Webinars

Maral Soltani-Taylor

Director, Benefits & Mobility, Exact Sciences

Maral is the Director, Benefits & Mobility, heading up international benefits design, global benefits operations and global mobility & immigration at Exact Sciences headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Exact Sciences is a life sciences company focussing on cancer prevention and diagnostic test with a mission to help detect cancer early. 
 
Having worked in global roles at a large pharmaceutical company, Maral is passionate about global benefits, finding innovative ways to create global minimum standards whilst staying locally relevant and competitive. Together with her team, they are focussed on designing and implementing benefits that are relevant throughout the employee lifecycle, and aligned with the company and local culture by considering the needs of a diverse and multi-generational workforce and aligning the offering with the business and talent strategy.
 

Steve Watson

Director of Policy & Research, Cushon

Steve Watson, Director of Policy & Research Steve is Cushon’s Director of Policy & Research. He has spent over 30 years of his career advising organisations on all aspects of pensions and workplace savings both in the UK and internationally.

Sam Whiting

Benefits and Pensions Senior Manager , Grant Thornton UK LLP

Sam Whiting is the Benefits and Pensions Senior Manager at Grant Thornton UK LLP, steering the firm's benefits and pensions offering. With 15 years of experience in benefits and pension process management, Sam has broadened her focus to include overall financial wellbeing, championing strategies that resonate with a diverse workforce.

Sam is passionate about demystifying pensions, transitioning from traditional offerings and communication methods to a more holistic approach to financial wellbeing and employee support.

Stuart Cheesman

Global Strategist, O.C.Tanner

With over twenty-five years global HR consulting experience helping to develop, strategise and embed employee transformation experiences, Stuart is impassioned by helping organisations to drive cultural change whilst improving societal, environmental and business outcomes. 

Encompassing all aspects of employee culture, Stuart’s background and thought leadership has ensured employees and businesses can thrive together.
 

Julia Diggs

Director, People Experience, OVO Energy

Julia is a values driven, senior people leader with diverse UK and International HR and specialist Reward experience.
 
She’s worked with start-ups, growth business and multinationals across many industries successfully building HR functions and creative, dynamic environments.
 
Julia previously worked with the BBC as Head of Reward & People Analysis, and Bupa as Reward Director, UK. She’s passionate about supporting everyone to be the best that they can be and creating the best experiences.
 

Vikki Gledhill

Senior Director, International Total Rewards, Cox Automotive

Vikki is the Senior Director, Total Rewards, heading up rewards, benefits, recognition/appreciation and financial wellbeing for the International part of Cox Automotive, a division of Cox Enterprises headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.   Cox Automotive is part of a privately owned company, held in the same family for 125 years, with a global workforce of over 30,000 employees.  Before moving into the automotive sector in 2019, Vikki spent 6 years working in Aviation, and prior to that, 23 years in Food Manufacturing. 
 
With over 35 years in reward and benefits, Vikki is passionate about building innovative and comprehensive total reward strategies that suit a diverse and multi-generational workforce to align with business strategy and help drive attraction, retention and engagement. 
 

Matt Duffy

Partner

Matt Duffy is a Partner and Global Commercial Leader of Mercer Marsh Benefits Multinational business, responsible for the commercial development of our Global Benefits Management proposition, encompassing consulting, broking, co-ordination and technology solutions. Matt’s passion is creating solutions for multinational organisations to effectively manage their people risk and talent management priorities, alongside a digital employee experience strategy to increase participation, understanding and appreciation of employee benefits. 

Matt is a regular speaker at employee benefits and risk management conferences, is actively involved in new client & geography business development, as well as Executive Sponsor for some of our largest existing clients, to ensure we continue to use the Voice of the Client in our proposition development.

With over 20 years’ experience in employee benefits commercial and consulting roles, Matt is an active member of our Global Executive Leadership Team, driving our strategy to ensure we continue to innovate and stay ahead of the market to exceed the demands and  expectations of our diverse, global clients. 

Delphine Boyer

Head of Benefits & Mobility , SLB

I am currently the Head of Benefits & Mobility at Schlumberger, after having previously been in charge of HR for France. I have been working for Schlumberger for 17 years, including 7 years as an expatriate in various roles within the HR function, which both stimulates and challenges me! I have had the opportunity to hold 10 different positions in France, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cameroon, in generalist HR roles as well as in compensation and benefits.

My skills include managing compensation and benefits, C&B integration projects, social relations, negotiations, and talent management. I enjoy challenges, working with great teams, experiencing human and cultural adventures, and stepping out of my comfort zone to satisfy my curiosity.

My personal mission is to bring out the best of them and to those around them - so that everyone can reach their full potential.To help me in this mission, I am developing as a coach- so that I can support people in their personal and professional journey to become who they can and want to be.
 

