Caroline Adams
Employee benefits manager, National Grid
Adams has responsibility for UK employee benefits policies, including flexible benefits, private medical insurance, family provisions, company cars and recognition. She has worked at National Grid for over 20 years and has spent the past four years as employee benefits manager.
Read also National Grid introduces salary sacrifice car scheme
Carol Baylis
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) total rewards director, Hitachi Data Systems
Baylis has been working in compensation and benefits for 20 years, predominantly in the technology sector for organisations such as Oracle, Avaya and now Hitachi Data Systems as EMEA total rewards director. Her main focus has been on taking benefits programmes and re-energising them through a combination of benefits strategy review and technology-enabled employee engagement. Baylis is also global compensation programme director.
Read also Hitachi Data Systems switches to GPP and launches flexible benefits
Richard Beeby
Group reward manager, Britvic Soft Drinks
Beeby held HR roles at Morrisons and Comet before specialising in reward in 2009. While at Comet, he was responsible for all elements of pay and benefits for 10,000 staff across the UK. Beeby was part of the team nominated for the Employee Benefits Award for ‘Best healthcare strategy’ in 2010. Since September 2011, he has been at Britvic Soft Drinks, where he has taken on the additional responsibility for global mobility, executive pay, equity schemes for Britain, Ireland and France, and management of the company car fleet. Beeby was a speaker at Employee Benefits Live in September 2011.
Sarah Bell
Head of reward, Spirit Pub Company
Bell has 12 years’ experience as a reward professional. She started in reward with Capital One in 1999, holding several roles spanning compensation, benefits and share programmes. Bell moved to Punch Taverns in 2006 as reward manager and recently implemented flexible benefits. After the Punch Taverns/Spirit Pub Company demerger, she became head of reward in March 2011.
Read also Spirit Pub Company promotes Sarah Bell
Paul Bissell
Head of reward, Cable and Wireless Worldwide
Bissell has over 30 years’ experience in reward and benefits in the financial services and telecommunications sectors. Before his current role as head of reward for Cable and Wireless Worldwide, he was head of reward for Nationwide Building Society for more than 10 years. He is also a director of Strategic Reward Solutions. He has won numerous industry awards, is a chartered companion of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) as well as being a former vice-president, reward, and has in the past been commended by the government for his work on equal pay.
Neal Blackshire
Benefits and compensation manager, McDonald’s Restaurants
Blackshire has worked for McDonald’s Restaurants for over 25 years, having started on the shop floor as a crew member while completing his A-level studies. After graduation, he spent seven years in operational management roles, including responsibility for the company’s then-busiest UK restaurant in The Strand. In 1995, Blackshire joined the corporate HR team, first as a generalist before specialising. He was promoted to benefits and compensation manager in November 2000. Blackshire and his team have been shortlisted in the Employee Benefits Awards in recent years.
Kelly Bol
HR manager - reward, Scope
Bol is responsible for managing pay and grading, HR management information, payroll and pensions at UK disability charity Scope. Previously with Barnardo’s, Bol has been working in reward for seven years and has always worked in the third sector.
Read how Scope is handling communications around auto-enrolment
Mark Bradshaw
Director - reward and recognition, Tata Steel Europe
Bradshaw has worked in employee benefits for longer than he is prepared to say and, among others, has worked at Amey, Siemens and National Grid. In 2010, he and his team won ‘Team of the year’ at the Employee Benefits Awards.
Read also Mark Bradshaw joins Tata Steel
Sasha Brenner
Benefits and reward policy manager, Sainsbury’s
Brenner has been with Sainsbury’s for four years, where she has held the roles of retail reward manager, and benefits and reward policy manager. Before joining Sainsbury’s, she was at Woolworths working in the reward team, as well as spending two years in marketing. Brenner has also worked as a consultant with Mercer’s flexible benefits team.
Read also Sainsbury’s staff appreciate retail therapy
Adam Brooke
Vice-president, UK employee benefits, JP Morgan
Brooke started with the John Lewis Partnership as a management trainee on the shop floor before moving on to training and development. He progressed to head of training and development at the company’s Cambridge store, while also spending time in generalist HR management and various specialist departments. His last three years with John Lewis were spent in employee benefits. Brooke then joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2008 as UK employee benefits manager. He took up his current position at JP Morgan in 2011, where he is developing a communication strategy for existing benefits, including the wellness programme, while also introducing new benefits.
Bernie Buckley
Head of reward and analysis, Whitbread Group
Buckley joined Whitbread in December 2008 and was promoted to head of reward and analysis in June 2010. The past 12 months have seen the introduction of incentive schemes for all of Whitbread’s 35,000 staff, plus other tactical interventions. Before joining Whitbread, Buckley worked for Henderson Global Investors, managing UK and international payroll and benefits. Before that, she held HR generalist, commercial and operational posts across hospitality, central government and retail organisations.
Nik Butcher
Reward manager - group reward, RS Components
Butcher has extensive experience of all aspects of reward management, including strategy and policy design, implementation and communications. Having moved to RS Components last month, he has previously been responsible for full recognition programmes and major pension changes for organisations in the logistics, retail and manufacturing industries.
