Personnel Today rounds up the latest appointments in HR, featuring Mobius Life, the TSSA, Kingsley Napley, MMB and more
Melanie Bowes, Kellogg’s
Manchester-based Kellogg’s has appointed a new HR director, Melanie Bowes, to oversee its people strategy across the UK and Ireland. Bowes, who is from Melbourne, Australia, has relocated to the Manchester area with her family. Before joining the company, she was group head of human resources for Japanese brewer Asahi Beverages.
In her five years with Asahi, Melanie undertook a range of roles, including a secondment as HR manager in Tokyo. Prior to Asahi, she held senior HR roles in the oil and gas industry.
As part of her new job, Melanie will be responsible for leading the people strategy for Kellogg’s largest market in Europe, while also having HR responsibility for its European tech function which is run from Manchester. She takes over from Christopher Hayden-Hayes, who has moved into Kellogg’s European employee relations team.
As HR director of Kellogg’s UK & Ireland, Melanie will oversee a team of two who are responsible for the execution of people plans for the British and Irish markets and broader colleague base at the Kellogg’s MediaCity-located head office.
Bowes said: “Kellogg’s is a brand with such heritage, so it’s incredibly exciting to be taking on the role of leading its people strategy for the UK and Ireland. In the short time I’ve been with the business, I can already tell what a great culture it has and it’s very clear its people are its most competitive advantage. I intend to apply my experience to Kellogg’s, to continue to attract top talent, develop policy change and champion equity, diversity and inclusion.”
Kath Rainger, Mobius Life
Independent institutional investment platform Mobius Life has appointed Kath Rainger as head of people and culture.
Rainger is a senior HR leader with experience working across multiple business sectors, including retail, technology, engineering and construction.
She joined the platform from global payments provider Zepz, where she was a business partner responsible for teams and individuals in the US, Canada, South Africa, Philippines and Europe.
Mobius Life also appointed Hugh Cutler as chief sales and marketing officer following his 25 years of leadership in global distribution, solutions and executive roles.
James Finch, chief executive officer at Mobius Life, said: “I’m excited that two such experienced and talented professionals as Hugh and Kath have joined Mobius at such a pivotal time for our industry. They will play instrumental roles helping shape our business to better serve our people and our clients.”
Mary Sithole/Melissa Heywood,
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA)
TSSA members have voted to elect the union’s first all-female president and treasurer team. Melissa Heywood has been elected as president and Mary Sithole as treasurer in the elections which are the first since the publication of the Kennedy report, the independent inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying within TSSA.
Mary Sithole will also be the first black woman elected to the Treasurer position. Whilst TSSA has previously elected female presidents and treasurers the union has never had women serving in both offices at the same time.
Heywood has been a TSSA member since 2007 and served as an executive committee member for the Midlands since 2018. She works as route operations controller for East Midlands Railway. She is a health and safety rep, joint safety council rep and a qualified tutor.
Sithole has been a TSSA member since 2002 and is currently an equality rep, union learning rep and health and safety rep in c2c and is the secretary of E-Mix (the self-organising group representing Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities members within TSSA).
Fulya Fraser/Geraldine Fraser, Pladis
Pladis, the global snacking company with brands including McVitie’s, Jacobs and Godiva, has announced the appointment of Fulya Fraser as chief growth officer. Fraser was previously the group’s chief human resources officer. The group has now appointed Geraldine Fraser as chief human resources officer with extensive experience in global HR and leadership roles.
The chief growth officer role encompasses global marketing, data analytics, design and consumer-led innovation.
Salman Amin, CEO, said: “Fulya is highly experienced at building and integrating teams and was instrumental in bringing our performance based culture to life.”
Geraldine Fraser has more than 35 years of leadership roles across multiple companies and countries. She joins Pladis from Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest multinational dairy nutrition companies operating in 34 countries with 22,000 employees, where she was chief people officer. She joins Pladis in London on 10 July.
Kate Howdon, eStar
eStar, a Mercedes-Benz truck and van franchise partner in north-west England and north Wales, has promoted Kate Howdon to HR director. Howdon has been in the HR profession for nearly 20 years and is a chartered member of the CIPD, holding a master’s degree in human resources management.
She has previously worked in retail, not-for-profit, and medco-legal, sectors, as well as spending 12 years in the motor trade joining eStar in July 2021 from TrustFord, where she was regional HR manager responsible for 13 sites and more than 800 employees. From digitising the HR and payroll departments and building new reward and benefit strategies, to ensuring equal pay across the group, and developing bespoke training for the senior management team, Howdon has played a pivotal role in shaping the culture at eStar.
She said: “I’m excited to make even more of a difference now. I’m proud to be the first female onto the eStar Board and hold such an influential position within the commercial vehicle network.”
Steve Bridge, managing director at eStar, added: “Kate has transformed both the HR department and the way that we support and recognise our people here at eStar.”
Emmanuelle Ries, Kingsley Napley
Law firm Kingsley Napley LLP has appointed Emmanuelle Ries as a partner in its employment team. Ries specialises in employment issues relating to cross-border situations from recruitment and secondment arrangements to termination matters. She has significant experience of employment disputes including discrimination and whistleblowing cases, High Court litigation involving post-termination restrictions and litigation with multi-jurisdictional issues.
