Chair, Terence Perrin, EMEA Head of Recruitment & Resourcing, J.P. Morgan
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.
More recently, Terence 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 is currently managing campus & experienced hire resourcing for the Private Bank & Investment Management functions in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa.)
Terence has contributed to numerous media articles on graduate, MBA and experienced hire recruitment as well as appearing regularly as a speaker at conferences and an awards judge on these subject areas. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, and holds Level A and B 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. |
|
Finance Director, Rebecca Fielding
A Chemistry graduate from Sheffield University I have held a variety of roles in HR, Training, Recruitment, Talent Mangement and Leadership development with Aon, the Co-operative Group, HJ Heinz and latterly Asda. Over the last ten years I have been involved in all elements of the graduate field from campus activity to attraction, recruitment, development, retention and integration into broader business talent strategies.
I met the AGR team at my first AGR conference in 2004 (if you’ve never been - book now — it’s fantastic fun and a great learning atmosphere), where I was so enthused that I just had to become part of the team! From joining the membership task group in 2004, I joined the Board in 2005, in 2006 I took up the role as Chair of the education & training task group and most recently was elected as Finance Director in 2007.
I am currently enjoying maternity leave with our first daughter Elizabeth.
|
|
Nikki Williams, Head of Resourcing, Allen & Overy LLP
Nikki's career in graduate recruitment began at Deloitte & Touche in London as Graduate Recruitment Manager, responsible for recruitment into audit, tax and consultancy, with a particular focus on recruitment marketing.
In 2001, Nikki moved to Allen & Overy LLP as their Graduate Recruitment Manager, with responsibility for all trainee and vacation student recruitment for the London office. She is now Head of Resourcing for the firm as a whole, spending much of her time advising the 25 international offices on their recruitment approach and developing the strategy for recruitment of entry-level and qualified lawyers, partners and support staff. Nikki also has responsibility for internal and external secondments and continues to run the firm's HR team for its UK trainee and student population.
In her spare time, Nikki enjoys being outside - ideally on skis, boats or hills. She also enjoys good food and wine with friends and travelling. |
|
Vice President, Sonja Stockton, Director of Talent, Aquisition, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Sonja began her career in education where she held a number of senior roles. She joined National Grid in 1998 on a leadership secondment and stayed! Joining the HR function in learning and development Sonja project managed a number of learning and development initiatives and programmes including the design and development of student programmes before leading on Graduate Recruitment and Development in 1999. Following on Sonja became Learning Manager with responsibility for the management of the company’s training centre and the delivery of over 15,000 delegate days training from craft apprentices to graduates and senior managers. The training covered both technical and core programmes and the IEE accredited Graduate Development Programme.
When the company merged with Transco, Sonja was responsible for the integration of all development programmes including the revised Graduate programme, Sonja now heads up the New Talent Team and is responsible for National Grid Transco’s strategic resourcing and development programmes feeding the talent pipeline through to leadership.
In the summer of 2006, Sonja took up a new role with PWC in graduate development and leadership development for the UK tax business. In June 2007 Sonja began the role of Head of Graduate Recruitment.
Sonja has presented on Talent Management in a number of professional forums and sits on a number of boards and groups including the Power Academy to promote engineering careers to young people. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management and the Institute of Directors.
Sonja is passionate about developing people and thoroughly enjoys all aspects of recruitment and development. She joined the AGR Executive in 2003 and is the Chair of the Education and Training Task Group. |
|
Vice President, Navjot Singh, Global Marketing Manager - Recruitment, Shell
As a business graduate having spent his early years in various marketing roles for a company specialising in duplicating music for the record industry, Navjot Singh at the age of 24 became the baby of the MBA class. In 1994, during his time at Bradford studying for his full-time MBA in Marketing Management, Navjot together with fellow team members also picked up the annual 3i Venture Capital prize.
On leaving Bradford in 1995, he continued his career with Unilever’s cosmetics arm Elizabeth Arden and Parfums International. Shortly afterwards, he joined the DaimlerChrysler group of companies in the UK progressing through various marketing roles which culminated in his position as Marketing Director responsible for managing brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Smart, Chrysler and Jeep. During his time with the automobile manufacturer, Navjot also picked up the Young Achiever of the Year Award in 1999 from Eddie George, Governor of the Bank of England.
In 2001, he was approached by the energy giant Shell and joined as Vice-President of Customer Relationship Management leading a study to understand the true value of CRM for Shell, which within nine months subsequently led to runners-up prize being awarded within the Gartner CRM Excellence Awards. Four months later, Navjot has now moved on once again within Shell as Global Marketing Manager responsible for attracting Top Talent for the Shell Group from Graduates, Experienced hires to MBA’s across 135 countries.
Commenting on his Marketing career to date, “people very quickly loose sight in today’s business environment that people are the most important asset to any organisation. People make and break companies, and to ensure the workforce of today is a well oiled machine, quality driven MBA programmes such as the one I undertook at Bradford provide aspiring executives the opportunity to achieve their career aspirations, once pondered many times during an MBA elective.” |
|
Marina Aldridge, Head of Resourcing & Recruitment, Audit Commission
Marina graduated in Paris with a BA Hons in History and worked for the Prudential Assurance Co for nearly 14 years, in a variety of technical sales support roles.
