Our board is responsible for shaping the CIPD’s strategy in line with our purpose – to champion better work and working lives. It oversees the management of our commitments, activities, risks and finances, making sure we deliver for our members, our wider community and our people. Our board members act as directors for the CIPD as a chartered body and as trustees for the CIPD as a registered charity.
Meet our board
- Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth – Chair of the Board
- Peter Cheese – Chief Executive
- Professor Nelarine Cornelius – Vice President, Membership and Professional Development
- Jonathan Ferrar – Vice Chair / Senior Independent Director
- Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE – President
- Caroline Nugent
- Dr Sue Round
- Siobhán Sheridan CBE
- Caroline Stockmann – Treasurer
- Dr Noel Tagoe
- Brian Walters
- Nicholas Williams
Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: Chair of the Board; People, Culture and Remuneration Committee
Valerie has over 35 years’ experience working in HR and OD across a range of industries in both private and public sectors. She is currently a non-executive Director for the Department for Work and Pensions. Valerie also provides business advice and mentoring support through her own consultancy, alongside contributing regularly to debates on topical commercial and people-related issues.
At EDS in the Netherlands, she led recruitment across Europe and headed up HR for Northern Europe before returning to the UK as European Reward Director. She later became Group HR Director for Xansa and, when it was acquired by Steria, led the 20,000 people integration programme. Subsequently, as Group HR Director at Amey, Valerie took responsibility for marketing and communications, sustainability and health and safety, before joining the BBC Executive as Chief HR Officer. In 2019, she was recognised with an HR Lifetime Achievement Award.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Peter Cheese, Chartered FCIPD
Alongside his role as CIPD Chief Executive, Peter sits on many forums linked to wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, routes in to work and skills, flexible working, and corporate governance. He is Chair of Engage for Success and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, and sits on the Board of the College of Policing.
Peter writes and speaks widely on the development of HR, the future of work, and the key issues of leadership, culture and organisation, people and skills.
Before joining the CIPD in 2012, Peter was Chair of the Institute of Leadership and Management, an Executive Fellow at London Business School, and held a number of board-level roles. He had a long career in consulting at Accenture working with organisations around the world and, in his last seven years there, was Global Managing Director for the firm’s human capital and organisation consulting practice.
He is a Fellow of the CIPD, AHRI (the Australian HR Institute), the Royal Society of Arts, and the Academy of Social Sciences. He’s also a Companion of the Institute of Leadership and Management, the Chartered Management Institute and the British Academy of Management. He holds honorary doctorates from Bath University, Kingston University and Birmingham City University, and is a Visiting Professor at Aston University and Unitar University, Malaysia.
Professor Nelarine Cornelius, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: Vice-President Membership and Professional Development
Nelarine is Professor of Organisation Studies and Associate Dean, People, Culture and Inclusion at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. Her work as an academic is widely recognised, and she holds several fellowships, including Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences.
She has made many contributions to the CIPD in her capacity as an academic and has taught on numerous CIPD accredited courses. She has served as a trustee and director on the boards of a range of organisations including a housing association, international societies, social enterprise, a development trusts, regeneration committees and several national charities. She is currently a trustee and Audit and Risk Committee member for the National Life Stories charity. Nelarine has advised various government departments, including the Cabinet Office, and is an expert within the External Advisory Group, Anti-Racism Strategy, Government of Wales.
As Vice-President Membership and Professional Development, Nelarine provides thought leadership, academic insight and a membership perspective to the development of the profession and its standards.
Jonathan Ferrar, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: Vice-Chair / Senior Independent Director; Audit and Risk Committee and Investment Working Party
Jonathan is a globally respected consultant, speaker, author and business advisor in HR strategy, people analytics and digital HR. He is co-founder and CEO of Insight222 Limited, where he advises clients on improving business performance through becoming more data-driven and evidence-based, using people analytics as a strategic advantage.
Jonathan has worked in corporate business for almost 20 years, with extensive executive leadership and Board advisory at companies like Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and IBM. He is co-author of Excellence in People Analytics and The Power of People and holds a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources Management.
*September 2022 as Vice-Chair/Senior Independent Director
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, CBE
Board roles: President
Ruby is Chair of Mind Gym plc and President of the British Chambers of Commerce. She also chairs the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education and the Air Operators Association and is non-executive Director for the Tideway Tunnel.
Ruby joined strategic outsourcing company MITIE in 2002 as Chief Financial Officer and was appointed as Chief Executive in 2007. She is one of a small number of women to have held the role in the FTSE 250 and is the first female Asian Chief Executive within that industry. She was named in the top 50 female world business leaders by the Financial Times in 2013.
Ruby was independent non-executive Director at PageGroup plc from 2007 to 2017 and chaired the UK Government’s Women’s Business Council between 2012 and 2016. Ruby is a member of the House of Lords and the Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee. She was responsible for the 2017 Independent Report to the UK Government on Race in the Workplace and was appointed as In-Work Progression Commissioner in 2020. She is a Fellow of the ICAEW and was awarded their Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015.
Caroline Nugent, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: Audit and Risk Committee
Caroline was HR Director on the Executive team at the Financial Ombudsman until June 2022. Before that she was Director of HR, OD & Business Development at oneSource (London Boroughs of Havering and Newham) and Company Director at both VineHR and the Public Services People Managers’ Association (PPMA).