Reiko Kubota

Head of Global Benefits, Fidelity International

Reiko heads up Global Benefits in Fidelity International and for the past five years has focused on the creative use of benefits as an attractive engagement and communication tool through leveraging the technological capability. Reiko began her career in pensions and benefits management in the financial industry and over the 20 years, expanded her scope from the UK, where she is based, to EMEA, APAC and India, leading strategic direction with particular attention to global framework and local sensitivity.

In the post pandemic world, where benefits professionals are having to work at pace to develop strategy to respond to environmental, economic and demographic changes in the workforce, Reiko believes that benefits opens up opportunities for the employers to make a statement about their cultural authenticity which will resonate with the emerging trend in employees having renewed priorities in life.
 

Ellie Vaughan

Head of Reward and Benefits, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Ellie Vaughan is the Head of Reward and Benefits at Herbert Smith Freehills, a global law firm with 5000 employees. Here, she is responsible for all aspects of compensation for employees and benefits and wellbeing for employees and partners globally. Before moving into the legal sector in 2016, Ellie spent 12 years working in various HR roles in the not for profit sector. 
 
With over 15 years in reward and benefits, Ellie is passionate about building innovative and comprehensive reward and benefits strategies that suit a diverse workforce and maximise employee engagement and wellbeing
 

Fiona Wallace

HR Director, Cundall

Fiona Wallace is Global HR Director at Cundall, who are a global engineering consultancy.  Fiona leads Cundall’s global HR team in delivering a people strategy for growth, as Cundall continues to expand its global footprint.  

Prior to joining Cundall, Fiona has been working in people and culture for over 20 years in professional services organisations, including wealth management, banking, insurance, legal and engineering, both internationally and in the UK.  She has held a number of HR leadership roles across talent, L&D, HR technology, employee experience, performance and organisation design, as well as non-exec experience, particularly in reward and performance.   She describes herself as being passionate about developing talent and creating positive workplace culture, by maximising all aspects of the employee experience to provide an environment where everyone can thrive.
 

Paul Duggan

Global Health and Wellbeing Lead (EMEA), Accenture

Paul spent 18 years at Accenture working across Technology and Consulting and was an early member of the pioneering UK Mental Health Network. In 2019 he moved into HR to focus on Health and Well-being full-time, leading Health and Well-being across the UK. Paul now sits as part of the global Health and Well-being team with responsibility for EMEA. He is passionate about pragmatic well-being and aligning well-being outcomes with perceptions of success.
 

Stephanie Leung

Co-Founder and CEO, KareHero

Stephanie is the CEO & Co-founder of KareHero, the UK’s only fully comprehensive solution
for the adult care journey, transforming adult caregiving complexities into stress-free
experiences.

A human and digital care platform, KareHero mission is to empower all working adults to
successfully manage both their careers and adult caring responsibilities, helping businesses
attract and retain top talent. KareHero service hand-holds employees through the legal,
financial, and medical complexities of care setup, emergency care assistance, hospital
admission and discharge, short and longterm care and care placements.

Prior to KareHero, Stephanie has held leadership roles in Forbes' top 20 private and public companies, most notably as part of Uber's EMEA leadership team, as DEI Co-Chair and Head of EMEA for Women@Uber. She is currently a Non-Executive Director on the board of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC, a FTSE100 company. Stephanie holds a Masters from Harvard and Cambridge, where she focused on the impact of the ageing population on the global economy.

Lauren Lunniss

Health & Wellbeing Manager, BNP Paribas

Lauren Lunniss holds the position of Health & Wellbeing Manager in the BNP Paribas CIB HR department. 

Lauren has over 17 years experience in the Health & Wellbeing industry, 11 of which are in corporate wellbeing. Part of her role involves using data analytics to make sure that employees have access to the optimum blend of benefits and knowledge to improve their wellbeing. 

Lauren has a strong desire for supporting others, therefore she freely shares her own personal experiences to assist companies in discovering the best ways to support their employees. 

Josephina Smith

Reward Director, British Airways

Josephina Smith is currently working with British Airways in the role of Reward Director. She is a Reward thought Leader and speaker with a successful 20-year career in HR and Reward Management.

She describes herself as a business person first who seeks to ensure that HR interventions are grounded in business reality. In house roles include visible ‘No 1’ leadership roles with board/executive level interaction across a variety of industries.

She is passionate about all things reward, performance management, diversity and inclusion, leadership, helping people grow, making a positive difference in people's personal and professional life.

Francesca Steyn

UK VP of Clinical and Chair of the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) Fertility Nurses Forum, Peppy

David Burke

Head of Global Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand, Workhuman

David is Head of Global Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand for Workhuman®, the world’s fastest-growing integrated Social Recognition® platform. Based out of Ireland, David has been intimately involved in recruiting at scale for the global technology sector for almost 20 years. He has been an adviser to many successful scaling organisations on their talent strategies and the evolution and impact of culture in the modern workplace. 

