Duncan is a CIPD qualified HR Leader with over 24 years’ experience across numerous sectors. Duncan started his career in food retail with Budgens Stores, joining their graduate management programme and progressing from Store Management, Employee Development and Training, HR Management positions in Food manufacturing and
Distribution and to Head of HR for Retail Stores over a 10-year period. Duncan then moved to Sytner Group (part of US based Penske Corp), a prestige motor group in the UK. He initially worked as Divisional HR Head for the Toyota / Lexus division before moving to the BMW division also as their Head of HR. He also worked with brands such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini, Maserati, Audi, Volvo, Saab, VW. During his time at Sytner Duncan was awarded the Global HR Manager of the year on two separate occasions and was also nominated twice for UK overall Support Manager of the year. Duncan left Sytner Group to join Porsche GB as their UK Head of HR (member of UK Board). Porsche GB is a subsidiary of Porsche AG. Duncan then moved to Truck-Lite Europe ltd, a tier one supplier of mirror and lighting products to the truck, trailer and passenger car market. Duncan assumed the role of European HR Director overseeing plants in Harlow, Birmingham, Eisenach (Germany), Bydgoszcz (Poland) and Minsk (Belarus) and operated as a key member of the European Board of Directors. During his time at Truck-Lite Duncan had to navigate the business through the 2007/08 global recession, working with works councils and unions across the network to agree significant headcount reductions, shorter working weeks and reductions in pay. Although heavily impacted the Company managing to retain all operational plants throughout the economic downturn and without any employment-based litigation. Most recently Duncan has been working in the Financial Services Sector for Dollar Financial Group (The Money Shop, MEM, Payday Express, Suttons and Robertsons, Biggars, Duncanson and Edwards, TGS Stores), a short-term high cost credit organisation. Duncan’s initial role was that of Global HR Director for Online Business however the role evolved, and he became the UK Chief Operating Officer and a member of CFA (Consumer Finance Association) board. During his time at Dollar he and his fellow Operational Board members were charged with “cleaning up” the business in preparation for FCA regulation and against a backdrop of significant political and press pressure. Over the course of 6 years Duncan was a key influencer in ensuring that the business was regulated, restructured to ensure it met the needs of the new business model, agreed and delivered a customer redress programme and oversaw two sales to Private Equity Investors. On leaving Dollar Duncan set up Harwood HR Solutions in order to provide 1st class HR services to the UK. Duncan has two daughters and is a keen follower of Football, Rugby and motorsport. He also enjoys eating out and nice holidays!
A fully CIPD qualified, experienced HR professional with a strong operational background. Having worked in customer services, training and finance for a number of years, Zoe joined MEM Consumer Finance (Dollar UK) in its infancy, taking on numerous roles required when being part of set up. Zoe was Operations Manager before moving solely to Human Resources & Training; implementing the department from scratch. Zoe was a key member of the team helping the company to grow from 4 to 250+ employees. In her role as Head of HR, she worked with senior management through 4 acquisitions, in 13 years of working for the company; assisting with TUPE transfers, large scale rightsizing and restructuring projects and alignment of terms and conditions. Zoe worked with the senior leadership team on the UK regulatory project to help change culture, restructure and develop the organisation to ensure that the organisation was ready for FCA regulation. Working in a rapidly growing, fast paced environment Zoe led her team to deliver a high level of service, covering all aspects of HR including; training and recruitment, employee relations and large-scale redundancies with zero litigation. In her spare time Zoe enjoys spending time with her family, including her two dogs; holidays in the sun and lots and lots of shopping!
A highly motivated, qualified, HR professional with a breadth of HR experience in people planning, organisational change, performance and reward, talent and resourcing, communications and engagement. Charlotte has extensive HR experience, having started her HR career as HR administrator at MEM consumer finance and quickly moving up the ranks to HR Business Partner to the senior leadership team for The Money Shop. Whilst there, she challenged and drove performance across a multimillion pound business, through both structural changes and cash constraints by coaching and challenging process. Proven experience managing redundancy processes without litigation. Charlotte’s more recent role was in social care, given her knowledge of various sectors and industries. Charlotte is a true HR generalist, with vast experience including; supporting senior leaders and managers, employee relations, managing sickness absence cases and TUPE transfers. Since having a baby during a global pandemic, Charlotte enjoys spending her time with her new family, cooking, watching rugby and visiting new places.
