Chair, Terence Perrin, European Campus Recruitment and UK Experienced Hire Recruitment, BNP Paribas
After graduation, Terence spent 5 years working as an HR Manager in the charity/voluntary sector before leading graduate recruitment for the National Audit Office. He then took a specialist recruitment role, including graduate recruitment, with Watson Wyatt before moving to manage graduate and MBA recruitment for the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW.) This role had a particular focus on building relationships with target universities across Europe, especially the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Nordics.
Terence then worked at KPMG as Head of Recruitment & Resourcing. This role looked at recruitment and resourcing across KPMG in the UK for all function areas - Financial Advisory Services, Tax, Assurance & Infrastructure. Terence joined JPMorgan in 2004 and managed campus & experienced hire resourcing for the Private Bank & Investment Management functions in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa.) He now focuses on recruitment across Europe for investment bank BNP Paribas.
Terence has contributed to numerous media articles on graduate, MBA and experienced hire recruitment as well as speaking regularly at conferences on these subject areas. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, and holds Level A and Level B full status in psychometric testing.
His first exposure to AGR was through his involvement in the AGCAS International Students Committee and he was elected to join the AGR board in 2002. Terence became Finance Director in 2003 and Vice Chair in 2006. He became Chair in 2007.
Stephen Isherwood, Head of Graduate Recruitment UK & Ireland, Ernst & Young
Stephen has specialised in graduate recruitment and development for over 14 years in professional services, retail and public sector roles.
He is currently responsible for graduate recruitment at Ernst & Young, who are one of the largest recruiters of graduates in the UK.
Stephen started his career at Coopers & Lybrand recruiting experienced management consultants before moving into graduate recruitment when Coopers merged with Price Waterhouse to form PwC.
After PwC he lead the graduate recruitment and development programme at Safeway before working in the public sector where he developed and managed a number of careers related programmes.
At Ernst & Young, Stephen instigated the project that led to a switch from competency based recruitment to a ‘Strengths’ based methodology.
In addition to his current role Stephen is a member of the Burgess Report Implementation Committee, a Trustee of The Centre for Recording Achievement and is a member of the London First Employment and Skills Group.
It was announced on 8th March 2013 that Stephen will replace Carl Gilleard as Chief Executive of AGR in July.
Iain Heath, Head of Graduates, Centrica
Iain has worked within graduate recruitment and development for 14 years and currently holds the position of Head of Graduates at Centrica.
As well as taking responsibility for the Graduate Programme this role covers the Summer Placement Programme, MBA Programme and a development initiative for graduate engineers within Qatar Petroleum.
Prior to Centrica, Iain was a Group Human Resources Manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a position that involved a high level of focus on graduate matters.
As a student he worked as an Auxiliary Nurse in the Acute Admissions ward at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
Iain has a degree in Medieval and Modern History from the University of Birmingham and recently completed an Executive Education course at Said Business School, University of Oxford.
He is a member of the CBI’s Inter-Company Academic Relations Group and was part of the Expert Advisory Board that assisted the CBI’s Higher Education Task Force. More recently, Iain was an Advisory Board member for the Wilson Review.
Away from work Iain enjoys country pursuits - especially fly fishing - and perfecting his home-brew cider.
David Bearfield, Director, European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO)
David graduated in 1989 from the University of Salford, England, with a 1st Class BA Hons degree in Modern Languages. He speaks fluent English, French, German and Swedish. From here he went on to enter the UK civil service European Fast Stream, firstly in the Transport Ministry before joining the Diplomatic Service. After succeeding in a graduate entry open competition to work for the European Commission, David began his EU career in the selection and recruitment department. Over the course of the past 16 years, he has held a variety of posts in the fields of HR, communication and change management, including working in the Private Office of its Vice-Presidents Neil Kinnock and Siim Kallas, and being Head of Internal Communication. In total, David has over 20 years of experience in the public sector.
Since 2007, David has been Director of the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) - the HR selection arm of the EU Institutions - and has, amongst other achievements, successfully implemented a far-reaching overhaul of selection procedures for civil servant entry to the EU Institutions to bring them in line with global best practice.
Over the past four years David has gained a solid reputation as a speaker at events, and has been invited to speak at a variety of international conferences. More recently he is the initiative behind a first International Public Sector Assessment for Recruitment conference (IPSAR) to be held in 2012. EPSO is organising this with the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) the world's leading organisation for testing and assessment organisations.
David's first introduction to the AGR was attending its 2010 annual conference. From there EPSO has become a full member and has fully supported and attended numerous AGR events, also on occasions making use of its services for EPSO business.