 

Amanda Dini

Int'l Pensions and Benefits Specialist, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Amanda is a Global Rewards Professional with broad experience in compensation and benefits, be it in the pharmaceutical industry (Ipsen and Bio-Rad), high-tech (Adobe Systems, Zebra Technology or Unisys).

Amanda is a frequent contributor to REBA events and research, having recently contributed to the Pensions Strategies for the New Age of Retirement.

Amanda is a Fellow member of the CIPD and is passionate about diversity and well being in the workplace, taking a holistic and practical approach to reward.
 

  

Aga Tatusko

Head of Reward, Improbable

A seasoned HR professional successfully navigating the dynamic landscape of employee compensation, benefits, and recognition. Aga's journey in this field has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between talent management and organisational success.
At Improbable, Aga take's pride in being a part of a team that thrives on pushing boundaries and reshaping the possibilities of technology. Working in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation has allowed Aga to apply her expertise in designing reward strategies that not only attract, retain, and motivate top talent but also align with our organisational goals.

I am looking forward to discussing how the latest innovations in digitalisation and AI are shaping our practices at Improbable. I firmly believe that these advancements will define the future in the reward space. Join me as we explore this topic, discussing the transformative impact it will have on our approach and the overall employee experience.

Ruth Thomas

Chief Product Evangelist, Payscale

As a co-founder at Curo Compensation Ruth pioneered the use of SaaS technology to transform traditional approaches to reward and drive fair pay. Following Curo’s acquisition by Payscale in 2021, Ruth now provides strategic thought leadership in her role as Chief Product Evangelist. She focuses on infusing pay equity across our product suite and elevating our thought leadership presence.

Ruth has been a leading voice in the campaign for pay equity and worked with global organizations to leverage technology to help them effectively optimize their reward strategy and deliver fair and transparent pay. She is a sought-after speaker, writer, and commentator on pay equity, compensation trends and the future of work. With over 30 years of international expertise in the management of compensation processes and the design of pay and benefit structures, salary progression systems and management incentive plans, her corporate experience includes Lloyds TSB Group, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Dow Jones Group and Credit Suisse.

Susie Godfrey

Head of Performance & Reward EMEA, Norton Rose Fulbright

Susie has worked in reward in the legal sector for over 10 years, most recently joining Norton Rose Fulbright as their Head of Performance and Reward – EMEA. Susie has experience of managing employee benefits, pensions and all aspects of compensation in the UK and internationally.  

Soraya Salem-Moreira

Senior Director Compensation and Benefits EMEA, IQVIA

Soraya has over 20 years dedicated international compensation and benefits experience. With first hand experience of the majority of compensation subjects and benefits management provision.

Tina Samson

Reward Program Director, EMEA & APAC

Tina is the Reward Program Director for Molson Coors Beverage Company, and is responsible for designing and implementing new reward programs across EMEA APAC.   

Tina has worked for Molson Coors for 14 years, and has an extensive background in HR generalist and reward roles.    Tina is particularly passionate about wellbeing and has designed and implemented the wellbeing strategy across the Division and is also a fully qualified MHFA trainer. Most recently Tina is responsible for designing and implementing the benefits strategy across EMEA APAC, including introducing a core benefits approach and has also started the implementation of a global benefits platform across 18 countries.
 

Mark Ramsook

Director of Global Health & Benefits Europe & Latam, Howden Employee Benefits

Mark is the Director of Global Employee Benefits for Howden Employee Benefits and Wellbeing.  He has responsibility for growing the Howden Business in Europe and Latin America, developing local teams, hiring key talent and continuing to build the multinational client proposition and services.  
 
Mark spent the last 20+ years in the pensions, employee benefits and wellbeing industry working with international clients and teams across all aspects of pensions and benefits.  He was formerly Sales Director for UK and Europe at Willis Towers Watson where he had a significant focus on working with European headquartered multinational clients. 
 
Mark has a very keen interest in emerging health, wellbeing and communication technology and has invested significant time over the past 5 years researching and developing propositions in this space.  He  previously also worked for Mercer, Deloitte and other benefits technology companies.
 

Gemma Stokes

Head of Global Benefits and Recognition, Avanade

Gemma is an experienced HR Leader with over 15 years’ experience mostly in the Professional services industry. Gemma is currently the Global Head of Benefits, Employee Policies and Recognition at Avanade.  She and her team are responsible for driving the Global Benefits and Recognition Strategies across 26 countries.

Gemma is passionate about creating a people first approach to benefits and recognition.

Avanade is the leading provider of innovative digital, cloud and advisory services, industry solutions and design-led experiences across the Microsoft ecosystem. Every day, our 59,000 professionals in 26 countries make a genuine human impact for our clients, their employees and their customers.
 

