A day 20 years in the making.

24^th May 2022, Crossrail will finally open its sliding doors to the public.

My relationship with Crossrail goes right back to the early days in 2001 when Crossrail was a smallish team based at Butler Place above an old branch of Lloyds Bank.

Many talented individuals have contributed to Crossrail, a mega project like no other we have seen in the UK before. Of course, it is well documented that the project has not been without many major challenges.

What we can see though, is that future major projects are keen to learn from Crossrail, and best practices and approaches are already being adopted on projects such as HS2 and others.

So, what are the main takeaways now that the project is finally drawing to a close?

1. Systems Engineering should be equal to Civil Engineering

Historically, major projects are often planned and led from the outset by civil engineers. Which to an extent makes sense. Digging the tunnel comes potentially 15 years before the systems integration takes place.

But Crossrail is not something that should have been viewed from a historical standpoint. It is the UK’s first-in-kind, fully digitised railway. It involves an unprecedented amount of highly complex systems integration. It operates across three different signalling systems alone!

Having substantial systems engineering representation on the project board from the get-go is critical to getting a balanced view of how the project is progressing and what is realistically achievable.

Hopefully, we see a lot more engineering and project diversity taking on the helm of major projects going forward as the technology becomes increasingly more complex.

2. Integration

Integration and collaboration are already on the rise across the transport & infrastructure sectors with more and more project teams establishing one central organisation integrating the client, programme delivery partners, contractors and designers.

This is a major lesson that Crossrail learnt and adapted to as they went. Originally, Crossrail Limited was established as the delivery organisation. They then appointed Transcend (a JV of CH2M and Nichols) as the Programme Partner and then a further Project Delivery Partner (Bechtel supported by Halcrow and Systra) to drive delivery of the central section.

All of these separate teams had their own management structures and reporting lines making the overall Crossrail structure extremely complex.

In 2011 they integrated these teams which saw all three organisations combined as one structure. This reduced overlaps and duplications.

This level of integration is the fundamental principles to Project 13 which is gaining more and more traction across the sector.

In our experience, while integrated project teams don’t come without their own challenges, people who work in integrated teams often have a more positive experience as an employee and enjoy the collaborative culture.

3. An overhaul of power

A recent ICE review of major project delivery looked at what we can learn from five projects at various stages of delivery including; Crossrail, Tideway, East West Rail, British Antarctic Survey’s Infrastructure Modernisation Programme and Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance.

One of their main recommendations was that a traditional style of leadership is no longer fit for purpose for modern infrastructure projects. They argue that having one key figure or “hero” leading a project on this scale or complexity simply won’t cut it.

Instead, organisations should “spread authority and empower highly competent individuals to take the key decisions in their areas of a project”.

Not only this, but ICE argues that to maximise success and efficiency projects should pass on the leadership baton at critical stages in the project to ensure that you are always operating with the right team at the right time.

Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, so it is all well and good to look back at where Crossrail went wrong and cast aspersions. What is important is that the transport and infrastructure sectors uses the lessons learnt from other major projects and apply recommendations from people who have been in the thick of it, to future projects.

Have you seen any other trends in major projects as a result of Crossrail? I’d be really interested to hear your experiences in the market so please do drop me an email.

The start of a new financial year for many usually signals a flurry of recruitment activity. We have certainly been very busy this month with clients bolstering their executive teams.

Check out the latest Movers and Shakers across Transport & Infrastructure…

Govia Thameslink Railway

Angie Doll has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. She has held the role of Interim COO for GTR for the past six months. Prior to that Doll was Managing Director for Southern Rail and Gatwick Express.

BAM Nuttall

Alan Cox has moved internally to take up the position of Managing Director – Regions. Huw Jones is succeeding him as Managing Director for Transport. Jones was appointed Director for BAM Nuttall’s Rail sector in 2016.

Mark Sheridan has moved internally to become Commercial Director – New Ventures for UK&I. He has most recently been Business Improvement Director for BAM Nuttall.

AmcoGiffen

Andy Leeds returns to AmcoGiffen as Work Winning Director. He leaves Amey where he has been Head of Work Winning for the Rail sector.

MTR Corporation

Graham Cross has left SLC Investments to become Commercial Director for MTR Corporation to expand their rail remit in the UK.

EY

Have announced the appointment of Kamal Patel, Currently Head of Corporate Finance and Real Estate at DfT, as a Partner who will join in July and advising clients in the transport sector.

This follows the appointment of Neil Hart earlier this year, who joined as  Director – Corporate Finance – Strategy and Transactions in Transport and Government sectors.

AECOM

Have appointed Crawford Burden as its Managing Director, Global Aviation, Europe and India. He leaves Arcadis where he has most recently been Director, Transport Investment Advisory Lead (EMU).

Aggregate Industries UK

Thomas Edgcumbe joins as Managing Director (Surfacing Solutions). He leaves Balfour Beatty UKCS where he has most recently been Managing Director (Regional England and Wales.)

Avanti West Coast

Mike Greenup joins as Marketing Director. Greenup was previously Chief Marketing Officer for The Collective and previously VP Brand & Marketing Communications EMEAA at IHG Hotels.

Kier

Dave Diskin has joined as Managing Director – Telecoms. Diskin leaves Ferrovial where he has been Rail Operations Director for the last 2 years.

Arup

Have announced that Fiona Cousins has been appointed Chair of the Americas Region and Nigel Nicholls has been named Chief Operating Officer of the Americas Region.