Read also Up Close and Personal with Nik Butcher
Sheila Champion
Benefits manager - Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia, Cisco
In her role at Cisco, Champion is responsible for 62 countries. Her key objective is to ensure there is an environment where employees value their benefits experience, focusing on a culture of health, high-quality employee and family programmes/services, and personal relevance. Champion introduced an online benefits portal for staff in the UK and Ireland in her previous role. Champion has worked at Cisco for 10 years in a variety of roles and has worked in the HR team for four years.
John Chilman
Group reward and pensions director, First Group
Chilman has held his current role since December 2005, having worked in reward since the late 1990s. A chartered accountant by training, Chilman is a trustee of the Railways Pension Scheme and chairs its investment committee. He is also a trustee of First Group’s pension arrangements in North America. Chilman and his team have won numerous awards for their pensions and benefits work. He is the current holder of ‘Benefits professional of the year’ in the Employee Benefits Awards.
Andrew Clark
Head of reward, John Lewis Partnership
Clark has spent 21 years with the John Lewis Partnership. He has worked in a variety of commercial and human resources roles, moving to the department store division’s head office in 2001. In 2003, Clark became head of personnel operations for the group’s John Lewis division, where he introduced a performance-related pay system. He moved to his current role as head of reward for the group in 2008. He is responsible for developing reward strategy including compensation, benefits, job evaluation, performance management and the organisation’s leisure service, which operates five hotels for the exclusive use of employees, five yachts and over 130 social clubs and societies. Read also Employer Profile: John Lewis Partnership.
Tina Clayton
Director of global reward, Telefonica
Clayton has been with Telefonica (previously O2) since 2002 and held the roles of head of pensions and benefits, and head of UK reward for the European businesses before becoming director of global incentives, then assuming the role of director of global reward for the Telefonica group. She has 20 years’ experience in compensation and benefits, holding roles with Standard Life, Electrocomponents, Kier and Geest.
Richard Cowlishaw
HR director, Courtaulds
Cowlishaw is HR director of the PD Courtaulds Group, which employs over 15,000 people in Sri Lanka, China, the US and the UK. With over 20 years’ HR experience in a number of blue-chip organisations, he has held key HR roles on both a national and international scale. Cowlishaw has worked with a number of business leaders to drive cultural change and whole-scale business re-modelling.
Michelle Connolly
Reward manager, Amey
Connolly has been with Amey for two years, leading the development and implementation of reward initiatives across the business. She started her career as a management accountant before moving into HR, where she has practised reward for over seven years in the IT and services sectors.
Debra Corey
Group head of compensation and benefits, Merlin Entertainments
Corey has over 20 years’ experience in compensation and benefits. She began climbing the compensation career ladder in the US. She moved to the UK in 1998 for a two-year expatriate assignment with Gap, and entered the world of international compensation and benefits. She has since held European and global roles with Gap, AS Watson, Honeywell, Morrisons and Quintiles, and took up her current role at Merlin in July 2011.
Dan Couzens
EMEA rewards programme manager, Yahoo!
Having spent most of his career in talent acquisition for technology firms, Couzens recently moved internally at Yahoo! from a recruitment role into the rewards team. In partnership with the EMEA head of reward, he looks after all compensation and benefits matters for the region.
Read also Interview with Dan Couzens, EMEA rewards programme manager at Yahoo!
Jim Cowan
Head of benefits, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
After holding a number of ‘proper jobs’ at RBS, Cowan entered the world of reward through job evaluation, quickly becoming manager of that function. He was a member of the team that introduced total reward to RBS. He is currently responsible for RBS’s employee benefits and recognition in the UK and Europe.
Read also RBS rolls out total reward statements in Asia Pacific
Sheena Cowan
Employee benefits manager, Standard Life
Cowan is responsible for the design, delivery, communication, management and governance of Standard Life’s benefits, including defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pensions, share plans, wellbeing benefits and voluntary benefits through a flexible benefits scheme. Before joining Standard Life in 2010, Cowan held a similar role at Scottish Power, where she was also secretary to the trustees of two large DB schemes and was involved with pension change initiatives and a scheme merger. Before 2005, Cowan was part of Mercer’s team of employee benefits consultants helping clients manage their pension plans and employee benefits.
Chris Coyne
Group head of reward and HR services, City and Guilds
Coyne joined City and Guilds in 2008 after a broad career in HR, systems and training, and time in the Royal Navy. At City and Guilds, he has a remit to deliver a global reward strategy to support a significant period of organisational development and growth. He has also taken on responsibility for establishing an HR service centre covering operations and systems, health and safety, employee relations and recruitment.
Read also Interview with Chris Coyne, group head of reward at City & Guilds
Robert Cross
Global head of reward, ESAB
Cross joined ESAB as global head of reward in February 2011. He previously spent 15 months as group reward manager at Northgate Information Solutions, four years as reward manager at T-Mobile, and several years as a consultant with Watson Wyatt, Mercer and Hay Group.