Debbie Fennell

Senior Benefits Manager

Debbie is the Senior Benefits Manager at DHL Supply Chain UKI responsible for all the benefits and wellbeing resources. Debbie is also on the steering group for DEIB at DHLSC and runs a Wellbeing Champion programme which she describes as game changing and essential. Debbie is an experienced and qualified HR practitioner, having worked in HR for 28 years and within the benefits arena for over 15 years. She is passionate about employee wellbeing and engagement, has firmly established wellbeing onto the agenda at DHL Supply Chain over the past 3 years and takes a holistic and pragmatic approach.

Gregg Hall

Benefits & Reward Manager, Aldermore

Gregg’s career has spanned over 20 years; starting in payroll and gaining experience across benefits, pensions and share plans, as well as wider reward. Gregg has worked in various sectors from aviation to construction and most recently financial services. He brings knowledge and expertise gained from companies like easyJet, Kering (Gucci, Alexander McQueen etc.) and Entain (Ladbrokes, Coral etc.) Gregg is a financial wellbeing enthusiast and has launched various campaigns and benefits to support multigenerational and global workforces with all things money. A self-confessed pension geek, he also loves to lead pension governance, education and engagement to support people preparing for their future. With a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion, Gregg has also chaired a previous employers LGBTQ+ employee network.

Jonathan Watts-Lay

Director, WEALTH at work

Jonathan is one of the original founders of WEALTH at work - a leading financial wellbeing and retirement specialist. He has spent many years working with companies to help their employees improve their financial future through the provision of financial education, guidance and regulated financial advice.

In recent years this service has extended to the Trustee market, supporting pension schemes to help their members understand their financial situation, particularly with regards to pensions and how to optimise income in retirement.

Jonathan is also a recognised commentator on a range of financial matters from how to help employees make the most of their pay and benefits, or the best ways to support them plan for their retirement by understanding the risks and complex decisions to be made. 

Oliver Atkinson

Occupational Health, Wellbeing and Benefits Manager, The AA

Oliver Atkinson began his career in 2008 as a Chartered Physiotherapist. During his clinical career he worked in a range of healthcare settings before setting up his own private clinic which he sold in 2014. He moved to work for Nuffield Health and Vita Health where he pivoted into a corporate wellbeing account manager role, working closely with a range of large corporate entities to help them develop their wellbeing strategies.

Oliver then joined the AA as their Head of Wellbeing and Occupational Health, where he has been developing the wellbeing strategy and advising on employee health and overseeing employee benefits.

Karen Sancto

EMEA Benefits Consultant, Microsoft

Karen manages benefits across the EMEA region at Microsoft, with extensive experience in the UK and currently working across Middle East and Africa. Karen has a passion for wellbeing and ensuring employees are supported during those ‘moments that matter’. Whilst companies are invested in expanding benefits to support more inclusive health matters – such as fertility, gender dysphoria, and menopause, Karen is committed to ensuring the support extends to how these life events are managed in the workplace, through allyship and manager capability.

Recognising the importance of providing employees with opportunities for social connection, Karen co-founded the Families employee resource group at Microsoft UK, providing a community for employees to connect and share experiences, and to support each other through the challenges of family life.

Jan Vickery

Wellbeing Lead, AXA Health

Jan is Category Lead within Wellbeing at AXA Health, following a 10 year period as Head of Clinical Operations for Occupational Health, Musculoskeletal Health and Psychological Health services. In her role, she oversees and develops health and wellbeing propositions for AXA Health clients, staying close to the evolving needs of employers and employees. Jan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and a Registered Ergonomist. She has worked in Occupational Health for over 20 years and serves on the Faculty of Occupational Medicine’s Ethics Committee.

Debbie Bullock

Head of DEI and UK & Irl Wellbeing Lead , Aviva

Debbie started her career straight from school at General Accident (one of Aviva’s predecessor companies), working in various areas of Marketing, before moving into Corporate Social Responsibility team. 
In January 2018 Debbie joined the People function, to lead the Wellbeing@Aviva programme for colleagues in the UK. Covering physical, mental, financial and social wellbeing, she’s responsible for strategy and delivery of the award-winning programme that supports employee wellbeing to enable ALL colleagues to perform at their best. As well as managing the wellbeing team, she also inspires, motivates and supports a network of 200+ wellbeing champions – known as Health Heroes.
Debbie is a Let’s Improve Workplace Wellbeing Ambassador, features in the Reward 300 list, and has is listed in the 50 over fifty list for inspiring women in insurance.

Tom Gardner

Head of Group Benefits, Sky Group

An experienced reward leader specialising in employee benefits, wellbeing strategy and management. A leader in Global Employment Taxes and Mobility, International Benefits and Pensions for the Sky Group, part of the Comcast family.

Supporting people to thrive physically and mentally in a positive work environment, building business success. 
 

