase…Deliveroo is an online food delivery service that allows users to order restaurant meals using the web and mobile. Read more about Deliveroo on Crunchbase…
Nathan Clements
Chief People Officer @ SSP Group Plc
Follow Nathan Clements on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
SSP Group Plc operates branded food and beverage travel outlets. Read more about SSP Group Plc on Crunchbase…
Jonathan Crookall
Chief People Officer @ Costa Coffee
Follow Jonathan Crookall on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Costa Coffee is a British multinational coffeehouse company headquartered in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Read more about Costa Coffee on Crunchbase…
Charmaine Norville
Chief People Officer @ Shazam Entertainment
Follow Charmaine Norville on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Shazam Entertainment is an app that identify any music playing around you. Read more about Shazam Entertainment on Crunchbase…
Mira Magecha
Chief People Officer @ Just Eat
Follow Mira Magecha on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
[custom-twitter-feeds screenname=”miramagecha”]
Spoiler title
Mira was appointed as Chief People Officer (interim) in September 2018. Most recently she was International People Director supporting Just Eat through it’s growth and multiple global acquisitions. Prior to joining the business, Mira was an Independent Consultant having spent six years leading employee transformation programmes and teams at Capgemini. Mira has extensive experience leading people, building high performing teams and designing and supporting organisational change.
Learn more about Mira Magecha on Crunchbase…Just Eat provides convenient and easy access to a huge variety of delivery restaurants and order food online. Read more about Just Eat on Crunchbase…
Natalie Bickford
Chief People Officer @ Sanofi Pasteur
Follow Natalie Bickford on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Natalie has more than 20 years of HR experience, having started her career as a graduate manager with Barclays Plc. She has since held senior positions with Kingfisher Plc, AstraZeneca Plc, and Sodexo, leading highly commercial HR functions in the UK, for Europe, and most recently globally. Natalie is passionate about linking quality of life for employees with positive experiences for consumers, and improved business results. Natalie is a thought leader in diversity and inclusion, has won awards for her contribution to gender diversity in the UK, and is chair of the Women 1st campaign. Natalie is deputy chairman of People 1st and is a member of the Prince’s Trust Women’s Leadership Group
Learn more about Natalie Bickford on Crunchbase… Read more about Sanofi Pasteur on Crunchbase…
Sandy Begbie
Chief People Officer @ Abrdn
Follow Sandy Begbie on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Abrdn aim to empower our clients to plan, save and invest for their futures. Read more about Abrdn on Crunchbase…
Kate Avery
Chief People Officer @ Modulr
Follow Kate Avery on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Modulr is a fintech company that provides Payments as a Service API for digital businesses. Read more about Modulr on Crunchbase…
Charlotte Macartney
Chief People Officer @ CSM Sport and Entertainment
Follow Charlotte Macartney on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
CSM Sport and Entertainment provides sports and entertainment marketing services. Read more about CSM Sport and Entertainment on Crunchbase…
Ruth Chandler
Chief People Officer @ Skyscanner
Follow Ruth Chandler on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Skyscanner operates as a trips meta-search engine company. Read more about Skyscanner on Crunchbase…
Catrin Anderson
Chief People Officer @ Zoopla
Follow Catrin Anderson on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
An experienced people leader in dynamic, innovation-led organisations, Catrin Anderson joined Zoopla in 2019 as Chief People Officer with responsibility for Human Resources. Previously at Dyson as Global Talent Acquisition Director, Catrin led a worldwide team of 73 during a period of high growth and significant change. Beforehand Catrin spent 5 years at Amazon, working across the full portfolio of businesses with a focus on Executive Recruiting in EMEA. Earlier in her career Catrin was one of the founding team of a technology start-up in Silicon Valley. She was also Senior Associate in both the Consumer and Board practices at Spencer Stuart. Catrin has a MA in French and German from Cambridge University and speaks four languages. She is an active member of the social enterprise, Women Ahead.