Jill Cunnison
Head of reward and recruitment, Capital One
Cunnison is an HR consultant at Capital One, heading the benefits, recruitment and HR operations teams. She has driven strategies focused on employee wellbeing, starting with the introduction of an on-site gym. Cunnison and her team have also introduced a pensions escalator, financial education and real incentives for employees to save for their future. She is also responsible for the HR operations function. Cunnison’s previous roles at Capital One include managing the internal recruitment programme, HR risk and compliance management.
Julian Daley
Reward manager, Carlsberg
Daley has worked for brewer Carlsberg UK for 15 years, starting in finance before moving into the HR team. He fulfilled various compensation and benefits roles within the HR team before becoming reward manager for the UK five years ago.
Read also Carlsberg UK wants a healthy workforce
Alison Dalley
Vice-president reward, Fujitsu
Dalley joined Fujitsu in 2006 as director of reward for Fujitsu Services. She is now vice-president reward for Fujitsu operations outside Japan, an IT business with 50,000 staff across the globe. Previously, Dalley worked for Sun Microsystems as international reward manager and, before that, for IBM. Her career in reward has included professional and management roles, covering global compensation and benefits management and consultancy.
Ricky D’Ash
Head of compensation and benefits, Equity Insurance
D’Ash has been with Equity Insurance Group for two years. He is part of its Leading Talent programme and was runner-up in the 2011 Employee Benefits Awards for ‘Employee benefits professional of the year’. Before joining Equity, D’Ash worked in the hi-tech industry as global rewards consultant, UK MEA, for Unisys. Before that, he worked in the financial services industry, holding compensation and benefits roles at Barclays Bank, Prudential and Woolwich.
Joel Davies
Total rewards managing director, BlackRock
Davies began his career as a consultant advising financial services clients at McLagan Partners in London. In 2004 he joined HSBC, London, as senior manager, total rewards and executive compensation until moving to BlackRock in 2010 as a director, total rewards, EMEA. Last autumn, Davies relocated to New York with BlackRock, and was recently promoted to managing director. His mandate covers the global total rewards programme for 10,000 employees. Read also BlackRock adds to flexible benefits scheme.
Sara Davies
HR director - reward and resourcing, Ladbrokes
Davies has spent 10-plus years in reward. At Ladbrokes, she is responsible for the design, execution and delivery of executive and staff remuneration; short- and long-term incentive plans; recognition schemes; pensions and employee experience. She also manages the company’s attraction, recruitment and candidate experience strategy.
Leisa Docherty
People services director, Sage
Docherty has been a member of Sage’s HR department for almost a decade; her previous roles include head of HR and reward and head of people services. Before joining Sage, she worked in HR roles at AA Insurance and Centrica. In her current role, she is responsible for the development and delivery of Sage’s people strategy. In the past year, her team launched Sage’s award -winning benefits programme.
Ant Donaldson
Senior specialist - employee benefits, E.On
Donaldson has led E.On UK’s employee benefits provision for five years. Having launched several new benefits and updated others, his team’s focus has been on engaging E.On’s diverse workforce. They won ‘Benefits team of the year’ in the 2010 Employee Benefits Awards and then the ‘Grand prix’ in the 2011 awards. Before working in benefits, Donaldson led segments of E.On’s customer-facing energy business and has a background in finance.
Read also Employee Benefits Awards 2011: Grand Prix
Stephen Dumbleton
Reward manager, Airbus Operations
Dumbleton started his HR career in various public sector organisations. He then moved to the private sector and has since built his career at Airbus. Dumbleton held a number of client-facing roles early in his Airbus career, and joined the world of compensation and benefits 10 years ago when he was asked to support a transnational project to implement a new global senior management structure. Since then, his achievements include the implementation of performance-based reward schemes and of revised grading structures. He has also introduced a flexible benefits scheme for managers. Read also Airbus reaches for the sky with staff benefits.
Peter Evans
Territory reward manager - UK and Nordics, Syngenta
Evans has worked for Syngenta and its predecessor organisations for over 25 years. After 15 years in technical and production management roles, he moved into human resources 10 years ago. Having held various roles in the generalist and business partnering area, he moved into his current reward role six months ago.
Read also Syngenta saves £100,000 through health plan
Roger Fairhead
Group head of compensation and benefits, SABMiller
Fairhead joined SABMiller as group head of compensation and benefits in April 2011. He moved to the brewer from Prudential, where he had been head of compensation and benefits since September 2009. Before that, he was vice-president, head of international compensation and benefits at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Fairhead has also worked for the BBC, Rank Group and Universal Music, after beginning as a tax specialist with Ernst and Young.
Tim Fevyer
Director of reward and policy, Specsavers
Fevyer has been director of reward and policy at Specsavers since 2009. Before that, he was head of pay and benefits at Lloyds TSB and, latterly, Lloyds Banking Group, after spending four years as senior manager, compensation and benefits at the bank.
Earlier, with Lloyds, he performed various roles across HR, from management development training through to HR strategy and planning.
Read also Interview with Tim Fevyer, director of reward and policy at Specsavers
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