 

Arti Kashyap-Aynsley

Global Head of Wellbeing & Inclusion, Ocado Group

Arti Kashyap-Aynsley started her career as a Chartered Accountant, embarking on a 15+ year journey in the Professional Services Sector. Working and travelling the globe opened Arti's eyes to the impacts of our working lives on our overall wellbeing. She decided to pivot into wellbeing, working with Deloitte Consulting in the UK, to design, develop and deliver on a comprehensive wellbeing strategy. Arti then joined Ocado Group as their Global Health & Wellbeing Leader. Here she has developed and launched a group wide wellbeing strategy, whilst also exploring the intersectionalities of Wellbeing with broader ESG elements such as Inclusion. Arti has since become the Global Head of Wellbeing & Inclusion at Ocado Group. Outside of her working life Arti is a qualified life coach and Advisor and Non-Executive Director to various organisations. 

Stuart Cheesman

Global Strategist, O.C.Tanner

With over twenty-five years global HR consulting experience helping to develop, strategise and embed employee transformation experiences, Stuart is impassioned by helping organisations to drive cultural change whilst improving societal, environmental and business outcomes. 

Encompassing all aspects of employee culture, Stuart’s background and thought leadership has ensured employees and businesses can thrive together.
 

Jane Humberstone

Director, Global Reward & Mobility, Jaguar Land Rover

Jane has over 25 years’ experience in a variety of HR jobs in reward, mobility, business partnering and employee relations.  Currently Director, Global Reward and Mobility at Jaguar Land Rover, Jane is part of the HR leadership team driving a huge cultural change at JLR to achieve our Company Purpose of “Live the exceptional with soul”.

Jane is about to launch a complete change in JLR’s approach to performance and reward, with a much greater focus on timely recognition. 

Nikolaos Koutrakis

VP of Reward, Colt Technology Services

Reward expert drawing experience from a variety of industries. Skilled in senior stakeholder management, including remuneration committees, compensation, benefits, performance and share plans. CIPD-qualified professional with a Master's Degree in Human Resources Management from Birkbeck, University of London.

I aim to make pay more fair and transparent whilst ensuring employees receive benefits supporting their well-being. I am also very invested in improving employee recognition and using data analytics to inform better decision-making.

Clare Jeffries

Head of Reward & MI, Crawford & Company

Clare has over 20 years’ experience in HR and Reward across manufacturing, retail, market research and loss adjusting sectors. She specialises in reward, benefits, wellbeing and DEI and has managed many complex projects.  

Clare’s passion is to improve the employee experience through benefits and wellbeing solutions to enable employees to thrive both in and outside of work.

Hazel Mainwaring

Reward & Performance Lead Consultant, E.ON UK

Reward professional with 19 years’ experience in compensation and benefits roles within market leading businesses across a variety of sectors (retail, energy, construction, financial services). Highly competent in the delivery of annual reward processes, reward and performance frameworks, benefits management, job evaluation and Executive compensation. I add value through a commercial and collaborative approach to overcome business challenges and support the delivery of strategic objectives through reward and benefit interventions. 

My current focus is on EVP and driving relevant, flexible and inclusive benefits that are aligned to our business purpose.

Jenni Wilson

Expert health insurance & healthcare industry consultant, Session moderator

Jen is an experienced Commercial Director with extensive sales and marketing, P&L management and organisational change experience in the Healthcare and Health Insurance sectors. Her 30 year corporate career spans Director roles at Bupa, AXA Health, Nuffield Health and Simplyhealth.

As Group Sales Director for Simplyhealth, Jen championed the organisation’s purpose of making healthcare easy to access for as many people as possible by growing Simplyhealth and Denplan’s 2.5m customer base across both corporate and consumer markets. 

Prior to this, Jen was Commercial Director for Nuffield Health's Hospitals division. She led the commercial development of all 3 key hospitals payors: PMI, NHS and Self Pay (Consumer paid) driving multi million pound revenues into Nuffield’s hospitals, physiotherapy and mental wellbeing services.

Before that she worked for both AXA Health and Bupa, where she led UK wide teams to develop and grow private medical insurance business and a range of health and wellbeing solutions.

Jen recently founded All About Clarity and now works freelance as a Board Adviser, Business Mentor and Executive Coach. Jen is also a keen Healthcare Industry Commentator and Influencer.

Matthew Gregson

Executive Director, Howden Employee Benefits

Today, Matthew oversees all aspects of Howden’s proposition for Corporate clients. He has over 20 years’ experience in employee benefits, including a large portion of his career helping shape the flexible benefits market in the UK. Matthew has personally helped many large and complex employers introduce transformational change to their pension and benefits programmes, working with providers and partners in industry to innovate and maximise the value they bring to clients.

Tereza Odunoye

Head of International Benefits, Nuveen

Tereza is a dedicated HR leader with 20+ years’ experience working mainly in the Financial Services industry. She specialises in global benefits and wellbeing and has managed many complex global plans, projects and M&A activities. She currently manages a benefits team based in London and India.
 