Learn more about Catrin Anderson on Crunchbase…Zoopla is a property website in the U.K. that combines property listings with market data, local information, and community tools. Read more about Zoopla on Crunchbase…
Dara McCann
Chief People Officer @ Isotropic Systems
Follow Dara McCann on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Isotropic Systems develops multi-service, high-bandwidth, low power, fully integrated terminals designed to support the satellite industry. Read more about Isotropic Systems on Crunchbase…
Sallyann Brookes
Chief People Officer @ 10xbanking
Follow Sallyann Brookes on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Sallyann leads HR across the business, managing the team’s talent and development. Sallyann also oversees the company’s approach to operations, change management and internal communications to enable great people to thrive and be empowered at 10x while ensuring it is a 10x better place to work. An experienced senior HR leader, she has worked across a range of industries and global businesses including Unilever, SC Johnson, Barclays, and The John Lewis Partnership. She has deep experience of building and leading HR functions and developing capabilities within organisations.
Learn more about Sallyann Brookes on Crunchbase…10xbanking offers a digital banking platform that will transform the way financial services providers operate. Read more about 10xbanking on Crunchbase…
Sian Keane
Chief People Officer @ Farfetch
Follow Sian Keane on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
As Chief People Officer, Sian sets the strategy for Farfetch’s global people function. As part of the Executive Board she works closely with senior management and local people teams in Farfetch’s offices around the world. Since joining Farfetch in December 2012, Sian has guided the company’s global people strategy. She champions a focus on culture, engagement and the development of people; managing the implementation of Farfetch company values, global career ladder and global employer brand. With over 15 years’ experience, Sian previously worked as an in-house Director developing recruitment outsourcing projects in the financial services & technology industries. She has also supported a number of e-commerce start-ups in fashion and technology. Sian holds a BSc (hons), is an Associate Member of the CIPD and Level A&B qualified in psychometric assessment.
Learn more about Sian Keane on Crunchbase…Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform. Read more about Farfetch on Crunchbase…
Rachael Gillett
Chief People Officer @ BGL Group
Follow Rachael Gillett on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Rachael joined BGL in June 2018 as Chief People Officer. Prior to this, Rachael spent nine years at Thomas Cook from 2009 – 2018. She was HR Director of Distribution and Operations and most recently Group & UK Human Resources responsible for delivering the Group’s HR agenda across Reward, Talent and OD, Compliance and Strategy. Rachael has extensive Human Resources experience working with well-known, market leading brands. Rachael is CIPD qualified.
Learn more about Rachael Gillett on Crunchbase…BGL Group digitally distributes insurance and financial products. Read more about BGL Group on Crunchbase…
Luke Harte
Chief People Officer @ Joint Academy
Follow Luke Harte on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Read more about Joint Academy on Crunchbase…
Dave Parry
Chief People Officer @ Gymshark
Follow Dave Parry on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Gymshark is an online retailer and technology company of fitness apparel and accessories brands. Read more about Gymshark on Crunchbase…
Melanie Oakley
Chief People Officer @ LendInvest
Follow Melanie Oakley on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Melanie is a commercially focused HR generalist, experienced in working with technology and creative organisations. Melanie’s early career was spent in fast paced, disruptive and entrepreneurial businesses including Virgin Radio, and Betfair. In 2010, Melanie started her own consultancy and worked with a number of Fintech organisations to support their business transformation and scaling.
Learn more about Melanie Oakley on Crunchbase…LendInvest is the leading marketplace platform for property finance. Read more about LendInvest on Crunchbase…
Lou Baran
Chief People Officer @ Hg
Follow Lou Baran on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Lou Baran had always travelled in Asia – starting out in Pakistan and Nepal but when she first moved to Asia for work, she imagined she would only stay a year or two. She ended up staying for nine, first in Vietnam, then in Thailand with stints in various other countries too. Before joining Actis in 2009, Lou worked at Thomson Reuters, Microsoft and Hay Management Consultants. Her love of the emerging markets led her to Actis, and she immediately found resonance in the firm’s private equity model and the fact that all stakeholders’ interests are fully aligned. Lou admires the Actis conscience; she likes the fact that people care about more than just making money, instead wanting to make a difference to the communities in which they do business. She thrives upon the firm’s diversity and the opportunity it provides to swap life experiences, war stories and jaw-dropping anecdotes from across the emerging markets. Lou has a Bachelor of Business degree, majoring in Information Technology and Human Resources, from Victoria University, Australia.
