Movers & Shakers: UK Edition

Welcome to our latest UK edition of Movers & Shakers OE’s insight into key leadership transitions across the HR, people, and talent landscape for April and May 2025.

An increase in the number of CPO and HR Director appointments indicates positivity returning to the UK search market. In addition, there have been a number of specialist HR leadership moves, especially within Global Reward and Workforce Transformation.

Demand for HR at Executive and C-Suite level, especially in growth and change-critical sectors, has been high.  We have also noted several cross-sector moves during this period.

Chief People Officer and HR Director Highlights

  • Nicola Lipson joins Pay UK as Chief People Officer from Vanquis Banking Group,
  • Angus McGregor steps into the CPO role at Shaw Gibbs, having previously been at Katara Hospitality.
  • James Goodman moves from Tesco to Asda as the new Chief People Officer
  • Matthew Collington becomes CPO at Enva, having previously been at Pilgrim’s Foods.
  • James Saunders takes on the Chief People Officer role at Wates Group.
  • Catherine Lynch joins Mobico Group PLC as Chief People Officer
  • Wayne Palmer transitions from Britvic Plc to Kingfisher Group as HR Director
  • Helen Paxton joins Dunelm as People Director after a successful tenure at Sainsbury’s.
  • Karen Scott moves from HSBC to Legal & General as Head of HR for Asset Management.
  • Maria Andrews becomes People Director – EMEA and Commercial at Catapult, moving from Technicolor Group.

Specialist Appointments

  • Margit Maritz takes up the Head of Compensation role at Monzo Bank, joining from N26
  • Melissa Shepherd moves to Aviva as Head of Learning
  • Mark Thomas joins IG Group as Director of Talent, Culture and Partnering
  • Meera Mistry is appointed Senior Director, Global Total Reward & Recognition at Convatec.
  • Lewis Milford joins Allianz Partners as Global Head of Talent Acquisition. He was previously Director Talent Acquisition at Loop Earplugs.
  • Russell Bramhall joined Tesco as Head of Strategic Workforce Planning.  He was previously at Lloyds Banking Group. 

Please do reach out if you would like to learn more about OE’s search capability at emmacastillo@oakleafexecutive.com