Innovate to elevate: HR’s role in shaping tomorrow’s workplace

Dr Susan Hetrick is an organisational psychologist, HR business leader, conference speaker, board advisor, coach, consultant, academic, and author of Toxic Organisational Cultures and Leadership: How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace, which has been shortlisted for Business Book of the Year.

A seasoned people leader with a reputation for leading large-scale transformations in global organisations, Susan is known for her ability to quickly understand key issues, drive solutions and coach managers and leaders.

Susan Elaine Murphy was formerly Director of the School of Strategic Leadership Studies at James Madison University and Professor of Leadership Studies. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on leadership, leadership development, and mentoring. Her work has been published in Academy of Management Executive (currently Academy of Management Perspectives), Leadership Quarterly, Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Making, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Journal of Business and Psychology, and the Journal of Applied Psychology. Her most recent edited volume with Rebecca Reichard is Early Development and Leadership: Building the Next Generation of Leaders and an authored book, Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Make the Most of Their Relationships, with Ellen Ensher. She also serves on the editorial board of The Leadership Quarterly.

Sharon, Director of Reward & Employment at NatWest Group, leads teams in Reward, Pensions, HR policies, Employment Law, Employee Relations, Business Acquisitions, and HR regulatory work. Her strategy ensures clear, proactive reward and employment advice to foster a positive culture, align with shareholder interests, and meet customer needs. Sharon has focused on simplifying reward structures and developing a Fair Pay approach. With years of experience in Reward and as an HR Business Partner in Retail, she is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and has been with RBS since joining the Graduate Scheme in 1991.

Hazel is a senior manager on PwC’s Strategic Reward team. Having been with PwC for over ten years, she advises a range of listed and non-listed companies, including private and subsidiary businesses, on a wealth of reward issues, from executive remuneration to the wider employee reward strategy. 

In addition to her consulting experience, she has also worked as the head of executive compensation for a global asset manager and as a remuneration SME at the FCA.

Alison is a Partner at FIT Remuneration Consultants LLP and advises clients of all sizes and sectors, mainly on executive pay and broader reward matters.  She typically works with Remuneration Committees but also sometimes management teams.  Before her role in consulting, Alison spent 20+ years in reward and HR roles in financial services, laterally as reward director and CPO at Virgin Money.  Alison also has some experience working in risk and is currently chair of the Staffing and Remuneration Committee at the National Library of Scotland.  She also particularly enjoys her role as Chair of the Expert Advisory Board for the Scottish HR Leadership Group.

Stephen offers a wealth of expertise as Head of Organisation Development and Transformation, responsible for delivering strategic programmes within the People Strategy at Skills Development Scotland. During his time with SDS, Stephen has been responsible for shaping and delivering Culture, Leadership, People, and Employee Engagement strategies, which cover a breadth of transformation and change priorities.

Stephen is now focused on shaping SDS into a skills-based organisation by defining and developing a ‘skills first’ approach to organising work and mobilising resources agilely, delivering workforce agility through skills development.