Donna Miller, Human Resources Director, European Operations, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
As the Human Resources Director of European Operations for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Donna oversees all aspects of people development for Enterprise in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, which include more than 4,700 employees. In her 15 years with the company, she has been instrumental in the recruitment growth for Enterprise in the U.S., Canada and Europe and now serves as one of the company’s officers.
Like the majority of Enterprise’s officers, she began her career at Enterprise in the company’s Management Training program, where she worked with customers at a rental branch in the Southern California region. As a Management Trainee, she learned the Enterprise business from the ground up, from providing superior customer service to developing and implementing marketing plans and managing profit and loss statements. In 1991, within one year of her start with the company, she was leading the human resources and recruitment efforts for one of the Southern California regions.
After serving as Human Resources Manager in Southern California, Miller was promoted to the position of Group Human Resources Manager, and oversaw HR operations for four states in the New York/New Jersey area of the country. In 1997, she was promoted to Corporate Human Resources Manager, and moved to Enterprise’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. In this position, Donna provided support and assistance to Enterprise operating groups in Canada. After one year, she moved to a similar role to work with European operations. In 2002, she was promoted to the position of Assistant Vice President/HR Director of Enterprise’s human resources operations in Europe.
In 2003, Donna moved to England. She is originally from Orange County, California, and graduated from San Diego State University. She lives in Surrey, where she has made her home for the past two years.
Anglie Johns, Manager Recruitment Services, Waitrose
Anglie graduated with a BSc from The University of Manchester (then UMIST) with a degree in Management. After travelling for a year, she joined the Waitrose Graduate Scheme. For three and a half years, she developed her general management skills working on the operational side of the business across several London branches.
In 2004 she took the opportunity to move across to Personnel and she was appointed as the Graduate Recruitment Manager for Waitrose. She was successful in this role for 3 years, and more recently (2007) was promoted to Manager, Recruitment Services, managing a team responsible for recruiting Graduates, Industrial Placements, A-level entrants, as well as various streams of experienced hire recruitment for Waitrose stores.
Anglie has a keen interest in Management Development and is trained as a MBTI practitioner. She has been an active member of the AGR since 2004, and was one of the founder members of the Retail Sector Focus Group.
In her spare time she enjoys socialising with friends and family, and travelling.
Karen Martin, Executive Assistant, Group Talent, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
CIPD qualified, with over ten years’ of Human Resource management experience, Karen holds responsibility for graduate resourcing strategies and recruitment solutions across 39 graduate programmes within the RBS group.
She matrix manages ‘virtual’ divisional and regional centres of excellence specialising in marketing and attraction, assessment and resourcing across the globe.
Prior to heading up the RBS Group Graduate team, Karen was HR Business Partner for RBS Retail and Retail Investment Services Resourcing, where she was responsible for the recruitment strategy and delivery interventions of new recruits to the RBS Retail Network and the Bancassurance Division.
Karen also played a key role in the NatWest/RBS integration project. As Resourcing Project Manager she was responsible for the design and implementation of resourcing plans that that sat behind the largest and most complex IT integration project ever undertaken in UK and Europe.
Building a team spirit through leading by example is very close to Karen’s heart. She is passionate about encouraging, developing and managing individuals to maximise their potential. Outside of work Karen has been a sessional Lecturer for CIPD courses at her local FHE college, specialising in People Resourcing, People Development, Managing People and Managing Activities.
Whatever spare time Karen has, she spends it singing, relaxing with a good bottle of red, and travelling with friends. She also has two ‘Generation Y’s’ at home who keep her on her toes, and in touch with Gen Y attitudes and demands first hand!
Adrian Thomas – Chair The Recruitment Society
Adrian is currently Chair of The Recruitment Society, an organisation formed in 1979 that represents the whole breadth of the recruitment industry – from resource planning, through attraction and selection to training and payroll process. Previously as Head of Resourcing at Network Rail , Adrian was responsible for the strategic direction of Resourcing together with line management of the Resourcing Teams across the business. Prior to joining Network Rail in February 2008 Adrian was the Senior Technical Partner, Resourcing and Development, at the Royal Bank of Scotland based in London. Prior to this, he was with GlaxoSmithKline, where he was responsible for leading the HR Team and then launching and heading up a new recruitment team supporting the Global Manufacturing & Supply Division. A true HR professional, Adrian held senior positions within compensation & benefits, employee relations and generalist HR before returning to Resourcing (having previously been the director of a large Midlands based HR & recruitment consultancy).
