· People

Kate Griffiths-Lambeth, group HR director, Charles Stanley

?Kate Griffiths-Lambeth joined Charles Stanley as group HR director in 2015 and was appointed to the executive committee in 2017. She is the first HR professional and woman to hold such a role since 1792

Griffiths-Lambeth is a chartered fellow of the Institute of Personnel Development and a fellow of the RSA.

She commenced her working life as a lawyer, before becoming a derivatives dealer and then finding her vocation helping organisations and the people within them to thrive. She has held numerous senior roles across a range of sectors including technology, consulting, corporate psychology, finance and professional services. She enjoys challenging conventions and was one of the co-founders of a highly successful fintech business, before the word had even been coined.

Griffiths-Lambeth specialises in supporting through times of change – she was part of the team that determined the CIPD’s new framework of qualifications and skills needed to succeed in HR. At Charles Stanley she has worked with the top team to bring the business back from the brink of disaster – resulting in her and the CEO being jointly awarded the Business Culture Award for Leadership. She champions employee-led transformation, encouraging individual motivation and productivity. The engagement score at Charles Stanley has risen year on year since 2015 and the company has won numerous awards for enabling impressive transformation through its engaged workforce.

Prior to joining Charles Stanley Griffiths-Lambeth brought together two of the world’s leading multi-family offices, creating what is acknowledged to be the global leader Stonehage Fleming. Success was achieved through an inspirational approach towards leadership development, centred around ambulatory learning, run in conjunction with Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. She has transformed leading global law firms and international banks, using her knowledge to foster businesses that are fit for the fast-moving, people-centric, technology-driven world in which we now operate.

Griffiths-Lambeth is a regular commentator on culture and ethics. She was invited by financial services regulator the FCA to participate in its first Culture Sprint and was one of only five organisations asked to showcase their findings. She has subsequently been appointed onto the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment’s Integrity and Ethics Committee.

Griffiths-Lambeth is active on social media, tweets, blogs and is an acclaimed mentor. This year she ran a Tweet-up to welcome Steve Browne (a leading member of the USA’s SHRM) with a view to fostering better international relations in HR. She has participated in similar events in Uganda and South Africa. She curated for many years the celebrated Advent Blogs Series before passing on the baton in 2019. She supports the HR Guild, City HR Association, The CIPD’s Applied Research Conference and award, and works with individuals across various organisations (she was a mentor for the Queen’s Young Leaders, established to support inspirational young people across the Commonwealth as part of Her Majesty’s Jubilee Trust initiatives) and is now a mentor for Ivy House and the 30% Club.

Outside of work Griffiths-Lambeth is a devoted mother, wife and an urban bee keeper. She supports various charities in an advisory capacity and has just finished a six-year tenure as an elected governor for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

In 2019 Griffiths-Lambeth was one of 100 women selected by the City of London to be granted Freedom in commemoration of 100 years since women gained suffrage.