United Arab Emirates
Strategic, commercially astute, hands on Chief People Officer and transformation leader with 20+ years of global leadership across technology, aviation, travel, financial services and digital sectors. Leading large-scale cultural, organizational, and leadership transformations in some of the world’s most recognized enterprises—including Nokia, Skyscanner, easyJet and Direct Line Group. Expert in driving business transformation, culture change and workforce evolution in both scale up, start up and complex, multinational, regulated and unionised environments. Proven success in turnarounds, M&A (IPO readiness, divestment, spin off) and hypergrowth – delivering tangible outcomes aligning people strategy to business performance. Recognised for repositioning HR as a strategic, board-level business enabler, embedding talent, leadership and culture agendas while leveraging digitalisation, AI, and analytics to create competitive advantage. Most recently serving in the UAE as global CHRO at Unifrutti, an ADQ portfolio company, transforming the global people strategy to foster a future fit workforce with a high-performance culture and a growth mindset. Responsible for overall people experience - culture, talent, succession, talent development, leadership, transformation, reward, benefits, compensation, employee relations, labour & industrial relations, people operations, location strategy, workforce planning, HR technology and well being. I pride myself on my strong empathy, interpersonal, leadership and communication skills. I am globally mobile. I am a qualified lawyer, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development qualified (CIPD) and a CEDR accredited international mediator.
As Chief People Officer, I lead the global people strategy for Unifrutti, one of the world’s leading fresh produce businesses and part of the ADQ sovereign wealth fund portfolio. Working across multiple geographies, cultures and operating environments, I am responsible for shaping the organisational capability required to deliver the Group’s growth ambitions. My remit spans leadership, culture, talent, succession, organisational effectiveness, rewards, employee relations and transformation. I believe that sustainable business performance is built through exceptional leadership, a strong culture and engaged, capable teams. My focus is on creating a high-performing, globally connected organisation where people, purpose and performance come together to deliver lasting value for customers, employees and shareholders.
Global transformation/turnaround/restructuring/workforce strategy/value creation.
I lead Nokia’s global HR function, supporting 82,500 employees through a critical turnaround, building a future-ready workforce, and embedding a high-performance, growth-oriented culture. I worked at the heart of boardroom and executive decision-making, repositioning HR as a strategic driver of business transformation and growth.