Adrian has a passion for Resourcing and a belief in the value that it brings to the organisation - when done properly. Having served two terms as a Director of the AGR, Adrian was recently appointed to the role of Vice President. He is also holds the Freedom of the City of London, is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of World Traders, Chair of Forever Hair Ltd and Vice Chair of Martin Dene Lawn Tennis Club.
Robert Farace, Chartered MCIPD, National Resourcing Manager at the NHS Leadership Academy
Rob has been in HR for over 20 years with experience across the public and charity sector. He has specialised in Resourcing with a particular focus on graduate schemes.
In his current role, Rob is responsible for recruitment to the NHS Leadership Programmes and his portfolio includes the award winning NHS Management Graduate Scheme and the Scientist Training Programme. He also introduced a national internship scheme for the organisation.
Rob started his career in a fast track development scheme with the London Borough of Barnet. During his time there, he worked across the HR function. He then moved to the Children’s Society where he pioneered involving young people in the recruitment process.
After this, he moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund setting up their graduate scheme. Rob than played a key role in the biggest charity merger, which formed Cancer Research UK. After the merger, Rob went onto to set up their resourcing function introducing e-recruitment and new graduate training schemes.
Rob is also on the Board of Directors for Charity Works, a unique Graduate Development Programme for the charity sector and is a member of the CIPD Resourcing Forum Steering Committee.
Jillian Burton, Graduate Programme Manager, Lloyd’s Register
Jillian has been in graduate recruitment for over 20 years, starting life in the graduate recruitment department at PriceWaterhouse (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) as a recruitment administrator.
She stayed there for just over 8 years gradually working her way up the organisation.
As a school leaver who has prospered, Jillian feels very passionately about giving everyone the opportunity to succeed – no matter what their background.
Despite her enthusiasm, Jillian left graduate recruitment for a while, returning to the newly merged PwC as an HR generalist, but it only confirmed her passion for graduate recruitment. She is now at Lloyd’s Register where she is responsible for recruitment and training and development of graduates in to the organisation. She joined the AGR Board in 2012.
Her zeal goes beyond her role at Lloyd’s Register and involvement with AGR. She also sits on the Cambridge Careers Service Board and is about to join the Bristol Careers Service Board, as well as mentoring a number of university students. She is also currently on an advisory board for Government white papers on employability.
In her spare time, Jillian loves travelling, shoes and does as many evening classes as she can.
Bob Athwal, Director of the Careers Service, University of Leicester
Bob has a first degree in Mathematical Modelling from the University of Greenwich and began his career their as Students Union President from 1996 to 1998. After a fantastic two years Bob joined Enterprise Rent-A-Car on their graduate programme. Bob very quickly established himself at Enterprise and enjoyed many successes ending his career at Enterprise as the Resourcing Manager for London and the Southeast in 2004.
From 2004 to 2006 Bob worked as a supplier to the graduate recruitment industry as the UK Graduate Marketing Manager for graduate-jobs.com, a role that enhanced Bob's knowledge of the graduate marketplace in the UK as well as create a network of contacts at some of the country’s leading employers. During this time Bob also embarked upon his Executive MBA at the University of Southampton, which he completed in 2008.
In 2006, Bob joined RWE npower as Head of Graduate Schemes responsible for both recruitment and development of graduates, and during his last 18 months at RWE npower was the HR Business Partner to the CEO and CFO direct reports. During the 5 1/2 years at RWE npower, Bob and his team transformed the npower brand into one of the most dynamic, visible and successful brands in graduate recruitment and development. In 2008 RWE npower won both awards that year for Innovation on Campus for the much acclaimed “npower energy challenge”.
Bob is a regular International conference speaker, as well as a Board member of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). In 2011 ‘Getting it Right’, of which he is a co-author, was published, this is the first book in the UK aimed at graduate recruiters and developers. He is qualified in Level A & B as well as Step 1 & 2 of MBTI.
In 2012 Bob joined the University of Leicester to become the Director of the Careers Service to lead a step change in University and employer collaboration. In his spare time Bob likes to travel, watch football and spend time with his family.
Dr Paul Redmond, President of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and Director of Employability & Educational Opportunities, University of Liverpool
Dr. Paul Redmond is Director of Employability and Educational Opportunities at the University of Liverpool and President of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS).
One of the country’s leading experts on generations and the graduate labour market Paul presents at numerous conferences symposia around the world. In addition to writing regularly for national newspapers, he is a frequent contributor to radio and TV.
Paul’s work brings him into contact with a range of national and international organisations. His research into the future of work, employability and ‘Generation Y’ has attracted considerable attention among both graduate recruiters and the media.
Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the author of several books, including the best-selling ‘The Graduate Careers Formula,’ and the recently published ‘A Parent’s Guide to Graduate Jobs.
