Biography
Irene is the Global HR Director for BBC News covering the scope of UK and International. She is a Strategic Business Partner to and a key member of News Board, working closely with the Senior Leadership teams across the BBC to shape and develop HR initiatives, policies and processes to improve the employee experience. She is a talented HR Director with more than 20 years’ experience in Head of HR, Business Transformation and Organisational Effectiveness roles for top multinationals, including BBC News, Tullow Oil, Vodafone, Standard Bank, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Serco. She is an award winner of multiple HR industry accolades, and is FMCIPD qualified, with an Executive MBA and Master’s in Human Resources Management.
A true HR generalist, Irene’s formative career was spent in progressively senior HR roles across B2B and B2C sectors in the UK, where she gained strong skills in business partnering, and a depth and breadth of expertise across the full employee lifecycle and HR disciplines.
In 2010, she was headhunted by Vodafone Ghana to lead the integration and organisational restructure of the business following their acquisition of Ghana Telecom, and establish a HR Business Partner model. She was subsequently handpicked to head Business Transformation and led the country’s largest-ever cash and cost programme, before being promoted to head Organisational Effectiveness & Change for a group of countries, including South Africa, Vodafone’s fifth largest market globally.
Irene latterly joined Standard Bank as Regional Head of HR for West Africa, where she set the people strategy for an employee population of 6,000, ensuring a joined-up approach by working closely with country leadership to align HR vision with corporate goals.
She was subsequently headhunted by Tullow Oil as head of HR for Ghana, accountable for 75% of the company’s global revenues and >30% of the employee population. Here, she spearheaded an HR strategy that radically improved employee engagement, operational effectiveness and cost effectiveness. She led large-scale business transformations that stabilised and grew the business at critical junctures, and championed DEI, directing workforce localisation and gender diversity initiatives.
Underpinning Irene’s two-decade track record of success is her commitment to building proactive, efficient HR functions that provide high-value partnership to the business. An experienced board and C-level advisor, she thrives when developing and implementing ambitious people strategies and defining compelling employee value propositions that establish organisations as employers of choice, and leading large-scale business transformations that drive growth, performance and profitability.
Presentation Outline
In this session, Irene will cover ‘Going from Good to Great!’:
what a leadership strategy is and why it is important for organisations – Why Leadership Matters?
the practical application of a leadership strategy – Elements of effective leadership
what is good leadership – Characteristics & attributes of good leadership
the importance of good quality leadership in times of crisis