Greig Aitken is Group Head, Colleague Strategy and Insight at NatWest Group. Based in Edinburgh, UK he leads the development of the Group’s People Strategy across 16 brands including NatWest, Ulster Bank, Coutts and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The focus of Greig’s work includes employee experience, engagement, culture assessment as well as enabling leaders to deeply understand the effectiveness of their people strategy and its tangible impact on businesses performance, sales and service.

He is a qualified chartered Banker, has an MBA in finance and management, is a Fellow of the CIPD and of the Learning & Performance Institute.

Greig is passionate about the positive impact of human capital on business success and has taught human capital strategy case studies at Harvard Business School, London Business School and the University of Southern California. He is a member of the European Council on Strategic Workforce Planning and The European council of strategy & Transformation.

Sheila Attwood is XpertHR’s managing editor, pay and HR practice. She has more than 25 years’ experience of working in a research and editorial capacity in a publishing environment, with a focus on the labour market, reward, industrial relations and HR practice. Sheila leads the team that is responsible for the HR and reward content on XpertHR, with a key responsibility for the pay settlement tracking service. She oversees the employer practice surveys on XpertHR and commissions and edits practical guidance on all aspects of day-to-day reward and HR management. She is an expert on company pay awards and is regularly called upon to appear in the broadcast and print media to comment on the level of increase in pay rates.

Denis Barnard is the lead consultant at HRmeansbusiness Ltd and is a recognised practitioner in the field of HR and payroll software selection, successfully working in a wide variety of sectors both UK and international.

He is actively engaged in producing educational recordings, webinars and written material for HR & payroll professionals under the GreenRiver Technology World banner and is authoring a follow up to his book on HR tech published in 2019.

Daniel is an employment barrister with 30 years' experience defending companies in employment litigation. He is the founder of the HR Inner Circle, the UK's leading membership club for smart, ambitious HR Professionals, and chairman of Chequers HR, an investor in independent HR consultancies throughout the UK. He has published 15 books on employment law and is a speaker on the national and international employment law lecture circuit. For the last 12 years he has presented the Legal Hour on LBC Radio, the UK's leading commercial talk radio station with a reach of over 3.3 million listeners.

Diane has been one of our judges for 9 years. She has held roles in food, health, local and central government, education and publishing sectors, with extensive business, operations and research expertise at board level. A strong advocate of inclusive leadership, she is passionate about respect, fair treatment, inclusion and access, and is an approachable and empathetic leader, able to build trust and give constructive feedback. As a Fellow of the CIPD and an original member of its Senior Diversity Network, she has broad experience in helping lead change, collaboration, teamwork and strategic projects whilst proactively influencing policy, initiatives and guidance.

Ruth Busby, is the HR Director at Great Western Railway (GWR), leading the people agenda with a focus on engagement, kindness, inclusion and diversity, and health and wellbeing. Ruth is involved in a number of industry wide activities including Rail Wellbeing Live and the Women in Rail and RIA Equality Diversity and Inclusion Charter. She is also co-Chair of Women in Rail South.

Ruth joined GWR in March 2018, from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, and held leadership roles in Higher Education, and the Civil Service, where she started her career in policy development. A qualified coach, Ruth has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in employee relations, inclusion and diversity, leading organisational change, policy and employee reward.

Wendy has held senior HR and Corporate Services roles in both public and private sectors, including as the former HR Director for the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority. She now has a portfolio of project and non-executive roles and is particularly interested in major projects, creating high-performing organisations, and helping senior leadership teams to navigate change effectively within complex and challenging environments. Wendy also has a keen interest in effective governance and organisational culture. She has a Master’s degree in Employment Strategy and is a Chartered Companion of the CIPD.

Ceri joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2017 where she now holds the position of People Director for their Insurance, Pensions & Investments Business. Prior to LBG, she has held HR leadership roles in Aviva and Hastings Direct, and much of her career has been focused on business partnering and change management roles with a specific focus on M&A.

Outside of work she is a foster carer and has her own busy family life with husband, 3 children, and a lively cocker spaniel!

Eugene is a highly respected mental wellbeing specialist with more than 30 years of experience. Current Chair and Emeritus member of UK EAPA, a leader in workplace mental wellbeing, counselling and psychological therapy, he has championed the removal of mental health stigma for more than 20 years. He has a keen interest in digital health solutions and mental health and wellbeing apps.

Christine is a highly experienced, flexible and adaptable human resources, people and organisation development specialist, senior manager, consultant, coach and mentor with a proven and successful track record in operational and strategic human resource management, people and organisation development, leadership and management development, equalities, diversity and inclusion and business transformation. She has a strong public sector, regulatory and international experience gained in the Civil Service, Local and International Government and Higher Education sector.

Steve Herbert is an award-winning commentator on Human Resources (HR), Employee Benefits, Financial Wellbeing, and Pension issues. In June 2022 he joined national intermediary Partners& in the role of Wellbeing & Benefits Director.

Steve is a regular and sought-after speaker at events, with a unique and engaging delivery style that aims to demystify and explain complex issues to his audience. This same approach is reflected in both his written work and regular commentary for many HR and industry facing publications.

He is occasionally accused of making Employee Benefits interesting.

Craig has an HR background which spans over 35 years across a number of companies in the Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Property and Health and Social Care sectors . He has worked at Group or Regional HR Director level (either as a permanent or interim) for 16 international and UK businesses, most notably Sky, Bupa, BT, The Crown Estate, Dentsu Aegis Network, Compaq Computer and Jersey Telecom, with overall HR responsibility for up to 15,000 employees and 45 countries. He is currently the Interim People Director for Four Seasons Healthcare.

