MEET THE JUDGES

Neal has worked at McDonald’s for over 40 years, starting as a crewmember whilst completing his studies.

After several years in various operational management positions, Neal led the UK Reward team for sixteen years, driving improvement and innovation in the value and range of benefits offered to McDonald’s UK employees. The team’s work received regular external recognition including the prestigious Employee Benefits Grand Prix award for their alignment of reward strategy to business strategy.

Over the last eight years, Neal has worked within the Global Total Rewards team evolving global frameworks, leading the co-ordination, communication and leadership reporting of the global annual compensation cycle and helping to introduce a choice programme to all global LTI recipients.

Neal has a BA in Accounting and Finance from Kingston University, is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and was honoured to be voted the Employee Benefits Professional of the Year in 2014.

Gary Brewer is currently the Human Resources Director with BioAscent Discovery Group and Director of People & Culture with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland. With over 46 years experience in the HR field, Gary has held a range of senior, global HR and General Management positions across a number of sectors. Currently, a member of the Employment Tribunal service in Scotland, Gary has extensive judging experience and has also occupied various part-time positions as a Lecturer, Mentor, Tutor and Consultant’

Jackie is the Head of Benefits and Reward at Travers Smith LLP overseeing all aspects of reward including payroll, pensions, employee benefits and employee wellbeing.

Having started her career in graduate recruitment and then working in generalist HR for some years, Jackie has worked specifically in reward for almost 20 years. Jackie has devoted much of her career working within the legal sector for firms such as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills and Eversheds before her role at Travers but also has experience of the management consultancy, higher education and engineering sectors.

Jackie focuses much of her time on health and wellbeing support, communication and engagement initiatives, building depth and complexity in the reward propositions she develops. Jackie also has a passion for flexible benefits and the impact that technology can have on engagement.

Jane Clifford is the People Director for Brewers Decorator Centre, the largest independently owned decorators’ merchants in the country. Brewers has been trading since 1904 and employees more than 1500 colleagues to provide a range of products and expert advice for both trade and retail customers.

Jane has more than 25 years’ experience in HR, in a variety of sectors including professional services, construction, manufacturing and retail. Her current remit includes HR, recruitment, learning and payroll.

Jane is passionate about inclusion, equality and creating a workplace in which colleagues can be happy. Jane is always striving to balance the commercial and compassionate drivers within HR, so the department is seen equally as adding value and caring about every colleague.

Chris Coyne is currently Director of Reward and People Services at AWE plc, a large defence contractor. He is responsible for all areas of reward, performance, wellbeing, People Services and HR technology. Following 10 years as a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy during which he gained a BA(Hons) in Behaviour in Organisations, Chris obtained a Master’s degree in Strategic HR and moved into industry, where for the last 24 years has held senior HR and Reward roles in a range of sectors including IT, property, education and defence.

Neil has 20 years' experience in reward across a range of sectors including retail, financial services and tech. He is currently Head of Reward at Wickes plc having joined Wickes in 2021, and is responsible for the full reward agenda. In recent years Neil has specialised in executive remuneration in listed companies. He has led a number of award-winning benefits teams, and is a regular conference speaker, award judge and contributor to industry press. Neil has a particular passion for financial wellbeing, particularly in relation to pension awareness.

Mark Greenwald is Wellbeing and Benefit Manager at Lendlease Europe based in London, delivering on the company’s employee benefits and wellbeing strategies across the region.. Mark has worked in HR for over 18 years acquiring vast experience across the HR spectrum including compensation, data analytics and employee experience. Mark is passionate about creating impactful employee experiences that empower individuals to take informed decisions that allow them to thrive, which has led to the creation of award-winning strategies across the Wellbeing spectrum whilst working alongside several organisations to share best practice and continually inspire excellence.

Mark has spoken at numerous conferences on the topics of employee benefits and wellbeing sharing how Lendlease Europe delivers on their award-winning approach with most recently being guest speaker at, Supply Chain Sustainability School Conference 2023, Employee Benefits Live 2024, and The London Build Expo 2024.

Established in 1989, Gripple is the original innovator and manufacturer of wire joining and tensioning devices, as well as anchoring, bracing and suspension systems that have changed the game for many industries.

We are no ordinary business. We do almost everything differently.

100% owned by our employees, we’re also committed to changing the game by making a positive impact in our communities around the world. We’re a force for good, as certified by B Corp.

Our vision as a People & Culture team is to create a great place to work where employees thrive and are fully engaged in the business.

As Head of People & Recruitment, my key areas of focus are driving our UK people agenda, delivering a market-leading employer value proposition and attracting, recruiting and developing talent.

A graduate in German and French with a CIPD level 7 qualification in employment law, my passion lies in doing the best for our people, delivering a first-class service, and promoting our unique business to potential employees.