1991 brought a radical change of career and life, when she moved to Scotland from London, and joined the HR department of Grampian Regional Council.
After 6 years she decided to leave Scotland but stick with HR, and moved down to Essex, joining Visteon (formerly part of Ford Motor Co), recruiting project and sales engineers to new offices being set up close to the other car manufacturers across Europe. She became a member of CIPD and gained level A & B status in psychometric testing.
In 1999, she joined an independent part of the Audit Commission called District Audit as a Recruitment Manager. About a year later she was asked to take additional responsibility for the graduate recruitment scheme, and then when District Audit joined forces with the Audit Commission Marina was appointed Head of Resourcing and Recruitment.
She has been a member of AGR since 2001, and was one of the founder members of the public sector focus group and has been part of the conference planning group.
When she's not either working or commuting to and from work she likes to spend time with my 13 year-old daughter. She also enjoy sailing, skiing, catching some live music, travelling or just wining and dining. |
|
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. |
|
Ruth Chandler, Head of Graduate Talent, Standard Life
Ruth graduated from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen (BA Business Studies) and has a postgraduate diploma in Human Resource Management. As part of her degree she spent a year with Marks and Spencer which gave her some early management experience.
On leaving University she joined Standard Life as a graduate trainee gaining experience in People Development, Operations Management and other general management roles before being appointed as a consultant in the Reward function in HR.
In 1998 she took the opportunity to move across to Operations Management and spent two years managing and restructuring a large Customer Service area before changing roles to become the Membership manager for Standard Life.
Ruth moved to Standard Life Bank in 2002 and was appointed Head of Customer Service. During her time in the Bank, Ruth was heavily involved in the graduate programme and in 2008 moved to Group HR to design and implement the new Global Leadership Programme. In her current role as Head of Graduate Talent Ruth has ultimate responsibility for the attraction, selection, reward, and development of graduates at Standard Life.
In her spare time Ruth enjoys spending time with her three young sons and still manages to run regularly having completed the New York Marathon a year ago.
|  |
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 — Group Graduate Resourcing Manager, 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! |
|
Bob Athwal - Head of Graduate Schemes, RWE npower
One of the biggest names in UK energy, the company generates power and supplies 10 percent of the UK's gas and electricity requirements.
After completing a degree in Mathematical Modelling, Bob briefly entered Tesco’s graduate scheme before joining Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Where he was the Recruitment Manager for London and the Southeast. After much success Bob left to join graduatejobs.com as UK Graduate Marketing Manager in 2004, at graduate-jobs.com Bob gained a different perspective about the graduate recruitment Industry. in July 2006 he joined npower and recently completed an Executive MBA in his spare time.
Bob has been an active member of the agr for several years and is very passionate about the graduate recruitment & development industry. Bob has been the recipient of many internal and external awards during his career and is always continually looking at improving his own performance along with his team. When not working Bob likes to travel, watch football and enjoy some quality time with his two children. |
 |
Wilma Martinelli, Director, Centre for Career and Skills Development, City University London and President AGCAS
Wilma Martinelli has been President, Chair of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services since August 2008. She first joined Agcas Board in 2004 as Profession Development Coordinator and then went on to become Vice President and President Elect.
Wilma has been Director of The Centre for Career and Skills Development at City University London since April 2002. Prior to City she spent 14 years at London Metropolitan University where she held several roles within the Careers Service, latterly as Guidance Development Manager. She is widely known for her work in skills development and has been was involved with several national mentoring programmes since the early nineties.
Wilma has 20 years of private sector experience her early working career began in administration and retail. Several retail management positions followed by self employment led her to the perceived safety of the public sector. She has commercial experience working with plc boards and holding non executive positions in public organisations. In addition to her commitment to equality and inclusion she brings passion and experience on the skills agenda.
Wilma has been actively engaged in employability, skills and widening participation projects. She is a member of both London East Thames Gateway (LETG) and London West, Central and North (WECAN) area AimHigher partnership committees. Wilma also serves on; the Council of the Association of University Administrators (AUA), HECSU Board and the Advisory Board of the Student Volunteering Initiative. She is a member of the Graduate Employment Forum and an on the advisory forum of Lord Browne’s Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance she is also involved with the National Student Forum. |
 |
Adrian Thomas, Head of Resourcing, Network Rail
As Head of Resourcing, Adrian is 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. Adrian has returned to the AGR Board for a second term as a Director and is also currently on the board of the Recruitment Society. His other passions are his family and (when his two young daughters permit him the time), helping to run Martin Dene Lawn Tennis Club, and the odd game of golf. |
 |
Vice President, Alison Hodgson, HR Director, Central Functions - Royal Mail Group
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 Association of Graduate Recruiters (www.agr.org.uk) 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! |
 |