He has also worked as a senior change management consultant at Accenture, advising corporate clients in the banking and utilities sectors.

Craig is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and holds an MA (Hons) in French & Italian from the University of Cambridge. He is also Chair of London HR Connection, the leading networking group for senior HR practitioners

Having worked in HR for a number of different Councils, Gordon has been an Assistant Director in Leicestershire County Council for the last 10 years, leading the HR function together with a number of other support services. He is also the current President of the Public Services People Managers’ Association.

Kelly is the Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing for Fujitsu Europe. Kelly has held a variety of senior HR roles during her career, including Head of Organization Design and Change and European-wide HR Generalist roles. She is passionate about creating an environment where everyone can be completely themselves at work and advocating the links between employee wellbeing and inclusion. Kelly’s thought leadership on the topics of inclusion and wellbeing at work are often reported in the media.

Emma is Managing Director of The FIRM has over 17 years resourcing experience encompassing in-house and agency recruitment as well as RPO. Her previous organisations include Unilever, BskyB and most recently Mars Chocolate UK where she was Head of Talent responsible for the development of a best in class strategic approach to Talent Acquisition and Management. She now leads the FIRM team in providing both tactical support and strategic insight for their members.

Nugent is a NED and Trustee of the CIPD. Nugent was most recently director of HR & OD at the Financial Ombudsman Service. She is also a past president of the PPMA (Public Service People Managers' Association) a national body for people professionals working in public services. With more than 30 years of experience in HR, Nugent understands the challenge of workforce and OD issues during significant organisational change. She is a Fellow of the CIPD with qualifications in HRM, executive coaching, leadership mentoring, psychometrics and workplace and employment mediation. Nugent has written numerous articles, presented at various conferences and was shortlisted for Personnel Today's HR Director of the Year 2016 as well as HR Most Influential in 2017, 2019 and 2021. More recently she was recognised as one of the World’s Flying High Women Leaders of 2022 and 40 HR Leaders in the UK building workplaces of tomorrow.

Angela is the founder and CEO of The HR Lounge. Her experience in HR spans over 30 years with roles as Chief People Officer at the National Policing Improvement Agency, HR Director Roles at the Crown Prosecution Service and three London local authorities. Angela has received many awards including three HR Director of the year awards. She was the first civil service president of the PPMA (Public Sector People Managers’ Association) in the organisation’s history.

Angela launched the HR Lounge in 2011 - a boutique consultancy that offers a unique blend of HR services to a range of organisations. A passionate problem solver, Angela’s goals are to help organisations achieve the very best through strategic HR advice, and robust HR practices. Her company employs the most experienced HR experts who are at the top of their profession.

Angela's deep sector knowledge spans across the whole HR spectrum particularly in complex, difficult and confidential areas. Her real passion lies in making HR simple and stress-free for clients and helping to create flourishing work environments where people succeed. She is an ILM qualified executive coach, mediator and NLP practitioner.

Angela is a past President of the HR Society and a member of the employer’s advisory panel for the Recruitment Employment Confederation. She is a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University and she was recently named as one of the top 10 HR practitioners of the last decade by HR Magazine.

Nic Paton is consulting editor of OHW+. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for OHW+ and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

Asif Sadiq has a long and rich career in the E&I space with senior executive roles at Adidas, The Telegraph, and EY Financial Services. Listed as one of the Most Influential Global D&I Leaders by Hive Learning, the CIPD’s Top 20 Power List, and was honoured with an MBE in 2017 by the Queen. As SVP of E&I International at Warner Media, Asif works on globally driving the agenda around diversity.

Chris Taylor is the host of the Oven Ready HR podcast featured weekly in Personnel Today. Oven Ready HR is considered one of world’s best HR podcasts and has been listened to in over 130 countries. Oven Ready tells stories from the global world of work; interviewing some of the world’s top HR thinkers and commentators sharing best-in-class insight and analysis.

Martin Tiplady runs Chameleon People Solutions Ltd - providing OD, HR, Coaching and Investigative services. Previously, Martin was HRD of the Metropolitan Police, The Berkeley Group plc, Westminster Health Care Holdings PLC and The Housing Corporation. He is the Vice Chair of Midland Heart Housing and a respected NED. He was named by The Daily Telegraph as Personnel Director of the Year and recently described as one of the most influential people in HR today.

Jane joined Working Families as CEO in September 2018. She has 14 years’ experience working in the third sector and has held senior leadership positions at a number of UK charities, including Samaritans and Sands. She believes in the value of a fulfilling, balanced working life and its transformative power to create social connections, build self-esteem, and impact the wider community. She is a passionate advocate of equal opportunity for all.

She spent her childhood in the UK (Norfolk) and South Africa (Cape Town & Johannesburg). Jane holds a social science bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Town in Industrial Sociology and Industrial Psychology.

My early career in Shell and then a Whitbread/Allied Domecq joint venture laid strong professional foundations where excellent human resource management was intertwined with leading major business change.

My consulting journey started in 1990 when I joined what is now PwC and their HR and Strategic Change practice areas. Since founding Mightywaters Consulting in 1998 I have been able to work with some amazing organisations across all sectors and with some truly excellent HR teams. My desire to partner with clients who want to create organisations people want to work in has not diminished over time. I’m delighted to be a judge again and to have the opportunity to recognise HR and Consulting at its very best.

Charles Wynn-Evans is an experienced employment lawyer and is a partner and International General Counsel at Dechert LLP. He has previously served as a fee paid employment judge and as a deputy chair of the Central Arbitration Committee. He writes about employment law matters and his book “The Law of TUPE Transfers” was published in its third edition by Oxford University Press in February 2022.