Jennifer Hickson (nee Colley) serves as the Senior Director of the Global Rewards Delivery Strategy at the Coca-Cola Company, where her strategic vision and leadership drive innovative global rewards solutions.

Jennifer’s team cover all areas of benefits, compensation and mobility, delivering rollouts of global Rewards plans and technology solutions, focusing on delivering a world-class employee experience and ensuring the company is protected through best practices in processes, controls and compliance.

Possessing a BSc(Hons) in Information Systems, and having started her career as a technical consultant for IBM Mainframe, Jennifer brings a passion for technical innovation to her role in Rewards. Jennifer’s move to the world of benefits began as a Project Manager at Darwin, where she managed the rollout of benefits software to global clients, building an extensive and cherished network of colleagues across the world of HR.

Ian is the Director of People and Culture at Housing 21overseeing all aspects of people management including reward, payroll, pensions, employee benefits, HR systems and executive remuneration. Having started his career in finance before moving specifically in to reward Ian has a background in both the public and private sector having previously worked for Moy Park, Mars, Prudential, Lincolnshire County Council and the University of Lincoln.

A firm believer and champion in the importance of reward strategy as a driver for change and in supporting organisational success, Ian has previously overseen teams that have been acknowledged for their achievements at awards for their innovative work including winning the 2021 and 2022 Employee Benefits Grand Prix award.

Ian is the current board member of the Education Competencies Consortium who focus on ensuring fair and equal pay through role evaluation and reward frameworks.

Ian has also been a recipient of the Pay and Benefits Career Accomplishment Award and was also the Employee Benefits Reward Professional of the Year in 2019. Ian also regularly contributes to professional publications and conferences within the sector providing insights into the future of work.

Natalie Jutla is an experienced engagement, employee financial wellbeing, and employee benefits professional, employee value proposition (EVP) with a demonstrated track record of working in the civil service, public and private sectors. 2022 winner of the EB Employee Benefits professional of the year. She is skilled in all employee benefits, salary sacrifice schemes, employee financial capability, and wellbeing strategies and schemes.

Whether Natalie is implementing an EVP strategy resulting in an 27% increase in employee satisfaction in 3 years or delivering new employee benefits projects that have produced employer savings of more than £5 million in as many years, she proves she is ahead of the curve when identifying trends, new benefits and evaluating gaps within current strategies and practices.

Currently, Natalie is the Employee Benefits and Financial Wellbeing lead, for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Defra based in Westminster. Her people-driven approach has seen her implement a fully harmonised employee benefits platform for 36,500 employees across 17 different payrolls that is producing over £1 million per month employee spend , making a £63k per month saving for her employees whilst also delivering a fit-for-purpose low employer cost solution to a fully engaged workforce with a 95% active user rate. Natalie holds a master’s degree focused on Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

Brigitte current role is Programme Director for People Experience at the South Yorkshire integrated Care Board and has over 38 years’ experience working in the NHS. She graduated as a Diagnostic Radiographer and has undertaken various roles in Clinical, Educational and leadership in developing workforce across South Yorkshire. Between 2016 and 2021 she held the role of Assistant Operations Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, at that level she led on workforce Human Resources and educational support to include staff engagement and Health & Wellbeing.

In May 2021, Brigitte took on the position of Head of Health and Wellbeing for the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICS. With her creative vision, Brigitte has been very keen to make a difference to the Health and Wellbeing of our workforce across South Yorkshire and ensures they are empowered to look after themselves and others around them.

In 2024, Brigitte was promoted to the position of Programme Director of People at the SY ICB and leads on a team with workstreams focusing on mental health, Health & Wellbeing, Retention, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging and Talent. We focus on prevention, leadership and crisis support to drive inclusion, wellbeing and learning culture. One of our most impactful initiatives is the ICS-wide ‘Mission: Menopause’ initiative across South Yorkshire to raise the awareness of menopause for all workforce in NHS and Care across South Yorkshire. Brigitte was awarded the Employee Benefits Professional of the year in 2024 and the team have been nominated and awarded several awards in 2023-2024 to include HSJ, Henpicked, Employee Benefits and HPMA.

Brigitte was born in Bethlehem, Palestine and speaks several languages all of which has helped her with leading on many overseas projects in health organisations in developing countries across three continents.

Jenny is Head of People at Daemon with experience of supporting client groups within both SME and Global companies. She is hugely passionate about ensuring a consultative, commercial and thorough approach driving a people first agenda to achieve the business commercial objectives.

Hazel has over 20 years reward experience within market leading businesses across a variety of sectors, including retail, energy, construction and financial services. She is experienced in benefits design and management, reward and performance frameworks, and operational reward delivery including annual reward processes, job evaluation and executive compensation.

