Dr. Sujaya Banerjee has been a Human Resources professional for over 22 years and has transformed the HR functions in several leading organizations during her career. She is an OD professional par- excellence having set up world class PMS and Talent Management programs and helped build Learning Organizations through her assignments at ADNOC, Lowe Lintas and Partners, British Gas and the Essar Group. Sujaya has been listed among the Top 40 HR professionals in Asia ,has won the Youth Icon Award for 2009 and the Contribution to the HR Community Award in 2012, besides bringing several international accolades to India- the Learning Elite Award – CLO USA, Learning in Practice Award – CLO USA, Best Project Implementation in Asia- SuccessFactors and Best Business Adoption Award- SuccessFactors.
She has presented White Papers at leading conferences at GE’s John F. Welch Leadership Center (Crotonville), at the CLO Summit-Harvard Business School, ASTD, SkillSoft Perspectives and recently at SuccessConnect Sydney. She is a sought after speaker and thought leader and is a regular contributor to the Human Capital Magazine.
Sujaya is a TEDx speaker and leads the Learning & OD Roundtable- a forum for practitioners which has a worldwide membership of over 1600 Learning & OD professionals. The L&OD Roundtable enables capability building of Learning professionals and helps member organizations become Learning Organizations.

Katharina is an internationally recognised business communicator with proven delivery of effective global communication strategies and programmes, and has Lean Sigma qualifications for process and performance improvement.

Previous roles include Head of Internal Communications & Engagement at ABB, Head of Employee & Executive Communications at Zurich Insurance, Head of Internal Communications at Rio Tinto, Head of Global Internal and Management Communications at Shell, Head of Global Internal Communications at AstraZeneca, Corporate Communications Lead at GE Capital EEF and Corporate Communications Manager at Corange/Boehringer Mannheim. Katharina has worked in Nigeria, Hong Kong, the UK, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Howard co-founded True, a business set up to help organisations build winning cultures through maximising the potential of their people in early 2023.

Before True, Howard spent much of his career in senior in house communications and engagement roles at businesses such as Ernst & Young, GSK and latterly Johnson Matthey.

Over the past five and a half years, together with colleague Mike Pounsford and Kevin Ruck, Howard has led work focused on how organisations listen. Following four ground-breaking reports, a book, entitled “Leading the Listening Organisation” was published by Routledge in December 2023.

Howard was President of the UK chapter of International Association of Business Communicators for two years (2019-21), and Chairman of Wealdstone Football Club (2007-16).

Meet Simona, a dynamic communications professional with 15 years of experience in the energy management and automation industry at Schneider Electric. She’s navigated the global and local realms of the €36 billion giant, honing her expertise in Internal and External Communications, People Development, and Change Management. Together with a dedicated team of leaders, she drives the employee and managerial communications strategy and channels while overseeing global functions’ internal and external communications. Outside of work, Simona’s passions include traveling and the arts.

Phil Askham has over 20 years’ experience helping global corporates and public bodies become more productive, purposeful and fulfilling workplaces. He is expert in employee engagement, culture development and organisational change. As a former Global Head of Employee Communications at HSBC, Phil played a major part in strengthening the firm’s risk culture. He also helped propel O2 to become to the UK’s number one mobile provider by modernising its employee and customer experience. He is now Head of Organisational Change & Employee Experience at Montfort Communications, a specialist communications and reputation management consultancy.

Trudy Lewis is a communication consultant, executive coach, and international speaker. She has a passion to help leaders, professionals, and their teams to develop influence and create impact as they master effective communication.

Trudy has over 20 years’ experience focusing on strategic internal communications, employee engagement and change communications, supporting leading organisations from retail, hospitality, rail, construction, and professional services industries.

Throughout her career, Trudy has championed communications and its management and as such has an MA in Communications Management, is a Chartered PR Practitioner, Fellow, and former Director of the Board of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). She is also co-chair of the Institute of Director’s (IoD) Marketing Communications group, member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and co-hosts an award-winning podcast – Calm Edged Rebels.

Kate started her career at 16, joining an in-store HR team at Sainsbury’s. By 25, she had responsibility for the entire HR function at Cambria Automobiles, before moving to Premex Services as an HR Advisor for three years. Kate progressed to Regional HR Manager at Ford Retail (TrustFord) and four years later, joined eStar as Head of HR.

Kate was instrumental in the growth of this new business, which took over from a previous failed company, and was invited to join the eStar Board as HR Director at 35. Kate lives in Chorley with her husband and two step-children.

Daniel Valentine is Head of Communications at the Chartered Governance Institute, leading on all media relations, internal communications, branding, reputation and engagement activity.

Over the last 25 years Daniel has worked for some of the world’s leading organisations, as both an inhouse manager and as a consultant. Daniel studied at the Universities of Oxford, St. Andrews, and King’s College London. Daniel is also Executive Chair of the Lovey Foundation, an international charity, a Member of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, has authored two books on financial communications and industrial economics, and has raised more than £5million for good causes.

In December 2019, Daniel won first prize at the Association Success Awards for “Best Social Media Campaign” for designing and launching “This is Engineering” campaign, the first ever nation-wide advertising campaign to promotes engineering careers to young people.

Begum is Global Talent and Organisational Development Lead at pladis, the home to loved consumer brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA, Carr’s, and Flipz.

Having pursued her career in different geographies, Begum brings more than 16 years of experience with a demonstrated history in the FMCG industry, at companies such as Henkel, Danone, and pladis with a solid track record of successful HR implementations in her local, regional, and global leadership roles. She is also an ICF Accredited Coach (ACC) and is an Associate Board Member at the ICF UK Board. Begum hires, engages, and develops the best talents, builds high-performing agile teams, and transforms cultures to build a strategic vision for the future of organisations.

<p style=”font-weight: 400″>Robyn is Director of Global Corporate Communications at pladis – the home to loved consumer brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA, Carr’s and Flipz.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400″>Robyn trained and worked as a solicitor in her native South Africa before relocating to the UK almost twenty years ago to pursue a career in communications. She has worked for companies including SABMiller, Diageo and L’Oréal across both internal and external communications.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400″>At pladis, Robyn is responsible for the management of the corporate brand – and works closely with colleagues across the company to build and enhance ‘brand pladis’. This includes close collaboration with HR on all elements of the employee experience and the development of the EVP and employer brand.</p>