Cousins most recently led the climate services and sustainability teams for Arup in the Americas. Nicholls has spent the last 10 years as Managing Director of Arup’s New York office

Faithful+Gould

Have appointed James Butler as Managing Director succeeding Jon Sealy who moves into a new global position to drive growth in project and programme management for SNC-Lavalin. Butler joined Faithful+Gould as a graduate in 2007 and has progressed through the company in a number of roles – most recently as UK Business Development Director.

CrossCountry

Have announced the appointment of Wendy Smith as HR and Safety Director. She joins from HS2, where she was Head of HR.

Active Building Centre

Daniel Cook has been appointed as Chief Executive. He was previously CEO at the Landscape Institute.

National Infrastructure Commission

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced the appointment of three new experts to the National Infrastructure Commission. Nicholas Winser, Kate Willard and Jim Hall will strengthen infrastructure, energy and environment expertise as new commissioners at the NIC.

Alongside the new appointments, Neale Coleman, Julia Prescot, and Andy Green have been reappointed as Commissioners for further five-year terms.

East West Railway Company

Beth West has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1st April 2022. She succeeds Simon Blanchflower who will be retired on 31st March. West joins after a period of consulting, having previously been the Regional South Managing Director at Balfour Beatty UKCS.

Keltbray

Have appointed Holly Price to the newly created role of Group Sustainability Director. Price, who is currently Skills and Communities Director, will report to main board director and Chief Operating Officer, Vince Corrigan.

Parsons Corporation

Matthew Botelle has joined as Vice President, PMC Practice Lead (Middle East & Africa). He leaves HS2 where he has been Stations Client Director since 2015.

Mace

Have announced the appointment of Richard Green, who will take on the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer of its Consult business. Prior to joining Mace, Green was the Managing Director of the Corporate Centre of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

They have also named Sarah Morton as Director for the North and Lucy Namihas as Director for the South-West region.

Morton joined Mace’s consultancy business last year and led the Managed Frameworks team. Namihas has been leading teams in the south-west and Wales since 2019, when she first joined Mace as Operations Director.

Kelly Group

David Green has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. He leaves Kier where he has most recently been Managing Director for Telecommunications.

Nichols

Loraine Martins OBE has joined as Global Director for Diversity and Inclusion. Martins leaves Network Rail where she has been Director of Diversity and Inclusion since 2012.

Network Rail Consulting

Susie Homan has joined as Operations Director based in Australia. She leaves the Rail Delivery Group where she was Director Planning Engineering and Operations.

Renew Holdings

Rob Phillips, Energy Sector Director at Costain, leaves the business after 25 years to join Renew as their new Infrastructure Director. He will take up his new position later this month.

The Go-Ahead Group

Have appointed Martin Dean to become Managing Director, UK Regional Bus, with responsibility for all its bus companies in the UK outside London. Dean was previously Managing Director – Business Development for Go-Ahead.

Costain

Gavin Stonard has joined as Technical Development Director – Water. Stonard leaves Galliford Try where he has been Managing Director – Technical Services for Water.

Southeastern Railway

Steve Foster joins as People Director. He leaves Network Rail where he has been Employee Relations Director since 2019.

Adaptogen Capital

Richard Whitmore joins as Director – Asset Investment. He leaves  Ørsted where he was most recently Senior Lead Business Developer – Energy Storage.

Gleeson

Vistry Group’s Chief Operating Officer is moving to fellow housebuilder Gleeson as Chief Executive. Graham Prothero will not take up his new role until January 2023.

Vistry has said it will not be appointing a replacement for Prothero. Instead, from October, the executive leadership team will distribute his responsibilities among its members.

ADEPT

The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) has announced Ann Carruthers as the first female Chair of its transport and connectivity board. Carruthers, Director of Environment and Transport at Leicestershire County Council, took over from Mark Kemp.

Looking to make any changes or additions to your teams this month. Drop me an email to discuss how partnering with Newsom Consulting could help you out.

According to the latest data, the UK recruitment sector contributes £35.9bn to the UK economy.

Of that, in 2022, only £1.7bn is from executive search services.

What’s the difference between an executive search firm and a recruitment agency?

This is a question we are often asked when discussing our services with potential clients who haven’t used a retained executive search firm before.

Many people have worked with recruitment agencies in the past and know that a recruitment agency does not have the skillset to fill a tricky senior management vacancy and are exploring what an exec search firm can offer.

But despite the fact that executive search makes up just 5% of the UK recruitment market, executive search and contingent recruiting are often labelled as the same thing, when in reality, they are two entirely different services.

Contingent recruitment agencies are hired to present a list of active job seeking applicants to their clients. At any one time, only 5% of the potential candidate pool for executive roles are actively looking.

That leaves 95% of the market that are not being targeted by using a Recruitment Consultant.

That’s where Executive Search consultants come in.

An Executive Search involves extensively mapping out the market according to a detailed client brief and uncovering every single potential person that fits that brief – whether they are actively looking or not.

From there, our consultants reach out to these potential candidates by a variety of methods until we discover if they are suitable for the role and if they would be interested. Our teams will use every method at their disposal and have an 91% response rate from the potential candidates they are approaching.

We assess candidates via our own internal interview process, personality profiling if you require it, and measure against key competencies so that you are presented with a simple, yet comprehensive shortlist report. Usually made up of 5 or 6 candidates who we recommend for interview.

So when is the right time for you to engage an executive search firm?