Caroline has a significant history of improving performance in organisations through effective leadership of transformation and change programmes. She was named as one of the World’s Flying High Women Leaders of 2022 and was awarded national Most Influential Practitioner Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2021.
Caroline has presented at numerous conferences, written articles and featured in national press, including the Municipal Journal, People Management, Personnel Today, HR Excellence and Local Government Chronicle. She is also a former president of the London Public Services People Managers’ Association.
Dr Sue Round, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: People, Culture and Remuneration Committee
Sue has over 25 years’ experience in people development across multiple sectors, including aviation, telecoms, retail, financial services and energy. She has led complex global teams with responsibility for learning, leadership development, talent management and equality, diversity and inclusion. Sue started her working life as a stewardess with British Airways, before moving into training where she learnt the power of potential and the impact of development for individuals and organisations.
Sue is a qualified coach, trained in multiple psychometrics, has a master’s degree and recently completed a doctorate in coaching and mentoring. She has served on the UK Government’s Employee Engagement Task Force, on the boards of the Learning Skills Improvement Service and Working Chance and has been a Silver Line Friend since 2015.
Siobhán Sheridan CBE, Chartered CCIPD
Board roles: Chair of the People, Culture and Remuneration Committee
Siobhán joined the field of HR 30 years ago as an L&D Specialist at NatWest Bank. Since then, she has worked across private, public and third sectors, at Capital One, DEFRA, DWP, NSPCC and the Ministry of Defence. Siobhán is an advocate for volunteering and has been a volunteer with Crisis at Christmas and a Trustee for several charities for many years.
Following her role as Civilian HR Director at the Ministry of Defence, where her team achieved CIPD People Development Partner Status, Siobhán joined the Financial Conduct Authority as Chief People Officer. She holds Master’s degrees in coaching and mentoring and organisational change, with her dissertation covering the subject of ‘Humanising HR’.
Caroline Stockmann FCA, DChA, Hon FCT
Board roles: Treasurer; Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
Caroline has 30 years’ experience in senior finance, commercial and strategic roles at organisations including Novartis Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland), Cadbury Schweppes, Granada plc and Unilever/Bestfoods (Thailand, Netherlands and the UK). She was Chief Executive of the Association of Corporate Treasurers from 2017 to 2023, and prior to that she was Chief Financial Officer at both the British Council and Save the Children International.
Having sat on many Boards, Caroline is now pursuing a portfolio non-executive director career. She is currently a member of the Finance and Investment Committee of Elton John AIDS Foundation, Deputy Chair of the International Group of Treasury Associations, Treasurer of Oxfam International, Director of TreasurySpring and a schools academy trust governor.
Caroline is a Fellow of the ICAEW, with an ICAEW Diploma in Charity Accounting. She recently developed practical leadership courses for Durham University, the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and FutureLearn, and has run seminars around the world on leadership and strategic influencing, often with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
Noel Tagoe, PHD, FCMA, CGMA
Board roles: People, Culture and Remuneration Committee; Board champion for Asia; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion champion
Noel is Chief Executive of Sandhills Advisory Services which provides advisory, research and training services in finance, education, strategy and technology. He was previously Professor of Accounting Practice at Nottingham University Business School and Executive Vice President, Research and Curricula at AICPA-CIMA, where he worked with partners across the world.
Noel has advised leading global companies on finance transformation, finance talent strategy, digital strategy and managing disruption. He held accounting and strategy positions at BP and Elf Aquitaine (now Total Oil), led the financial advisory services unit of KPMG Ghana and taught at leading business schools, such as the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, Manchester Business School and Said Business School. He holds a PhD degree in accounting and is a fellow of CIMA.
Brian Walters
Brian has over 20 years’ marketing and commercial experience, having worked both agency and client-side across a variety of sectors including healthcare, business and professional services, entertainment and sport. The majority of his career has been spent helping global professional bodies to transform their digital experience and expand into new markets. He is currently Director of Markets at the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners where he opened their first office in China and launched their globally recognised qualifications.
Previously, Brian was Director of Marketing at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Head of Marketing at the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). Brian has also launched WorkLifeWell, a training provider which supports HR Directors and people managers to develop their employee wellbeing strategy and build a happier and healthier culture.
Nicholas Williams, Chartered FCIPD
Board roles: Audit and Risk Committee; Board champion for Middle East and North Africa
Nicholas brings commercial experience of working with clients globally to support strategy development and the execution of M&A transactions and large transformations, through the lens of people, the HR function and organisational change management.
He began his career in frontline policing, where he delivered large programmes related to the development of people strategies, equality, diversity and inclusion and workforce plans. He transitioned to the UK Civil Service, before moving into management consulting at professional services firm EY, where he has worked across multiple industries and sectors as a trusted advisor in the UK and the Middle East. Nicholas has also spent time as an associate lecturer, delivering HR modules to MA students in London, and is the voice for students on our board.
CIPD Trust
Tackling barriers to work today whilst creating inclusive workplaces of tomorrow.
What to know more?
Learn more about our leadership and governance
Meet the CIPD Leadership Team. Discover what we’ve delivered this year for our members and our wider community. And learn more about our structure, governance and commitments
How our structure, governance and leadership keep our charitable and business activities responsible, accountable, sustainable and transparent