The peer-nominated HR Most Influential lists celebrate the very best practitioners and thinkers in HR, and the people whose ideas and actions are shaping HR best practice in the UK. To view this year’s listees, click here.
The top HR practitioner for 2024 is James Devine, director and UK lead for health and care workforce at KPMG UK. His acceptance speech acknowledged the power of HR professionals to bring empathetic leadership and compassion to the organisations they interact with.
“It’s an honour to top this list, and to be among such incredible people,” said Devine (pictured below). He added: “There’s something quite special about when we put love, kindness and compassion out in the world; it touches and reaches people much more than we ever think, and that’s one of the beautiful things about HR people and the magic that we bring to organisations. We should never forget that.”
Before joining KPMG, Devine spent 25 years as a chief people officer (CPO) and chief executive in the NHS. He is an influential voice in the HR press, and launched the ‘Human Element in Healthcare’ podcast last year, which features insights from senior HR and health leaders.
Richard Goff, chair of the People Director Partnership, took the first place on this year’s HR thinkers list. Goff chairs three peer networks for HR professionals and is a prolific writer about HR best practice. He specialises in connecting senior HR people to help support them, their organisations, and the wider HR profession.
Goff was unable to attend the reveal event but contributed a video acceptance speech that expressed his gratitude for the accolade, and praised the profession. “A more supportive, warm and genuine profession you will not find,” he said.
“The conversations that happen in organisations only work because of the tone that HR leaders set. That tone, as well as the safe space, the dynamism and the trading of ideas, is an important principle, and a daily practice that HR, uniquely, curates – and I love it!”
There were four additions to the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame this year, including 2023's Most Influential top ranking practitioner and thinker pair: Bertie Tonks, CPO of employee engagement and benefits business Collinson, and Carol Woodhams, professor at the University of Surrey.
British Heart Foundation’s CPO Kerry Smith was likewise inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Neil Morrison, HR director of the FTSE100 water company Severn Trent.
First published in 2006, the HR Most Influential lists are created using nominations from HR practitioners, thought leaders and influencers across the public, private and third sectors. The nominations are then independently analysed by Hult International Business School using a metric developed in collaboration with HR magazine.
This year's lists are comprised of 30 HR practitioners, 30 thought leaders and four additions to the Hall of Fame.
Find out who made the list, and why, by viewing our interactive display here.