1. Seniority

Executive search is most commonly used for senior executive roles, as most firms do not have the internal resources to recruit senior positions outside their network. An executive search firm with relationships across the industry will have the ability to reach out to the very best talent in the market.

2. Particularly difficult roles

Roles that require a very specific skillset can be problematic to fill. Even the most experienced hiring managers with extensive networks can struggle to fill niche vacancies. Occasionally you just won’t have the right contacts in the marketplace to extensively search for high-level talent.

3. Confidentiality

If you are replacing a key director and don’t want word to get out, you need to be extremely sensitive when approaching candidates.

In this case it can be beneficial to distance yourself from the search by using a third party.

Executive search firms can access candidates without revealing any sensitive company information. On many occasions we have asked candidates to sign non-disclosure agreements before imparting any information about the client. In some rare cases, we have conducted an entire search without discussing the company name at all until the candidates were chosen for interview.

4. Targeting competitors

The transport and infrastructure industries are pretty tight knit and the chances are when you are searching for the best talent, you will be looking to recruit from your competitors.

Receiving an application for a role from someone at your number one competitor is one thing, but actively poaching them can create friction. Especially if the person you targeted isn’t interested in making a move.

Having an intermediary to make the approaches removes this sensitivity.

5. Urgent timescales

Conducting a search for high-level positions is very time consuming. If you want to find the best person for the job then a thorough search needs to be conducted and it needs to be done well. While your internal recruiting or HR function may be pressed with various priorities, your executive search partner has been retained to fill a specific role within timescales agreed by you.

For many roles, your in-house recruitment team or contingent recruitment agencies are more than capable of sourcing candidates. Occasionally, you may find you have a key senior executive position that requires a more in-depth approach and someone who can go the extra mile to fill it.

You can find out more about our services here.

If you would like to find out more information or if you would be interested in taking a look at our e-brochure, please do get in touch and I will send you over a tailored information pack for your business.

Companies in industry have often tempted consultants advising them to step across the divide and join them permanently. However, with consulting such a hot market at present consultancy firms are not just poaching from one another but increasingly looking to industry to attract key staff.

The switch from industry into consulting is a big adjustment. One that not everyone will be able to make successfully.

That’s not to say that one is better than the other as a career path. Some people switch between the two several times in their career to great effect.

Ultimately career path comes down to an individual’s preferences, skills and personal drivers. From our experience, individuals who successfully move from industry into consulting bring a credibility and understanding of practical issues that consultancies really benefit from.

These are some of the key differences to focus on when assessing if someone can make the transition into the world of consulting.

1. Variety of work

Within industry, senior managers typically have a specific functional responsibility within their business that they focus on. For instance, a Capital Projects Director at a water company will lead a programme of water asset related projects.

At a consultancy, a Projects Director could be required to work on a rail project one month and a highways project the next. This requires someone to be flexible enough to adapt their skills and transfer knowledge across sectors.

This also applies to other functional areas of expertise, with consulting teams constantly forming and demobilising new teams for different projects. It is a great opportunity to learn new skills from other experts and allows individuals to gain exposure to a variety of challenges to quickly develop.

People who will benefit from this type of environment are those that thrive on continual stream of new challenges and enjoy steep learning curves.

2. Complexity

Typically companies utilise consultancies to assist with solving their more complex, urgent or unusual problems, which results in consultants continually working on the big challenging problems.

In industry, the major challenges tend to be more cyclical, and in the down time you might have more business as usual issues to deal with.

An example of this might be major planning applications such as Development Consent Orders. If you are good at developing DCO’s, then within consulting, you might be the go-to person to work on them. Within a client organisation, a DCO may only be required once every decade, requiring major planning experts to move job every few years from one industry client to another.

Consultants are constantly challenged and engaged but it can be a very fast paced environment, which will not suit everyone.

3. Advising (not deciding)

Consultants come up with solutions to recommend to their client, who then make the ultimate decision which option to take. However great your advice is, at the end of the day it isn’t your decision. For some, this could lead to frustration.

In industry, senior managers will often have delegated authority to take decisions within their given remit.

4. Selling

Business development is crucial to succeeding in a consulting environment. To progress at senior level, you need to win work and build strong client relationships.

Sales is probably the biggest reason that people fail when moving from industry to consulting, so it is pivotal to gauge how comfortable candidates coming from industry will be in this area.

Building strong client relationships is more than just winning work. Candidates must have the ability to build rapport, understand the client’s issues and make sure that the project is successful.

5. Travel

Dependant on the type of advice, consulting can involve more travel than roles in industry. Particularly if the role means that you need to be on site to work with your client.

While this is a lesser factor since COVID, it is definitely still a major consideration. Understanding the typical work pattern is key.

I would love to hear what your experience has been. Do you have experience recruiting from industry into consulting, or have you made that leap yourself? What were the major challenges you faced?

Please do get in touch to discuss your experiences.

Companies in industry have often tempted consultants advising them to step across the divide and join them permanently. However, with consulting such a hot market at present consultancy firms are not just poaching from one another but increasingly looking to industry to attract key staff.

The switch from industry into consulting is a big adjustment. One that not everyone will be able to make successfully.

That’s not to say that one is better than the other as a career path. Some people switch between the two several times in their career to great effect.

Ultimately career path comes down to an individual’s preferences, skills and personal drivers. From our experience, individuals who successfully move from industry into consulting bring a credibility and understanding of practical issues that consultancies really benefit from.

