British Sky Broadcasting (Sky) has appointed Deborah Baker as director for people, replacing Beryl Cook.
Baker is currently senior vice-president of human resources worldwide at luxury brand Burberry, where she is responsible for all HR issues across the group. Baker previously held senior HR positions at wholesaler Booker, home furnisher Laura Ashley, retail jeweller Signet Group and hotel chain Grand Metropolitan.
She will join Sky in the autumn, replacingl Cook, who will become chief HR officer in a newly created role at media company News Corporation in the US.
In her role, Baker will work with the senior management team to ensure that Sky grows as a business. She will lead Sky’s HR team, including organisation and people development, talent resourcing and management, and HR services including health and safety, wellbeing and delivery.
James Murdoch, chief executive at Sky, said: “I am delighted to welcome such a high-calibre executive to Sky. Deborah’s achievements in the challenging and fast-moving retail sector mean she is ideally placed to lead our people strategy and HR operations at this exciting time for our business, as we challenge the established giants of the broadband and telephony marketplace.”
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Baker said: “I look forward to working with the team to deliver a people strategy that underpins Sky’s ambition to provide outstanding products and customer service.