Tereza is passionate about providing immediate, as well as long term benefits and wellbeing solutions, which offer preventative and positive support, to help employees and their families thrive in all aspects of life.

Ketan Patel

Head of APAC and EMEA Benefits, Haleon

Ketan is the Head of Benefits for APAC and EMEA at Haleon. He and his team are responsible managing benefits strategy and benefits delivery across 60+ markets.   Over the past 12 years, Ketan has worked in both the Benefit consultancy and in-house Benefits areas, allowing him to bring a different prospective in evolving the benefits design at Haleon.

He is a proud  member of the REBA Advisory Board.

Haleon is the largest consumer healthcare business in the world, Haleon purpose is to deliver better everyday health with humanity.

Adam Fox-Everitt

Head of Reward, Browne Jacobson

Adam is the Head of Reward at Browne Jacobson. He and his team are responsible for attracting, retaining and motivating people who are committed to tackling society's biggest issues.
 
Browne Jacobson has been the UK's #1 ranked employer for social mobility for the past two years, having been the first law firm to ever top the rankings.
 

Jeanette Makings

Head of Workplace Financial Wellbeing, Close Brothers Asset Management

Jeanette heads up the workplace financial wellbeing team at Close Brothers. She has spent her whole career working with UK businesses; first with Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, for the last 20+ years she has focussed on providing financial education, guidance and advice programmes to some of the UK’s best known employers.

Jeanette is passionate about supporting organisations to make a real difference to their employee’s financial health. She knows that successful programmes need to reach everyone, address all workplace benefits and all personal finance issues, and to inspire employees to translate that education and guidance into action. The priority for Close Brothers is to take their 50+ years’ experience to tailor successful programmes to each organisation, to support them in driving measurable, positive change for both their business and their individual employees.

: www.linkedin.com/in/jeanettemakings/

Tobias Simons

Head of Performance & Reward, ABB

During his 20+ year career Tobias has specialised in global performance and reward management, international HR strategy and global mobility. Setting the global strategy; leading large teams spread across multiple countries; managing global performance and reward programmes; structuring global remuneration and executive compensation; overseeing international mobility programmes. Working across sectors including, finance, oil & gas and engineering.
 
He is a proud  member of the REBA Advisory Board.

ABB is a technology company in electrification and automation employing around 100,000 people.

Matthew Hunt

Group Head of Pensions and Benefits Policy, HSBC

Matthew is the Head of Group Pensions & Benefits Policy at HSBC based in London.  He provides subject matter expertise supporting the design and governance of HSBC’s benefits programmes covering c. 60 countries and 220,000 employees.   Matthew joined HSBC in 2015 having previously worked at various banks including Goldmans Sachs, Bank of America and Credit Suisse.  
 

Dr Mridula Pore

Co-Founder, Peppy

Mridula is Co-founder of Peppy (www.peppy.health). She is passionate about making healthcare more affordable and accessible. Despite spending her career in healthcare, Mridula is an engineer by training, studying first at Cambridge, before spending several years at MIT on a PhD/ MBA programme. She was previously an engagement manager at McKinsey and a business unit head at Sandoz (a Novartis company) where she delighted in disturbing the established markets of originator pharma companies. She lives in West London with her husband and two young children

Samantha Sergent

Director, International Benefits, Microsoft

Samantha Sergent is the Director of International Benefits at Microsoft, where she plays a pivotal role in shaping benefit programs & experience for employees and their families in over one hundred countries.

With a 13-year tenure at Microsoft, Samantha has traversed a multifaceted career path, spanning a diverse set of roles in both HR Shared Services and Total Rewards. Her career has been characterized by a commitment to transformation and operational excellence. Samantha's passion for innovation and her focus on driving efficiency have consistently propelled her to new heights within the organization.

Samantha’s career took a turn six years ago when she shifted her focus to employee benefits. Since that pivotal move, every day has been a new challenge, an opportunity for fresh insights, and an adventure that spans across regions, countries, and markets.

In 2020, Samantha embarked on another exciting chapter in her life when she relocated to the UK, a bold decision made during the tumultuous year. Together with her husband and their two children, Samantha continues to embrace change, learning, and growth.

Samantha is a believer in the power of networking and knowledge-sharing within the professional community. She is grateful for the continued learning and engagement that organizations like REBA provide to benefit professionals. Today, she eagerly anticipates the opportunity to connect with fellow professionals, share her insights, and learn from the diverse perspectives that make this community so vibrant and dynamic.

Lee Cortez

Head of International Benefits, Block

Lee is a global benefits subject matter expert whose mission is to create fair and equitable workplaces through employee-centred benefits programming and HR policies. He has honed his knowledge through corporate consulting at Aon and Mercer, in-house HR at Google and Okta, and academia at Columbia University. 