These are some of the key differences to focus on when assessing if someone can make the transition into the world of consulting.

1. Variety of work

Within industry, senior managers typically have a specific functional responsibility within their business that they focus on. For instance, a Capital Projects Director at a water company will lead a programme of water asset related projects.

At a consultancy, a Projects Director could be required to work on a rail project one month and a highways project the next. This requires someone to be flexible enough to adapt their skills and transfer knowledge across sectors.

This also applies to other functional areas of expertise, with consulting teams constantly forming and demobilising new teams for different projects. It is a great opportunity to learn new skills from other experts and allows individuals to gain exposure to a variety of challenges to quickly develop.

People who will benefit from this type of environment are those that thrive on continual stream of new challenges and enjoy steep learning curves.

2. Complexity

Typically companies utilise consultancies to assist with solving their more complex, urgent or unusual problems, which results in consultants continually working on the big challenging problems.

In industry, the major challenges tend to be more cyclical, and in the down time you might have more business as usual issues to deal with.

An example of this might be major planning applications such as Development Consent Orders. If you are good at developing DCO’s, then within consulting, you might be the go-to person to work on them. Within a client organisation, a DCO may only be required once every decade, requiring major planning experts to move job every few years from one industry client to another.

Consultants are constantly challenged and engaged but it can be a very fast paced environment, which will not suit everyone.

3. Advising (not deciding)

Consultants come up with solutions to recommend to their client, who then make the ultimate decision which option to take. However great your advice is, at the end of the day it isn’t your decision. For some, this could lead to frustration.

In industry, senior managers will often have delegated authority to take decisions within their given remit.

4. Selling

Business development is crucial to succeeding in a consulting environment. To progress at senior level, you need to win work and build strong client relationships.

Sales is probably the biggest reason that people fail when moving from industry to consulting, so it is pivotal to gauge how comfortable candidates coming from industry will be in this area.

Building strong client relationships is more than just winning work. Candidates must have the ability to build rapport, understand the client’s issues and make sure that the project is successful.

5. Travel

Dependant on the type of advice, consulting can involve more travel than roles in industry. Particularly if the role means that you need to be on site to work with your client.

While this is a lesser factor since COVID, it is definitely still a major consideration. Understanding the typical work pattern is key.

I would love to hear what your experience has been. Do you have experience recruiting from industry into consulting, or have you made that leap yourself? What were the major challenges you faced?

Please do get in touch to discuss your experiences.

The sun is finally shining and Spring is officially here.

Congratulations to all of our Movers and Shakers from March, let’s take a look at who has moved where this month…

Sizewell C

EDF have appointed Stephen Billingham, a former Chief Financial Officer at electricity firm British Energy, in an advisory capacity to the executive team for Sizewell C as it takes steps to become an independent company. He will become Chair of the project later this year.

They have also announced that Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson is retiring as Director of Nuclear Development for Sizewell C.

Royal BAM Group

Two Executive Directors have left BAM’s UK and Ireland division following a rejig of its reporting structures.

Bruce Dickson has stepped down from his role as Transformation Director UK & Ireland after more than 30 years with the business and Doug Keillor leaves his roles as Executive Director having joined the business in 1990.

c2c

Have announced the appointment of Rob Mullen as Managing Director, following the departure of Ben Ackroyd who leaves this Spring. Rob joins c2c from GTR, where he was Train Services Director for Thameslink and Great Northern.

Gleeds

Have appointed Natascha McIntyre-Hall as its new Head of Regeneration. McIntyre-Hall returns to the business after a stint as Assistant Director of Strategic Developments with Portsmouth City Council.

Rider Levett Bucknall

Chris Trew and Peter Baxter have joined as Partner and Associate Partner respectively, leading its new utilities advisory service. The pair had previously been Directors at Gleeds for just over two years.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER)

Have announced that Claire Ansley has been appointed to the new role of People and Customer Experience Director. Ansley, who has been Customer Experience Director for four years, will additionally oversee the People team.

Mace

Have appointed two new Directors to target expansion in the pharmaceuticals sector. Claire Sedgwick becomes Mace Consult’s Strategic Lead for Business Development, leaving Atkins.

Sandra Davies, who joins from Jacobs, was named as Engineering and Technical SME Lead.

G-volution

David Hatfield has joined as Business Development Director for their Rail business. Hatfield leaves Grand Central Railway where he has been Fleet Director since 2011.

Go-Ahead

Have announced the appointment of Sarah Mussenden to Group Chief Financial Officer, joining in May. She joins from Royal Mail where she has been Interim Chief Financial Officer.

Mott MacDonald

Simon Hubbard has also joined as EUNA Major Pursuits Lead. He leaves ARCADIS where he was Strategic Pursuits Director.

McLaren Construction

Have appointed former Sir Robert McAlpine London boss Paul Heather into a new role as Group Managing Director of its construction business where he will report into the firm’s owners Kevin Taylor and Phil Pringle. Heather left McAlpine last September after four years at the firm.

Balfour Beatty

Have appointed Louise Hardy to sit on its board as a Non-Executive Director. Hardy’s most recent executive role was as European Project-Excellence Director for AECOM.

National Grid

Will Serle has joined as Chief People Officer. He leaves Capita where he has been Chief People Officer since 2018.

Network Rail

Have appointed Robin Dobson as Group Property Director, replacing Stuart Kirkwood who is leaving the organisation after 11 years. Dobson joins from Hammerson Plc.

Laing O’Rourke

Have appointed Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation, to its board as a Non-Executive Director.