Learn more about Lou Baran on Crunchbase…Hg is a private equity firm that invests in software and services, focused on backing businesses. Read more about Hg on Crunchbase…
Amanda Cusdin
Chief People Officer @ Sage Group
Follow Amanda Cusdin on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
[custom-twitter-feeds screenname=”amandacusdinhr”]
Spoiler title
Amanda became interim Chief People Officer in October 2017, having joined Sage in March 2015 to lead first the people transformation across Sage Functions and then latterly as Executive Vice President People Business Partners leading the regional and functional generalist people teams across all of Sage locations. Amanda has eighteen years of HR experience across a number of global FTSE organisations, including manufacturing, engineering and projects businesses where she focused on supporting executive leaders to drive change and transformation. During her career to date Amanda has built extensive experience across North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. She has led in all aspects of Human Resources but specifically in M&A, growth in new geographies and working across cultures and matrix organisations. Amanda has also specialized in talent development to executive level. Passionate about developing talent and leadership and creating truly inclusive organisations which promote diversity, Amanda has a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Warwick and postgraduate qualifications in Human Resources Management.
Learn more about Amanda Cusdin on Crunchbase…Sage Group provides small and medium sized company business management software and services. Read more about Sage Group on Crunchbase…
Karen Pay
Chief People Officer @ Optionis Group
Follow Karen Pay on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Optionis group is a leading provider of support services to the contractors, freelancers, small businesses and staffing industry members. Read more about Optionis Group on Crunchbase…
Kathleen Harrop
Chief People Officer @ PomVom
Follow Kathleen Harrop on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Read more about PomVom on Crunchbase…
Robert Bainbridge
Chief People Officer @ Peak
Follow Robert Bainbridge on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Peak is a decision intelligence company that provides a platform to offer data analysis services. Read more about Peak on Crunchbase…
Claire Scott
Chief People Officer @ The Access Group
Follow Claire Scott on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Claire heads up the HR function with responsibility to review and improve how we work together as we expand in the coming years. Claire brings a wealth of HR experience in the tech industry, overseeing Human Resources for companies during critical periods of their strategic expansion and joins us following 4 years at Salesforce as the Vice President for Employee Success, EMEA division. Prior to that, Claire worked for Ciena and also for Cisco for over 5 years as HR Director.
Learn more about Claire Scott on Crunchbase…The Access Group is a software consultancy and developer company that provides fully integrated business management software. Read more about The Access Group on Crunchbase…
Natasha Adams
Chief People Officer @ Tesco
Follow Natasha Adams on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Natasha joined the Executive Committee on 1 June 2018. Natasha is responsible for setting the people strategy and plans at Tesco, including reward, colleague experience and capability. Natasha joined Tesco in 1998 as a Personnel Manager and has served in a range of store focused roles over the last 20 years, including as Customer Services Director UK, Business Support Director UK and Group Personnel Manager for Scotland. In 2016 Natasha was promoted to People Director for Tesco’s UK and Ireland stores and joined the UK Leadership team before being appointed to her current role of Chief People Officer. Natasha is a Tesco Pension Trustee.
Learn more about Natasha Adams on Crunchbase…Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England. Read more about Tesco on Crunchbase…
Carolyn Stewart
Chief People Officer @ Scottish Enterprise
Follow Carolyn Stewart on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Carolyn is responsible for the delivery of internal services to Scottish Enterprise that ensure SE is a great place to work, staff are supported and equipped to deliver the business plan and that SE has the ability to attract, retain and motivate talent. Functions included in People Services are Human Resources (HR), Employee Communications, Employee and Community Engagement, Procurement, Facilities Management, Health & Safety, Environmental Management and Document Management. Carolyn is a qualified HR professional with over 20 years’ HR and employee communications experience in both the private and public sectors. Carolyn has been with Scottish Enterprise since 1997, serving as a Director for over 10 years.
Learn more about Carolyn Stewart on Crunchbase…Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s main economic, enterprise, innovation and investment agency. Read more about Scottish Enterprise on Crunchbase…
Sarah Mason
Chief People Officer @ Foxtons
Follow Sarah Mason on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
My background focuses on designing and delivering HR and talent strategies to enable companies to achieve their organisational goals. My roles have included Chief People Officer, HR Director, Executive Board Member and Head of Talent in global organisations including SThree plc, Hydrogen Group plc and Phaidon International, all multinational companies featuring in the Sunday Times ‘Best Companies To Work For’ lists. I specialise in recruitment, learning and development, organisational development and change management. Significant projects include growing and scaling businesses profitably, implementing direct-sourced hiring models to dramatically reduce cost per hire whilst improving quality of hire, rolling out training programmes at all levels to improve performance and organisational design. Specialties: HR strategy and implementation, talent acquisition, learning and development, organisational change, mentoring, coaching, facilitation, building and leading teams, assessment and selection, candidate attraction, candidate profiling, hiring processes, on-boarding, retention, employee commitment, performance improvement, organisational change management.