Hazel currently leads the reward and performance team at E.ON where she is accountable for benefits, compensation and performance management for colleagues across E.ON UK. Her current focus is on driving a compelling reward offer and EVP which supports employer brand, and reflects business purpose and culture. E.ON won at the Employee Benefits Awards in 2024 (Benefit Communications) and the Personnel Today Awards in 2022 (Reward Recognition and Benefits). Hazel has also been a guest panellist in various external events such as those hosted by REBA and Edenred.

People Director at Welcome Break and member of the Applegreen Senior Leadership Team, Nicola has forged an award-winning career in People Development and HR spanning two decades – bringing her expertise to the UK’s leading hospitality organisations in senior leadership roles across Whitbread, Greene King, and Travelodge.

Nicola currently leads the global People functions across Welcome Break in the UK, ROI, and US – meticulously crafting the People strategy and vision to deliver impactful results that support over 6,000 team members. As Chair of the Welcome Break Charitable Fund, Nicola’s direction helped raise £1 million in 2024 to support its charity partners and local communities.

At home, Nicola leads the charge as a dedicated mum to Harriett (15) and Cockapoo Woody, and wife to Pete. She’s often found running, cycling, or swimming, and loves to challenge herself with athletic events – enjoying some well-deserved cake and prosecco as a reward!

Janet has worked in the Reward field for more years than she cares to remember and for employers across a range of diverse sectors. She knows that a key skill in reward is how to assess what ‘feels fair’ and then communicate it effectively - especially challenging if most of your employees aren’t sitting in front of a PC. She’s very clear that to be great in reward, you need to be emotionally intelligent & recognise how change is going to impact real people in the real world. She also believes that it’s not about doing what everyone else is doing, rather deciding what’s best for your organisation and employees at a point in time, and then not being afraid to change and adapt.

Brian Newman is EVP, Human Resources for the global division of Ticketmaster responsible for leading and directing all HR activity.

Brian began his career in HR at ITV in 2000 but after two and a half years moved to Live Nation as HR Manager and progressed to his current role via a number of internal moves. Brian specialises in employee and cultural integration, having played an integral role during the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger in 2010. Brian works across talent management, has skills in international leadership management development, TUPE, Trade Union Negotiations, benefits and organisational design.

Brian also enjoys participating in HR industry events, commentating and writing within the sector and has had a number of featured articles within HR Director Magazine, Employee Benefits and People Management. Brian’s team has won a number of awards in recognition of the work they do. Most recently, technology website V3 awarded Ticketmaster the ‘Best Place to Work’ and Employee Benefits awarded Ticketmaster their ‘Best Healthcare and WellBeing scheme’ accolade for their pioneering LiveWell scheme.

Reward leader with over 20 years experience in developing people strategies and leading teams specialising in employee Reward including benefits, recognition and wellbeing.

Currently working for BT helping enhance the overall Reward Experience for their 80,000 employees, Reward Consultant and former Head of Reward at Anglian Water.

Victoria Shepherd is delighted to be on the judging panel this year as UK Power Networks’ Employee Engagement Manager, instrumental in driving initiatives that enhance employee satisfaction and productivity. With a strong background in human resources and a passion for fostering a positive workplace culture, Victoria has successfully led numerous engagement projects, contributing to UK Power Networks ranking #2 Best Big Companies to work for in 2024. Their expertise in developing and implementing strategies that align with UK Power Network’s vision and values, with the employee experience at the heart, is their motivation to recognise and celebrate other wonderful companies doing their best for their employees.

Niall is a dynamic and results-oriented public sector manager with a proven track record of transforming business operations through the strategic application of data science and information communication techniques.

He specialises in aligning data initiatives with strategic objectives, ensuring that his output contributes directly to the overarching goals of the organisation. His expertise lies in strategically harnessing data to inform decision-making, optimise processes, and enhance overall efficiency within complex and large-scale public sector organisations via pragmatic, accessible and user-centric solutions.

Nationally recognised for his contributions, he is considered to be a thought leader in the field of public sector data utilisation. Colleagues from across the UK regularly seek his professional advice, particularly in relation to process and solution design.

Amy is a Total Rewards Professional based in the UK. With a background in general HR and a specialized focus on employee relations. Amy now dedicates her expertise across EMEA, covering a wide array of compensation and benefits topics. Previously, Amy has managed the UK benefits scheme, led the implementation of new benefits, and worked on benefit activities across the Nordic region. One of Amy's more recent notable achievements is co-leading a Global Pay Parity initiative. Passionate about pay parity, Amy is driven by the need to address this ongoing topic and finds it astonishing that gender pay parity still demands such significant attention today. Amy believes that while navigating this complex and sensitive topic is challenging, the future holds promising advancements.