West Midlands Trains

Have announced the appointment of Ian McConnell – currently Chief Operating Officer at ScotRail – as its new Managing Director. He will join WMT once ScotRail has successfully been handed over to the new public body, Scottish Rail Holdings.

Linbrooke Services

Saul Brennan has joined as Group Commercial Director. He leaves Network Rail where he began his career in 2002, most recently he was Programme Commercial Manager – NW&C Capital Delivery.

Zipabout

Have announced that Charlotte Pearce will be joining the company as Head of UK Rail. Pearce has most recently been working as a Consultant to the Digital Catapult.

Knorr-Bremse

Chief Executive Officer of Knorr-Bremse AG, Jan Mrosik, is leaving the company with effect from the end of April. Chief Financial Officer Frank Markus Weber will additionally assume the duties of CEO on an interim basis until a replacement is found.

CECA

Lorraine Gregory has been appointed as the new Regional Director for the Midlands, succeeding Dawn Karakatsanis, who has held the post for four-and-a-half years. Gregory has joined CECA from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

 Porterbrook

Have appointed Alice Gillman as Head of Business Development. She joins from Vivarail where she has spent seven years as Head of Marketing.

Partnering with us for your next search will help you to source the very best talent across your sectors. Click below to get in touch and find out more information.

In November of 2020, Boris Johnson set out his 10 point plan for the UK’s Green Industrial Revolution. In this plan, he detailed how we were to achieve the legally binding obligation of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

As part of this promise, the government has a target to cut emissions by 78% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels.

2035 is a mere 15 years from now. If we consider that Sizewell C has been in talks for the last 12 years and if works were to begin as predicted by 2024 it won’t be completed until 2036 at the very earliest.

15 years is a drop in the ocean.

Various task forces have been established now to address the most pressing issues, but it is time to start acting on their recommendations.

Starting with the massive green skills gap.

Every major sector in the UK needs to close a significant skills gap to enable them to reach net zero. Looking specifically at the Infrastructure & Built Environment sectors, the most pressing areas to focus on are Power and Transport.

Power

The power sector is responsible for c11% of UK emissions, and employment is expected to increase by roughly 80,000 people by 2040. This is largely within the Offshore wind market where employment is expected to increase 170% by 2026.

Spanning wind, solar, hydropower, hydrogen, nuclear, bioenergy, carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and tidal power, the jobs most likely to be in demand are:

• Manufacturing: making renewable energy technologies, equipment and parts.
• Construction and engineering: building renewable energy infrastructure, such as offshore wind farms.
• Maintenance: repairing, refurbishing and upgrading existing renewable energy infrastructure.
• Data analysts and digital specialists

Transport

The Transport sector is responsible for 31% emissions, and it is estimated that an additional 175,000 employees will be needed by 2035.

The jobs likely to be in demand are:

• Sustainable aviation: green aerospace engineers, alternative fuel experts and hydrogen electrolysis engineers.
• Electric vehicles: charging infrastructure designers, manufacturers and operators, battery development experts, micro mobility manufacturers and regulators.
• Active travel: urban designers and city planners.
• Public transport: green bus and coach manufacturers, and rail electrical engineers.

There is an awful lot of talk about what we need to do in order to achieve net zero. What we really need to see now, is serious, sensible actions taken to make them happen.

So how can we start to reskill the Transport & Infrastructure sectors? 

1. Educational Institutions

This is not a ground-breaking suggestion. The National Skills Academy for Rail was recently established to help employers, trainers and organisations develop skills. Various smaller academies in the energy market have been set up such as the X-Academy and The Green Skills Academy, but nothing government led as of yet.

And of course, there was the troubled National College of High Speed Rail which ultimately failed because it wasn’t training in the areas that businesses really needed.

For new skills institutions to succeed, the government and academia need to learn from this and work closely with businesses in the industry to determine what it is they actually need and ensure academies offer courses in those areas.

These need to be realistic courses that will result in someone getting a job today, not 10 years from now. And then as the green technology develops, the colleges will need to be adaptable enough to offer new or updated training.

2. Government action

We’ve seen a lot of task forces but we’ve not seen a lot of contracts being let to deliver change.

If we look at transport decarbonisation, there have been a handful of consultancy contracts that have recently been awarded advising public sector businesses. This is nowhere near the volume of activity that is going to be required to achieve the governments ambitious targets.

Along with feasibility studies to work out what the best solution is, the government needs to provide the incentives for the private sector to then deliver decarbonisation.

The supply chain needs to see a predictable and sustained pipeline of work to invest in skills in the skills required to deliver it. There is little incentive for companies to reskill their employees if the work isn’t there for them to win.

3. Recruit from allied sectors or International Markets

When there is a serious skills shortage in the domestic market and you don’t have time to re-train staff from scratch then there are two main options: look to other sectors or countries. Are there allied markets with transferrable skills? Are other countries more experienced in the specialist area?

Hinkley Point C (HPC) is an example of this. Sizewell B was completed in 1995. When EDF announced they wished to build HPC in 2008, a full 13 years had passed in the UK since the last new nuclear build. EDF went down the route of working closely with French supply chain companies to utilise their skills built up over years in the much larger French nuclear market on HPC. They supplemented these engineering skills with project and programme management skills from allied infrastructure markets such as rail, airports and conventional gas power stations.

There is so much that needs to be done in order to make the governments emissions targets a reality. Have you struggled to fill roles in emerging sectors, or are you considering recruiting for a role but you’re not sure the talent is out there?