Currently, Lee manages Okta's global employee benefits programme, strategy, and delivery for  countries outside of the US. Prior to Okta, he joined Google as a member of a unique group of in-house HR consultants that stood-up the people operations functions for newly incorporated Alphabet companies like Waymo and DeepMind. 

Outside of corporate HR, Lee is a social policy academic specialising in the “world of work” as an Adjunct Professor for Columbia University’s School of Social Work. Understanding the importance of representation, Lee has also founded the Filipino-American Foundation (filamfoundation.org), a non-profit and the first open scholarship for Filipino-American students.

Robert Drewell

Client Director, Innecto Reward Consulting

30 years of experience in helping organisation to build engaged and resilient workforces.  Technical experience includes board advisory, employee value proposition design, pay, reward, incentive plans, grading frameworks, benefits and colleague engagement.   
 

Dave Roberts

Head of Benefits & Recognition, Virgin Media O2

An experienced reward leader, Dave has been working with Virgin Media for 9years. He joined as the Head of Pensions, Benefits and Wellbeing with responsibility for the strategy and delivery of projects. This included leading a project to redesign their recognition plans across the business. 
More recently Dave has been managing the benefits harmonisation programme between Virgin Media and O2. Leading the design and implementation of a full benefits strategy, identifying the full range of benefits and recognition across the two former organisations.

 
Dave's extensive career in reward and benefits has seen him work across a broad range of sectors working with Britvic, Thales and AON in the past. 

Karen Gaynor

Head of Reward, Centrica

Karen Gaynor has over 20 years HR experience in major global conglomerate organisations providing solutions in Healthcare, FMCG and Energy.  With leadership experience as a HR Director and in Compensation and Benefits, Karen has a wealth of experience that results in a true understanding of the diverse requirements of employees and leadership. 

Karen is part of the Centrica reward leadership team delivering powerful reward, incentives and benefits. Karen is responsible for leading compensation topics within Centrica, including pay, incentives, share programmes, recognition, and executive remuneration.

She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and ensuring reward solutions support building a more diverse and inclusive workplace. 

“I'm looking forward to hosting this round table because I have experience of creating reward strategies that are aligned to changing business strategies and I look forward to finding the right pathway to further support pay transparency, equity and inclusion.”

Derek Irvine

Senior Vice President of Client Strategy & Consulting, Workhuman

As Senior Vice President, Client Strategy & Consulting at Workhuman, Derek helps clients – including some of world’s most admired companies – leverage proven recognition strategies and best practices to elevate employee engagement, increase retention, and improve bottom-line results. While he currently leads the company’s strategy & consulting services division, from 2000 to 2010 Derek also oversaw the company’s global marketing and rewards functions, growing Workhuman from a start-up to the Unicorn organisation it is today.

Derek is one of the world’s foremost experts on employee recognition, engagement and continuous performance management, helping business leaders set a higher vision and ambition for their company culture. As a renowned speaker and co-author of three books – Making Work Human, Winning with a Culture of Recognition and The Power of Thanks – he teaches HR leaders how to use recognition to proactively manage company culture. His viewpoints and writings are also regularly featured across major HR publications including HR Zone, Workspan, HR Magazine, HR Executive, and Workforce Management.

Josh Black

VP, Editorial, Diligent

Josh Black is vice president, editorial at Diligent and the editor-in-chief of Insightia, a Diligent a financial news and data company focused on shareholder activism, proxy voting, compensation, and corporate governance. In that role he leads a team of reporters and multimedia journalists.

Based in New York City, Josh is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an expert for the media. His weekly newsletter on developments in shareholder activism, as well as Insightia’s monthly magazine and frequent special reports, are among the most widely read analyses of what is happening in these exciting areas of the investment world.

Andrew Manktellow

Head of Executive Remuneration, Legal & General

Andrew has over 25 years experience working in reward, the last 11 years of which have been spent working for Legal & General. During this time he has had a range of reward responsibilities across all parts of the Group and prior to taking on the role as Head of Executive Remuneration was Head of Reward for the Investment Management, Retirement and Capital divisions.
Prior to joining Legal & General, Andrew worked as a consultant advising a range of organisations across sectors on a broad range of reward issues, including advising on short and long term incentive design and executive pay for a range of listed and private companies.

Peter McDonald

Statutory Reporting Lead, Natwest

Peter McDonald plays a leading role in the Remuneration Team at NatWest, including ESG elements, defining organisational goals, performance management and reporting, group-wide bonus pool determination and Board committee management.

Peter has had varied roles across HR in his career, and now focusses on working across the control functions at the highest level, ensuring goals are aligned to the overall Natwest Strategy, linked with rewards to achieve these goals, and measurements in place to review this effectively.

Lisa Fitch

International Benefits Director, Comcast

Comcast is a global media & technology company employing 74k globally (they own NBC Universal & Sky). Lisa is the Global Employee Benefits Director with significant expertise in managing pension and benefit programs, and risks internationally.
 
