Job title: Chief executive officer
Company: FiftyOn.co.uk, an employment and lifestyle website for the over fifties
Job responsibilities
Running the company, including HR, overseeing website content, employer relations and recruitment.
Previous jobs
Group human resources director at PPP Healthcare, Guardian Royal Exchange and AXA UK from 1995 to 2000. Prior to that, I ran a management consultancy and spent 16 years with British Airways in HR and Operations.
What attracted you to HR?
I wanted to be at the forefront of business change.
Which of your previous jobs has had the most impact on your current role?
The experience of building up an effective HR team at PPP Healthcare was particularly helpful when assembling the focused team behind FiftyOn.
What are the key skills that you need to succeed in your current role?
Being able to see the big picture yet keep an eye on the details.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Campaigning to promote something in which I wholeheartedly believe and offering a solution to the skills shortage problem.
What do you enjoy least about your job?
Choosing the best ideas from all those offered by my team and our site visitors. You cant do everything.
What has been your greatest achievement in work?
Setting up FiftyOn has to be number one. Second, devising and implementing the BA Customer First programme in 1983, which was revolutionary at the time for using HR to take the lead in improving and sustaining the quality of service.
Who has been the greatest influence on your work?
Barry Woledge of the Change Partnership hes an example to all on looking beyond stereotypes.
What advice would you give to people starting out in an HR career?
See HR as a business career, not as a specialism; learn about the internet and its impact; and be open to diversity.
What is the most important contribution that HR makes to business?
It provides the environment for people to succeed and offers strategic input at the highest level.
Which business person do you admire most?
Paul Mason, president and MD of Asda, who has not only turned a struggling company into a highly successful one, but who has also established employee-friendly policies.