Our talent mapping service allows you to map out the market to determine the potential candidate pool before you commit to a full executive search.

If this is something that interests you, please give me a call or email to discuss further.

Since our last roundup, the Transport & Infrastructure sectors have been as busy as ever with a huge amount of bidding activity.

Will you be recruiting senior hires for your project or bids teams? If so get in touch to see if Executive Search could be a option for you.

Here’s a roundup of the major contracts awarded across Transport & Infrastructure…

Highways

Area 9

Colas have won a £328m contract to maintain major roads across National Highways’ Area 9.

From 1 July, the contractor will carry out routine maintenance, repairs, emergency response and severe weather services across West Midlands, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and part of north Gloucestershire. Its contract is set to run for eight years and could be worth up to £328m. Area 9 is the largest of National Highways’ 14 regions.

M6

Costain have been awarded the contract to reconfigure junctions on the M6 motorway. The £100m job will include relocating a J33 slip road 2km to the north in Lancashire and connecting the new slip road with the existing A6. This will create a bypass for the village of Galgate.

East Sussex

Three bidders have been shortlisted to provide highway maintenance and infrastructure services for East Sussex in the future. Ringway Jacobs, Balfour Beatty Living Places and Colas have been selected to move to the next stage of the procurement process by East Sussex County Council. The announcement of the preferred tenderer to be made in September 2022.

Lower Thames Crossing

In September it was announced that five bidders had been shortlisted for the two LTC roads contracts, worth a combined £1.9bn.

Those shortlisted for the £600M Kent Roads contract are BFV JV, Costain, Kier Eiffage JV and Skanska. Shortlisted for the £1.2bn Roads North of the Thames contract are Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering and Kier Eiffage JV. All three contracts are expected to be awarded by the middle of next year.

Surrey County Council

Has awarded its highways maintenance contract, initially worth £1.2billion, to Ringway. Ringway will take over from Kier Highways in April 2022, for at least ten years and potentially up to 21 years.

Civils

Procure Partnership Framework

Morgan Sindall, Kier and Galliford Try are among firms on a new £1.8bn framework covering the North West.

The framework has been split between building and infrastructure works and contains different value lots. The highest value band is for projects worth more than £30m. The projects covered include construction work for pipelines, powerlines, highways, roads and railways.

SCAPE

SCAPE has opened the pre-qualification for its £4bn civil engineering framework. The national civil engineering framework is due to begin next year and run until 2027, with an option for it to be extended a further two years. Scape estimates that £3.25bn of work will be awarded through one framework covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and £750m across another agreement covering Scotland.

Energy

National Grid – Grain LNG

J Murphy & Sons have been awarded a c£100m contract to expand a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facility on the Isle of Grain in Kent. The contract includes delivery of three gas compressors and equipment rooms, two submerged combustion vaporisers and two export tank pumps.

National Grid Snowdonia Tunnel

Hochtief has been contracted to design and supply a cable tunnel, one 400kV cable circuit and one 132kV cable circuit. The Snowdonia Visual Impact Provision (VIP) project intends to remove 3km of overhead power lines from the Dwyryd Estuary and put them in a new underground tunnel.

Sofia and Dogger Bank C

J Murphy & Sons has won the contract to design and build onshore civils works for two multi-billion pound offshore wind farms. Developers behind the £3bn Sofia and £3bn Dogger Bank C facilities have joined together to appoint Murphy to deliver high voltage direct current cables packages.

Humber Zero

Wood has been appointed as the integration project management contractor for Humber Zero, one of the leading industrial decarbonisation projects in the UK.

Rail

HS2 (Construction)

At least £15bn of work across and more than 35 construction contracts have already been awarded. In the last year the following have been won:

• Station lifts and escalators framework – TK Elevator (£316m)
• Production of precast concrete segments (south) – Pacadar UK
• Enabling civils works Package 2 on Phase 2a – Kier (£50m)
• HS2 Phase One Stations: Construction Partner (Curzon Street) – Mace and Dragados (£570m)
• Early environmental works contract Phase 2a – Balfour Beatty (£52m)
• Geotechnical work on the C1 package of HS2 – Keller Group and VSL International (£167m)

You can find the full list here.

HS2 (Rolling Stock)

Following delays due to Covid, a Hitachi/Alstom JV has been awarded the contracts to build high speed trains for the megaproject. The contracts – worth around £2bn – will see the JV design, build and maintain a fleet of 54 high speed trains that will operate on High Speed 2 (HS2).

Network Rail

In November, Network Rail announced they have launched the search for £4.3bn Southern Integrated Delivery (SID) civils partners to deliver work over 10 years. Tenders will be submitted this month, and “appointed business partners” within the SID will then sign into a development phase agreement which is scheduled two take place between December 2024 and April 2024 with the agreement starting in April 2024.

Metrolinx

MCS consortium, a joint veture of Mace, Comtech and SYSTRA have won the programme delivery partner role on Canada’s largest infrastructure project which has been described as the country’s equivalent of HS2.

The CA$10.9bn (£6.4bn) Metrolinx scheme will run for 10 years in an area around the Ontario cities of Toronto and Hamilton with work including new stations, electrification of existing lines, new rail lines, upgrading existing stations and signalling.

Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive

Have appointed Turner & Townsend to provide project control services across three major programmes. The new contract will build on Turner & Townsend’s existing programme management with Nexus and see it continue to work services across the transport authority’s Metro Futures, Metro Flow and infrastructure programmes.