Her key areas of focus include post-merger benefit harmonisation, international benefit strategy design and governance. Lisa is accustomed to working with senior stakeholders (including C suite) in complex organisational structures to gain buy-in and approval for key benefit workstreams. 
 

Nikki Roche

Senior Benefits Consultant, EMEA, Amazon

Nicola has worked in the field of HR for more than 20 years since graduating university. Initially working in generalist HR roles, she chose to specialise in Compensation and Benefits 15 years ago and most recently has focussed solely on Benefits in the Global Benefits Team at Siemens, and now in the EMEA Benefits Team at Amazon. In her personal time, Nicola is a passionate campaigner for neurodiversity, and was able to combine both her personal passion and career choice in 2018 to launch and lead the UK Neurodiversity Network at Siemens.

Jan Vickery

Wellbeing Lead, AXA Health

Jan is Category Lead within Wellbeing at AXA Health, following a 10 year period as Head of Clinical Operations for Occupational Health, Musculoskeletal Health and Psychological Health services. In her role, she oversees and develops health and wellbeing propositions for AXA Health clients, staying close to the evolving needs of employers and employees. Jan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and a Registered Ergonomist. She has worked in Occupational Health for over 20 years and serves on the Faculty of Occupational Medicine’s Ethics Committee.

Debbie Bullock

Head of DEI and UK & Irl Wellbeing Lead , Aviva

Debbie started her career straight from school at General Accident (one of Aviva’s predecessor companies), working in various areas of Marketing, before moving into Corporate Social Responsibility team. 
In January 2018 Debbie joined the People function, to lead the Wellbeing@Aviva programme for colleagues in the UK. Covering physical, mental, financial and social wellbeing, she’s responsible for strategy and delivery of the award-winning programme that supports employee wellbeing to enable ALL colleagues to perform at their best. As well as managing the wellbeing team, she also inspires, motivates and supports a network of 200+ wellbeing champions – known as Health Heroes.
Debbie is a Let’s Improve Workplace Wellbeing Ambassador, features in the Reward 300 list, and has is listed in the 50 over fifty list for inspiring women in insurance.

Amanda Diston

SVP Reward and Talent, AVEVA Global

I am a Human Resource professional with 20 years’ experience, with an emphasis on the human. Most of my time has been spent within the Rewards and Acquisition specialisms, across several different industries.

My fundamental belief system is founded on different viewpoints creating a stronger and better outcome. This can only be achieved through creating an inclusive working environment that enables all people to realise their potential within your organisation.  

Most recently I have joined AVEVA, where I am privileged to play a part in creating an inclusive culture, through Talent and Reward strategy, programmes and policies.

Oluyomi Okunowo

VP Global Reward & HRIS, Wella Company

Oluyomi is currently VP Global Reward & HRIS at Wella Company, with responsibility for Total Reward (Compensation, Benefits and Mobility), HRIS, Payroll and HR Data Management across all Wella businesses in more than 30 countries. Prior to his current role he was VP, Global Compensation at COTY. 

Oluyomi has over a decade of experience leading Compensation and Benefits programs across multiple industries and geographies, including the Pharma industry with AstraZeneca as Regional Reward Lead responsible for Russia, Eurasia, Middle East and Africa (including Turkey) and in Banking as Compensation and Benefits Head for Citibank Africa. He has a keen interest in leveraging the link between Performance and Reward to drive business outcomes and is currently keen to see the evolution of Reward Management as Talent and Workforce Management evolve in the Digital age, more importantly in the post COVID world.  
 

Rachel Beattie

Head of Reward UKIMEA

Rachel leads the UKIMEA reward strategy at Arup. Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of designers, advisors and experts working across 140 countries. Founded to be both humane and excellent, we collaborate with our clients and partners using imagination, technology, and rigor to shape a better world.

Rachel has experience in shaping and implementing benefit strategies in multiple sectors. She is passionate about how benefits are an integral component of the wellbeing and inclusion agendas.

Matthew Gregson

Executive Director, Howden Employee Benefits

Today, Matthew oversees all aspects of Howden’s proposition for Corporate clients. He has over 20 years’ experience in employee benefits, including a large portion of his career helping shape the flexible benefits market in the UK. Matthew has personally helped many large and complex employers introduce transformational change to their pension and benefits programmes, working with providers and partners in industry to innovate and maximise the value they bring to clients.

Rahul Ramaswami

Head, Benefits, Standard Chartered Bank

Rahul joined Standard Chartered in 2017 and is currently the Head of Benefits for the Bank, based in Singapore. In his role, he oversees the Bank’s non-retirement benefits globally. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Rahul was with Allianz in Singapore and Mercer in San Francisco where he has worked in the retirement and health benefits space across both technical and relationship management roles.

Rahul holds a BSc from The Ohio State University, majoring in actuarial science with minors in Economics and Finance