Ries sits on the Advisory Council of the French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain and regularly advises UK clients on the employment aspects of setting up operations or acquiring a business in France and handling workforce and HR issues in France, as well as French companies requiring the equivalent when they launch and do business in the UK. She joins from European law firm ebl miller rosenfalck where she was a partner from 2005 and worked since 2004. Earlier in her career she worked at Jones Day and Squire Sanders, following her training at Clifford Chance.
Alex Mitchell, Naked Energy
British solar heat-tech firm Naked Energy has appointed a new head of people. Alex Mitchell has more than 20 years of experience working in HR and is CIPD-qualified. Prior to founding and running the HR consultancy Mitchell HR, Alex had over five years’ experience as HR director for the FTSE 250 company Regus (UK).
Commenting on Mitchell’s arrival, Christophe Williams, the co-founder and CEO of Naked Energy said: “We’re thrilled to have Alex onboard. Her extensive experience in HR will be invaluable as we continue Naked Energy’s international expansion.
Mitchell added: “I am delighted to have joined Naked Energy at such an exciting time. I’m really looking forward to working with them to help accelerate the decarbonisation of heat.”
Hannah Pickford, Code Computerlove
Manchester-based digital product and service firm Code Computerlove has appointed Hannah Pickford as people and culture lead.
Pickford joins from social media marketing agency Social Chain, where she was happiness manager. She will focus on overseeing the firm’s overall employee experience, through onboarding, recruitment, benefits and events, and supporting learning and development.
Pickford said: “I’ve always admired Code, even when I was working as a recruiter several years ago. The high retention rate and culture shone through everything they did, so when there was an opportunity to join the team, it was not to be missed. I really want people to walk in and love their job, carrying that feeling of excitement through their time with us.”
Gemma Handley, managing director at Code Computerlove, added: “Hannah’s already made a big impact by suggesting ways we can enhance our culture and her experience in making people happy and motivated is going to be so valuable. We’ve recently moved into our new home at WPP Campus which is an amazing social space, and we look forward to spending more time together as a team, with Hannah at the helm of our events.”
Dr Luke James, MMB
Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB), a business of Marsh McLennan, has appointed Dr Luke James as its workforce health leader, Europe. In the newly created position, Dr James works with clients across Europe as they navigate the multifaceted wellbeing needs of their employees.
Christopher Bailey, UK & Ireland MMB Region Leader for Mercer, said: “Mercer’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report demonstrates that organisations are increasingly aware of the impact that the poor physical, mental, social and financial wellbeing of employees can have on overall performance and productivity.
“MMB helps clients face the complex challenges of engaging healthy and energised workforces. Dr James will lead our workforce health team across Europe, combining our increased clinical capabilities with data insights from MMB’s client bank and dedicated healthcare actuaries to proactively create greater insights for our clients.”
Following a number of years as a GP in Buckinghamshire, Dr James moved into the business sector where various roles led him to develop expertise in domestic and global medical insurance, healthcare risk management, clinical governance, medical evacuation and quality improvement across a number of regions including Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong. Most recently, he served at Bupa as the deputy group chief medical officer/director of healthcare transformation.
Kaisa Aalto-Luoto, Finnair
Finnish airline Finnair has appointed Kaisa Aalto-Luoto chief people officer and member of the executive board.
Aalto-Luoto, who currently works as chief human resources officer at Sanoma Media, will start in her new role no later than 23 November. She previously worked as senior vice president of human resources and communications in Outotec, and has had a long career in HR management positions at both Outotec and Mandatum Life.
Johanna Karppi, Finnair’s current senior vice president of human resources, will continue in her role until autumn 2023.
Aalto-Luoto said: “Employee experience plays a strong role in the continuous improvement of the business. Finnair connects Finland to the world, and I am delighted for the opportunity to be a part of its future.”
Topi Manner, Finnair’s chief executive officer, added: “Johanna has done an excellent job in extremely difficult circumstances as Finnair has faced a double crisis caused by the pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace. Cooperation with our personnel groups has been central to Finnair’s survival and recovery, and Johanna has played a key role. Kaisa’s broad experience will be valuable as we take Finnair to the next stage. The acute crisis is now behind us, and in our next phase, employee experience, competence development and new ways of working are essential elements in implementing Finnair’s strategy.”
Barbara Matthews, Remote
Remote, a firm that builds, manages and supports global distributed workforces, has recruited Barbara Matthews as chief people officer.
Matthews will work from Dublin, her chosen location. She will report directly to co-founder and chief executive officer Job van der Voort.
Matthews joined Remote from Stripe, where she helped build its global HR function as its international head of HR, EMEA and APAC. Prior to Stripe, she spent more than 12 years on the people team at Google.
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Matthews said: “My focus as chief people officer will be to ensure that we provide an environment where our employees can thrive and grow, and to build a culture that supports our vision of making opportunities accessible to everyone.”
Van der Voort added: “As a fully remote company with team members located across the globe, we recognise that our success hinges on having a people-first approach to our work. Barbara’s experience in building and nurturing high-performing distributed teams will be invaluable as we continue to grow.”
