AXA UK has appointed Karan Hutchinson as group HR director, as Sonja Wolsey-Cooper, the incumbent director, takes up the newly-created role of corporate responsibility director at AXA's healthcare division.

Hutchinson will take up her new role with immediate effect, reporting directly to Nicolas Moreau, group chief executive of AXA UK, and will become a member of the AXA UK Executive Committee.

Hutchinson will lead the overall development and implementation of all people-related strategies to ensure that AXA realises its ambition to become the trusted market leader and a preferred employer in the market place.

Hutchinson, who joined AXA in 2004, has held a number of senior HR roles, and was latterly AXA UK’s HR business director responsible for leading the HR business and resourcing teams across the individual operating companies, ensuring that the function was fully aligned to the needs of the business.

Nicolas Moreau, chief executive of AXA UK, said: "I am delighted to welcome Karan to my senior team at AXA UK.  Her appointment demonstrates the strength of our succession planning and talent management which is vital to the success of our organisation.  The role is central to ensuring that as a management team we continue to build our people capability, capitalising on the significant increases we’ve seen in employee engagement while maintaining our position as a top employer, which is crucial in helping us deliver our business objectives."