Belfast Transport Hub

A JV of Farrans and Sacyr has been appointed to deliver the main works for a £200m major transport hub in Belfast. The construction project will include building 26 bus stands and eight railway platforms.

East West Rail

Jacobs and Arcadis have both won consultancy contracts. Jacobs has been appointed as its Programme Partner for the next three years on the £5bn Oxford to Cambridge rail line.

Arcadis has been appointed as Commercial Partner focusing on developing the business case and submitting the application for a Development Consent Order to build the next stage of the rail link.

TfL

Have agreed a contract with mobile phone companies Three and EE to deliver high-speed mobile coverage across the London Underground (LU) network. This comes after TfL awarded a 20-year concession to BAI Communications (BAI) last year, which will enable 4G and 5G-ready uninterrupted mobile coverage on the whole LU system.

Aviation

Manchester Airport Group

Kier, BAM and Vinci, Galliford Try and Murphy are amongst the firms appointed to a £700m capital works framework for Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports. The full list can be found here.

It is split into three disciplines, a £200m lot for civil construction works, a £300m lot for new build and fit out works and a £200m lot for refurbishment jobs.

Each discipline is then divided into 12 sub lots based on value bands and the airport at which the works will be carried out. Kier is the only contractor to have been appointed to all 12 lots.

Water

Scottish Water

Arcadis, AECOM, Faithful + Gould and Turner & Townsend are among the consultants who have been named on Scottish Water’s commercial services framework. They have won spaces on lots 1 and 3 of the framework, which will support the company’s £4.5bn Capital Investment Programme until 2027.

Anglian Water

AECOM, Mott MacDonald and Turner & Townsend have been awarded a five-year extension to their position on Anglian Water’s Commercial Outperformance and Construction Economics (COCE) framework. The new contract extends the major commercial outperformance framework to 2026.

Building

Building Decarbonisation Framework

Fusion 21 have awarded 50 firms to their £750m Building decarbonisation framework, including; Kier, Wates, BAM Construct and Vinci.

The decarbonisation framework will deliver projects focused on improving energy efficiency in housing association properties and public sector buildings, including thermal fabric improvements, heating, renewables and other upgrades.

Procurement Hub – Major Projects framework

Willmott Dixon, Robertson and Farrans have been selected for a £4.2bn major-projects framework.

Procurement Hub, part of the developer and property management company Places for People, confirmed the three would deliver projects on the second generation of the Major Projects framework, which includes local government, housing, health, transport and education projects. The deal will run for at least four years with an option to extend it for a further two years.

If you’re looking to bolster your senior teams then drop me an email or book in a quick introduction call at a time that suits you. Click the link below for access to my diary. 

Book a 15 minute call

Today is International Women’s Day.

Across the Transport & Infrastructure sectors lots of companies are making some really great strides to increase diversity,  we discussed these improvements a few weeks ago, you can read more here.

But what does it mean to have a truly inclusive work environment? How can you promote a culture that not only attracts diversity, but also nurtures and develops diverse talent throughout their working life?

A recent study by Great Place to Work shows that when employees trust that they and their colleagues will be treated fairly regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or age, they are almost 10 times more likely to look forward to going to work.

So how do you know if you are doing everything you can to be an inclusive employer?

Here are eight questions you should be asking yourself…

1. Do you have employee resource groups?

 Employee resource groups or diversity groups are communities set up by employees that share a common identity. They can facilitate a space for networking, professional development and create a sense of belonging.

2. Do you have frequent internal conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion?

What are the company’s commitments to Diversity & Inclusion and are you having frequent discussions about how to meet these commitments?

Having bold statements around what you and your company hopes to achieve is one thing, but keeping it front and centre in people’s minds is crucial to achieving objectives. Strategies should be discussed regularly and amended as and when necessary.

3. Are your benefits inclusive?

Benefits are not one-size-fits-all, and if policies haven’t been evaluated in years, then they could be outdated. Whether it’s healthcare, paid time off, flexible parental leave, or other additional perks, it’s important to understand the company’s policies so you don’t end up compromising on your needs or values.

4. Are performance reviews standardised?

Unconscious bias influences the vast majority of our decision making, which is why having standardised performance reviews can help to mitigate bias and ensure everyone is evaluated fairly.

5. Are there mechanisms in place to collect and act on employee feedback?

Employee feedback can be hugely informative and constructive, allowing you to gain a perspective that you wouldn’t see yourself. Ensuring that feedback is gathered systematically (engagement surveys etc) and fed into policy making will go a long way towards creating an inclusive culture.

6. What training do you offer employees around diversity and inclusion?

Diversity and inclusion training as part of an onboarding programme is petty standard practice, but you should also look at what training you offer your employees beyond onboarding. How regularly do you offer different training courses and what resources are available to staff beyond week one?

7. Do you partner with any organisations outside of the office?

Encourage your employees to join groups such as Women in Transport, Women in Rail, the Women’s Engineering Society, or the National Association of Women in Construction by funding their membership and allowing time out of work to attend networking events and seminars.

Having good relationships with these groups will not only motivate your current workforce but will be a network for sourcing talented diverse candidates into the business as well.

8. What examples of women in leadership roles do you have?

Put your money where your mouth is and promote the diverse talent that you do have within your organisation. Female leaders should be advocates and role models for women wanting to get into the transport and infrastructure sectors and mentors to those looking to climb the ladder. This is particular pertinent for recruitment; external candidates will look for evidence of women already working in the organisation holding senior roles.

