Neil Patrick has decided to
leave the HR industry after 30 years. After three years at Stoddard
International, as head of HR. Patrick, 47, (right) took up his new post as
associate director last month of recruitment company Ian Young Executive
Search.
Neil previously held the top HR job
in paper manufacturer Inveresk and knitwear manufacturer Lyle and Scott.
Patrick will be succeeded by Gordon Watts who has been promoted from within the
company.
Cherri Marshall has
been appointed HR manager at profession services company Deloitte and Touche.
Marshall, who started her new position last month, moved from her role as HR
consultant for Axa Insurance. She had previously worked for four years as
senior HR officer with Nestlé UK.
Paul Harris has been
appointed personnel officer at Warrington Borough Council. He will focus his
attentions on advice and support, training and sickness. Previously Harris was
personnel officer (resource and relations) for at Knownley Metropolitan Borough
Council.which he joined in 1997.
Ken Bryant has been
appointed HR manager with Bevan Ashford Solicitors (West Country). He is tasked
with earning the solicitors the Investors in People Award – a feat he achieved
in his former position as personnel and training manager at Devon Training for
Skills. His priorities in his new role will be to improve the appraisal system
and training for the companies 250 staff.
Top job
Carolyn Gray has been appointed
director of policy and services at manufacturing company Smiths Group.
Gray, who started last month, moved from her position as head of HR policy
and HR strategy for e-commerce at Sainsbury’s. Â
She says she is "hugely
excited" about her new role and the challenges it will bring. Last year
Smiths merged with engineering company TI group and she will be heavily
involved in merging the companies’ two HR policies.
Fellow of the CIPD, Gray’s focal
point will be the development of e-HR strategies, including the installation
and implementation of Smiths’ global HR system.
Gray said, "I am energised by
my new position, the challenges are immense. I will be able to make use of my
experiences in every HR function, but am really looking forward to using my e-HR
knowledge to improve the company’s communication and increase the
organisation’s profits."
Gray will report to Anne Minto,
director of HR, along with John Ginn who has also joined Smith’s HR team as
director of compensation and benefits.
Personal profile
Christine Hurst is HR director
at Radiant Networks She moved to Radiant after a period as an HR consultant.
Before that Hurst was HR director at cable comms company Bell Cablemedia. She
was a member of the HR steering committee that took the company into a four-way
merger to form Cable & Wireless Communications.
What is the most
important lesson you have learnt in your career?
How the
environment in which people work and how they are managed can change their
behaviour.
What is the strangest
situation you have had to deal with at work?
Being held
"hostage" in my office for three hours while an employee stood on the
window ledge threatening to jump (he didn’t!)
If you had two wishes to change
your company, what would they be?
To keep our
surroundings but be located nearer London (for recruitment), and to be the
employer of choice in the broadband wireless sector.
What is the best thing
about working in HR?
Being able to
influence people’s working lives.
What is the worst?
Not always being able to
say what I think.
If you could adopt the
management style of a historical character, whose would you adopt and why?
Bill Clinton because he
seems to be able to get away with anything and still get respect.
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What would you do if you had more
spare time?
Read more books and
shop – not the kind you do in
Sainsbury’s.
If you were to write a
book, which subject would you choose to write about?
Following IQ and EQ I’d
write a book called 0Q about how it’s possible to do well in the business world
without formal qualifications.
