People

Niamh Grimes is hoping to drive more success at Hertz, following her promotion
to HR director at the vehicle rental firm. As head of the European HR function,
she will be responsible for a multi-lingual, multi-cultural workforce with more
than 1,000 employees from 25 countries. In her new role, she will be looking at
employee relations, recruitment and selection, employee development and
performance management.

"I also have the additional responsibility of working with other HR
directors across the division to develop several pan-European HR
initiatives," she explains.

Grimes aims to strengthen the company’s position in the marketplace through
a range of HR programmes, with an emphasis on training: "I am particularly
interested in rolling out our training and development programmes to establish
a framework that will help to sustain high performance," she says.

"I’m also looking forward to working on pan-European initiatives that
will ensure we are fully utilising and developing the talents and abilities
within the company."

Grimes enjoys the challenge of balancing all the stakeholder needs within
the company and sees HR as a key tool in developing the direction of a
business: "The role of HR is vital in helping to create the conditions for
high performance, combining the requirement to be profitable with a positive,
hard working and rewarding atmosphere focused on delivering the ultimate
service to our customers."

Grimes has a degree in French and Politics, a post graduate diploma in
marketing management and is also CIPD qualified.

On the move

Martin Pexton has joined London
Merchant Securities as director of corporate development. His key
responsibilities will include the training and development of employees. Prior
to joining LMS, Pexton was personnel director at law firm Allen & Overy,
where he had responsibility for 5,000 staff. He has worked for several
accounting and insurance firms and served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He
has an MBA from London Business School and will sit on the LMS Services board.

Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle
has appointed two new key HR professionals. Lawrence Deans is the new global
chief HR officer and Lisa Whitmore has been promoted to senior vice-president
for HR. In his new position, Deans will be responsible for the company’s global
HR strategy and will report to chief operating officer Peter Roberts. Whitmore
will cover the HR function in the Americas, focusing on skills development and
career growth.

Peter Bowyer has joined US technology
company Mentor Graphics as its new HR manager. His role will cover western
Europe and the Nordic regions. As HR manager his remit will include looking at
organisational development across five different countries. Bowyer’s background
is in generalist HR as well as organisational development, particularly in US-owned
manufacturing companies.