

Meet the Culture
Pioneers Ambassadors
Our Culture Pioneers Ambassadors all support our mission to champion the change makers of organisational culture.


Our ambassadors
We’ve recruited experts in culture, business and HR transformation, as well as specialists in the fields of wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and learning and development to support the Culture Pioneers initiative. This talented cohort will be selecting the stories that demonstrate real culture change to share with our HR and L&D communities.

Perry Timms
Founder and Chief Energy Officer of People & Transformational HR
Perry is an international and TEDx speaker, advisor and award-winning writer, with over 30 years’ experience in people, learning, technology, organisation change & transformation.

Rita Trehan
Former Fortune 200 CHRO | CEO of Dare Worldwide
Rita is a renowned business transformation expert with over 20 years experience, a former fortune 200 CHRO and author of HR transformation book ‘Unleashing Capacity’.

Blaire Palmer
Leadership and change expert | CEO of That People Thing
A former BBC Journalist, Blaire is a world authority on leadership and the future of work with 20 years’ experience as an author, speaker and executive coach.

Shakil Butt
Founder of HR Hero for Hire | Honorary Treasurer of the CIPD
Shakil (FCIPD, FCCA) is a values-driven, accomplished, award-winning HR professional who supports organisations with their people and culture challenges.

Gethin Nadin
One of the world’s Top 100 Employee Engagement Influencers
Gethin is a psychology graduate, frequent writer and keynote speaker on employee experience and employee wellbeing. He is a regular HR judge and a best-selling and award-winning HR author.

Professor Emma Parry
Professor of Human Resource Management, Head of Changing World of Work Group at Cranfield School of Management
Emma’s expertise and interests focus on the impact of the changing context on managing people, particularly the influence of technological advancement and demographic trends.

Laura Overton
Partner of Industry Insights at Tulser (formerly 70:20:10: Institute)
Laura is an international speaker, author, analyst and facilitator in learning and development. She is the founder and former CEO of Towards Maturity (now Emerald Works).

Becky Norman
Editor of online publications HRZone and TrainingZone
Becky works closely with leading HR experts to ensure HRZone offers a rich source of data-informed insight and fresh advice to its community of 90,000+ people professionals.
“Pioneers – There is no better word to describe those visionary, bold HR professionals, who are acutely aware of the fact that people, culture and leadership are at the centre of all the major challenges facing companies and their boardrooms today. Uniquely placed to be the catalyst for action and improvement – it is the pioneers of our profession who will lead us forward.”
Rita Trehan, CEO of Dare Worldwide and Culture Pioneers Ambassador
Keep up to date with the latest news and announcements for 2021’s Culture Pioneers.
Why take part in Culture Pioneers?
Our ambassadors share their thoughts on company culture and what it means to be a pioneer of the people profession.