Miranda Davies, Head of Graduate Resourcing, Thales
Miranda joined Thales UK in March 2009 as Head of Graduate Resourcing. She joined Thales from QinetiQ where she had managed Graduate Development and then Recruitment for around 10 years. In March 2011 there was a reorganisation of the Graduate Function at Thales and Miranda took on responsibility for the Graduate Development Programmes as well as Graduate Resourcing. Currently her role also sees responsibility for the Internship Programmes. Miranda is also an active member of the International Recruitment & Mobility Network working alongside recruiters from countries around the Thales Group.
Having studied for a BA (Hons) in History at the University of Exeter Miranda first embarked on a career in retail management with the Dixons Stores Group. This was followed by running her own business – a Public House, working in the financial services sector at Lloyds TSB, as well as several years in the civil service at the Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) before finding her true passion in life – all things Graduate Resourcing & Development.
Her passion for the industry goes beyond her role at Thales and involvement with AGR. She is a member of the Bright Futures Advisory Board and also sits on the Industrial Board at the University of Exeter.
Miranda lives in the shadow of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire with her husband, cat and dog. In her spare time Miranda loves travelling – Australia is the destination of choice, walking the dog, spending time with her family and going to live music concerts.
Nicky Ivory-Chapman, Reputation and Resourcing Manager, McDonald’s UK
Nicky is the Reputation and Resourcing Manager for McDonald’s UK, responsible for Recruitment, Employer Brand, Uniforms and the employee engagement website across 1200 UK restaurants.
Nicky has spent all her adult life at McDonald’s, joining as a part-time employee in 1993 and completing the management trainee programme a year later. The next eight years were spent managing various restaurants in London’s West End.
Her move to HR began in 2003 with a 3 year secondment as a HR Generalist and was followed by a move to the newly formed Reputation team in 2006, taking on a new dual role of resourcing and employer reputation.
In her current role Nicky manages the resourcing team, who develop and implement recruitment processes and manage the careers website, recruiting for roles from Work Experience and Industrial Placements to restaurant management.
The employee engagement website is visited daily by most of the 91,000 UK employees and is the primary communication tool to provide news, schedules, online learning and recognition programmes. Its success has led to versions being created for other McDonald’s markets across Europe.
Nicky is also responsible for the various employer branding projects of recent years, which set about redefining perceptions of McDonald’s as an employer and include advertising campaigns, new uniforms by fashion designers Bruce Oldfield and Wayne Hemingway, and external recognition programmes.
A Chartered Member of the CIPD, Nicky began her involvement with the AGR in 2006 and became a director in 2013.
Nicky lives in North London with husband Sam and any time away from work is spent travelling, shopping and dining out (preferably all at the same time!)
Fellow, Alison Hodgson, HR Director, McDonalds Restaurants Ireland Ltd
Alison has led a colorful and varied career to date with international and domestic experience in Public and Private sectors, as well as holding the Chair of a Professional membership organization for 4 years. Well versed in public speaking and dealing with the media, she has experience of working with companies in boom, bust, fraud and all-out national industrial action!
Having studied at The Queen’s University of Belfast where she achieved BA Hons Psychology, postgraduate certificate in Management, and MSc Occupational Psychology, Alison started her career at Marks and Spencer plc on their graduate management development program and worked in Store HR Management at Marks &Spencer PLC for five years. During this time she achieved her CIPD qualification.
Alison then moved to SalamonSmithBarney as Assistant Vice President in Graduate and MBA Recruitment for Europe. After a year in the City, Alison became Head of International Graduate Program for WorldCom where her responsibilities covered the recruitment and development of Graduates for EMEA and Asia Pacific, and then progressed to a wider role as International Resourcing & Development Manager. After two and a half years, Alison’s next position was at Sodexho as HR Resourcing & Projects Director where she stayed for three years before moving on to Expedia to a position of European HR & Resourcing Manager. In the September 2006 Alison joined the Royal Mail as Group Head of Resourcing, directing the organization’s recruitment and internal Resourcing strategies. In December 2007 Alison was appointed Interim Director Talent Management & Resourcing until 1st August 2008 when she was appointed HR Central Functions in Royal Mail Group.
Alison joined the AGR board of directors in 2001 and was appointed AGR Finance Director in 2002. In 2003 she became AGR Chair – she completed her tenure as Chair in November 2007 and is now a Vice President for the organization. In December 2007 – Alison also became a Fellow of the CIPD.
In her spare time – Alison has a love of travel, she skis in the winter and scuba dives in the summer – and regularly sings at weddings, and funerals!