People

Paula
Logan has joined the Genesis Housing Group as group director of HR and
communications. She joins from the Warden Housing Association, where she was
director of corporate development. Prior to this, she was head of policy and performance
at Peabody Trust.

In
her new role, she will be responsible for all HR activity, while her remit also
includes a communications brief.

"As
a member of the executive management team, I am jointly responsible for the
smooth running of the business. More specifically, I am responsible for the
overall people strategy and for good internal and external
communications," she says.

Her
previous job at the Warden Housing Association had a wide range of
responsibilities and she was responsible for HR, housing policy, procedure
guides, PR, legal services, office services and business planning.

Logan,
who has a degree in HRM, hopes to develop more managers as leaders and increase
staff involvement in the decision-making process.

"I
would like all employees to feel that they can make significant contribution to
the development of the business. I would also like everyone to feel that coming
to work is not just worthwhile but also fun," she explains.

According
to Logan’s philosophy, staff must understand the business world they operate in
and develop at a pace that matches the needs of the organisation.

"People
are the major asset of any organisation and investing time in them is the key
to success," she adds.

CV

2002
director of HR and communications, Genesis Housing Group

2000
director of corporate development, Warden Housing Association

1994
head of policy and performance, Peabody Trust

1990
research manager, Paddington Churches Housing Association

On
the move

Liverpool
City Council has a new head of equal opportunities in Andrew Nembhard, who will
be heading-up all corporate equalities and positive action initiatives. His
responsibilities include developing a disability and gender equalities scheme,
re-launching the gay men and lesbian forum, arranging a programme of events for
black history month and continuing the development of the city council’s black
workers’ group. Nembhard joins from the London Borough of Hounslow, where he
was a housing district manager.

Catherine
Cooper has joined the Palmer & Harvey Group of companies as personnel
manager, based at its head office in Hove. She will provide generalist support
to the head office and professional advice to the group’s branches. Prior to
joining P&H, Cooper was a store manager for Tesco. The firm employs about
4,000 staff across the UK, distributing goods to high street and multiple
stores.

Consumer
finance broker Purple Loans has appointed Simon Longbone as its new HR
director. His role will primarily focus on leading the HR department during a
period of corporate growth over the next two years. Longbone moves to the role
from another job within the parent company GE Capital, where he has helped
develop two call centres.