A highly driven HR professional with 4 years’ experience, including recruitment administration, fleet and benefit coordination. Emily started her career in the Shared services team at Avara Foods Ltd as HR Administrator, overseeing the employee lifecycle for weekly and monthly employees across multiple sites, administering all benefits and assisting employees with company car/hire fleet. Moving to The Curve Group as HR Administrator, Emily looked after multiple clients allowing her to extend her knowledge of various industries and to take on other tasks/responsibilities such assisting the clients with payroll and supporting with data integrity checks/auditing. Emily then progressed her career to HR Assistant at AMR GP Ltd where she has broadened her experience working on projects such as implementing a Health and Wellbeing calendar and revamping the New Starter process to improve efficiency for the team and to give new starters a smoother experience when entering the business. Emily was also able to expand her knowledge by supporting the HR Business Partners with a range of employee relations cases. In Emily’s spare time she enjoys horse riding with her mum, and spending quality time with her family and friends.
For more than ten years, I’ve been delving deep into the world of health and safety. It’s not just a job; it’s been an incredible journey filled with motivation and rewards. Imagine being the one who
ensures that places like Calor Gas and BP have safety practices that keep us all safe from significant
accidents. That's been a substantial part of what I do. Working with these prominent companies didn’t just teach me about safety; it opened my eyes to
other crucial business considerations such as wellbeing, the environment, and security, all
intertwined with safety. I’ve integrated all this knowledge to create safety plans that suit any
business, regardless of size or industry. I have a knack for adapting my expertise to different industries. Each sector has its unique
challenges, so I carefully analyse their needs and develop strategies to ensure their safety. Whether
it's a fast-paced sector like logistics or a stringent safety-focused industry such as energy, my primary
goal is to communicate the best ways to keep everyone safe. I’m not stopping at the basics. I have grand aspirations. I want safety to permeate everything a
company does, not just something they tick off a list. I aim to revolutionise the way safety is
perceived within organisations.
Sean is a highly accomplished sales professional with 18 years of experience, renowned for their exceptional sales acumen and consistent track record of success. Throughout their career, Sean has demonstrated a keen ability to drive revenue growth, exceed sales targets, and cultivate strong client relationships. With a deep understanding of market dynamics and a passion for delivering results, Sean continues to be a driving force in the sales industry, embodying excellence, professionalism, and a commitment to customer satisfaction.
Rob is an accomplished recruitment professional with over 25 years experience, both agency and in-house. He has experience of recruiting for permanent, temporary and contract vacancies across many sectors including Finance, HR, Procurement, Logistics, IT, Sales & Marketing and Engineering.
Rob splits his time between leading Harwood HR’s recruitment offering alongside his role as Head of People for a small tech company.
Away from work Rob enjoys most sports (watching more than playing these days!) particularly football, cricket, golf & F1. He also loves live music and is very much kept on his toes by two teenage children!
Stuart is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has spent the majority of his career in HR
roles. He has accrued experience in multiple sectors including hospitality, retail, building
services, and professional services, both in the UK and internationally. Stuart’s first HR
manager position was with the Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia where he went on to become
their first Learning & Development manager, working across the European portfolio of 3, 4
and 5 star hotels. This followed with some roles in the architectural design sector and then
with building services company, CEMEX, where he collaborated with trade unions to
navigate business shrinkage during the global recession.
After honing his employee relations skills, Stuart joined PwC in London where he headed
up a new team that supported the business in matters relating to performance management,
health & wellbeing, and employee relations This gave rise to an opportunity for him to
transfer to the Middle East where then spent 4 years, based in Dubai, helping to scale up
PwC’s presence through mass-hiring, transferring of employees in-and-out of the region and
adapting to the region's cultural diversity.
Stuart and his family returned to the UK in 2015 when he joined Ipsos as EMEA HR Director,
leading a team of 60 HR professionals across 55 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and
Africa. During this time, Stuart was involved in all the operational elements of the people
agenda, including working with trade unions and workers councils, and transformation
initiatives related to employee engagement; training & development, and succession
planning. He has also gained extensive experience of mergers and acquisitions in both,
TUPE and non-TUPE countries. Following 7 years in this role, Stuart transitioned into a
newly created position as Global Talent Development Director where he led on a number of
global initiatives including the implementation of leadership development programs and
creation of a new performance management approach.
In order to keep his skills update-to-date, Stuart qualified as an executive coach 3 years ago
and more recently as a trained facilitator, and uses this approach in his day-to-day
interactions in order to optimise client engagement.
After much contemplation about where to take his career next, Stuart was thrilled to
transition from his role in internal HR and embrace a new opportunity at Harwood HR
Solutions, where he looks forward to becoming a trusted partner.
Outside of work, Stuart is a busy dad to 3 teenagers. He is a reluctant and irregular gym-
goer and much prefers spending weekends in the kitchen, cooking up a storm for family and
friends. During school holidays, his family takes every opportunity to travel.
Good communication is a core skill for managers. It helps teams work better together, reduces misunderstandings, and improves productivity. Communication training equips managers with the tools to lead clearly, handle...
Read more