Learn more about Sarah Mason on Crunchbase…Foxtons is an estate agency with 67 offices in London and the Home Counties and 35 years of experience behind us. Read more about Foxtons on Crunchbase…
Sarah Morris
Chief People Officer @ Aviva Group
Follow Sarah Morris on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
[custom-twitter-feeds screenname=”sarahmorris2015″]
Spoiler title
Sarah joined Aviva in August 2015 as Chief People Officer. She is responsible for the leadership of Aviva’s People, Communications and Transformation strategy and is a key member of the Group Executive. Sarah is an experienced leader with significant international experience of driving change and business transformation gained across multiple sectors, in a range of industries, countries and cultures. Sarah is now leading the cultural shift at Aviva, which is in the process of transforming itself into a digital first business. It will be no mean feat to equip the 321 year old insurer with the right capabilities and skills to transform it into an innovative business – but it’s a challenge that Sarah relishes. Sarah is a member of the 30% Club steering committee. She joined Aviva from US data and technology specialists, Thomson Reuters. Prior to that she held a number of roles at BP, providing operational and strategic leadership during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis, RSA and Dixons Carphone.
Learn more about Sarah Morris on Crunchbase…Aviva is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London. Read more about Aviva Group on Crunchbase…
Tamsin O’Luanaigh
Chief People Officer @ nDreams
Follow Tamsin O’Luanaigh on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
nDreams is a videogame developer and publisher based in Farnborough, UK. Read more about nDreams on Crunchbase…
Kenneth Ross
Chief People Officer @ Liberis
Follow Kenneth Ross on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Liberis provides access to simple, flexible, and fair finance for small businesses. Read more about Liberis on Crunchbase…
Hanna Smith
Chief People Officer @ Futrli
Follow Hanna Smith on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
[custom-twitter-feeds screenname=”hanna_rosasmith”]
Spoiler title
Hanna is an expert in culture and talent. She has won multiple recognitions for creating environments where people really want to work and where businesses thrive. Awards include Investors In People Gold, Great Place to Work and the Sunday Times Top 100.
Learn more about Hanna Smith on Crunchbase…Futrli is on a quest to move the needle on the small business economy. Read more about Futrli on Crunchbase…
Kirsty Gill
Chief People Officer @ Arm Holdings
Follow Kirsty Gill on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Kirsty joined Arm in 2002 and has held various leadership roles in the People Team including Executive Remuneration, Rewards, Organizational Effectiveness, People Services and Systems. She is known for her achievements on developing programs that deliver high performance, high engagement and progressive organizations. At Arm she is focused on creating a workplace where people love to collaborate, growth is encouraged and innovation flourishes, all done in Arm’s own unique way. Prior to Arm, Kirsty was HR Director for a start-up company, GF-X, and started her HR career at Accenture.
Learn more about Kirsty Gill on Crunchbase…Arm Holdings is a multinational semiconductor company that designs, produces, and licenses IP for digital electronic product development. Read more about Arm Holdings on Crunchbase…
Neil Hayward
Chief People Officer @ High Speed Two (HS2)
Follow Neil Hayward on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd is the company responsible for developing the High Speed Two (HS2) rail network in the UK. Read more about High Speed Two (HS2) on Crunchbase…
Kelly Jackson
Chief People Officer @ WorldFirst
Follow Kelly Jackson on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Spoiler title
Graduated from UCL with a degree in Psychology. Went travelling around South East Asia and Australasia before starting her HR career at QAS Limited, a subsidiary of Experian Plc. Most recently headed up the HR team at Stemcor Ltd, a privately-owned international steel trading company. Joined WorldFirst as Group HR Director in November 2014.
Learn more about Kelly Jackson on Crunchbase…WorldFirst is an international payments business helping businesses and people easy move money around the world at great exchange rates. Read more about WorldFirst on Crunchbase…
Welp Magazine