Unfortunately, it is still an uphill battle when it comes to diversity across the Transport & Infrastructure sectors, but we are moving in the right direction. The more that we openly discuss positive steps, celebrate successes, and recognise days such as International Women’s Day, the closer we will come to inclusivity in our markets.

I’d love to hear of any initiatives you have for increasing an inclusive culture within your company, please do drop me an email or give me a call to discuss on 0203 026 3871.

Storms Eunice and Franklin may have wreaked havoc up and down the country this month, but the Transport & Infrastructure sectors have once again shown that life must go on.

The weather hasn’t been the only thing making moves this month, check out all of the movers and shakers from Transport & Infrastructure from February…

Network Rail

Rob Morton has been appointed as the new Managing Director for Route Services, replacing Susan Cooklin, who is leaving the organisation in March after 16 years’ service. Morton joined Network Rail as Supply Chain Director in June 2017.

Amey

George Pargeter joins Amey as Business Director for Local Authority Highways. He leaves Balfour Beatty where he has most recently been Project Director for Major Highways.

CMAC Group

Neil Micklethwaite has left Stagecoach Group after 10 years to take up the role of Chief Operating Officer for CMAC Group; the established and growing provider of managed ground transportation and accommodation solutions.

Ramboll

Have appointed Rosie Simon as National Highways Key Account Director, Anne Millar as Highways Commercial Director, and Peter Takács as Bridges Director.

Rosie Simon has joined Ramboll from Sweco, Anne Millar joins from Stantec, and Peter Takács has joined from AECOM.

Peel Ports

Former Kier Chief Operating Officer Claudio Veritiero has been named as the next Chief Executive of Peel Ports. He will succeed current boss Mark Whitworth, when he moves into the role of company Chair in April.

Jacobs

Charles Lederer has joined as Director of Sales for Rail Europe. He leaves Balfour Beatty where he has most recently been Head of Business Development within the Rail Systems Business.

Durkan

Have named Tim Carpenter as Managing Director for Construction. He joined Durkan as New Business Director last year from Willmott Dixon. Carpenter succeeds Jim Briggs, who is retiring after 44 years at the company.

Pro Rail Services

Steve Pinkney will be joining in May as Permanent Way Director, tasked with establishing a new division over the coming months. Pinkney leaves XYZ Rail where he has been Programme Delivery Director.

McCarthy & Stone

Willie McGillivray has joined as Property Operations Director. He left Southend Airport where he was Chief Operating Officer last month.

Barhale

Former Keltbray rail division Head of Engineering Owen Mills has joined Barhale as Engineering Director. He will be joined on the board by Andy Dodman who has been promoted to the role of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) Director.

JSM

Neale Oliver joins as Operations Director – Telecoms, Oliver leaves Kier where he has been Operations Director on full-fibre city builds.

Colas

Have named Faïçal Lahmamsi as its new Chief Executive. Lahmamsi joined Colas’ sister company Les Grands Travaux Routiers in Morocco in 2002, and has been UK Executive Director of National and Regional Operations at Colas since March 2019.

Taylor Wimpey

Have announced that Jennie Daly will take over as Chief Executive in April. Daly, who is currently Group Operations Director, will replace Pete Redfearn after he announced his departure in December following almost 15 years leading the business.

AECOM

Have appointed Niall Corney as Director of Ground Engineering for the UK and Ireland. Corney was previously a freelance consultant, having worked for firms such as Keller and Capita.

Mott MacDonald

Steve Canadine has moved internally to become Managing Director Buildings & Cities. He joined Mott MacDonald in 2016 and has most recently been Managing Director Transportation.

They have also appointed Paul Hilton as Managing Director of its 900-strong Middle East business. He moves there from Singapore, where he was the company’s Advisory and International Development Lead for Southeast Asia.

Morrison Energy Services

Peter Carolan has moved internally to be appointed as Managing Director for Energy Services. He has been Executive Director at Morrison Utility Services since 2019.

Stantec

Beth Kenna has joined as Head of Integrated Investment and Planning, responsible for the delivery of asset management services across its UK and Ireland water, energy and resources and transport business. Kenna joins from Yorkshire Water where she has most recently been Head of Asset Management.

GMI Construction Group

Have announced the appointment of Andrew Hurcomb as Divisional Managing Director for Yorkshire. He succeeds Lee Powell, recently promoted to the newly created position of Chief Executive Officer.

Natural Power

Rob Brown joins the renewable energy consultancy as Managing Director. Brown leaves Wood plc after eight years, most recently as SVP Resilient Environments, Europe and Middle East.

Gleeds

Have appointed Steven Mason as the new Executive Director at its London headquarters. Mason has spent over 20 years at Mace as Managing Director and was instrumental in establishing its cost consultancy business in 2004.

As always, if you’re looking to make any changes to your senior teams make sure to get in touch to see how partnering with Newsom Consulting can help you find the best, diverse talent.

For a lot of Brits facing another commute in the cold and rain, the prospect of moving to sunnier pastures is quite an attractive offer. But why would you consider specifically searching for candidates in the UK when your business is in Australia?

The role is in Australia, surely, you need people who live in and understand the Australian transport market?

Increasingly, we are getting Australian transport operators approach us seeking out Brits to move abroad, and there is a good reason for that. The UK is renowned for producing world class talent in the transport operating market, with a strong heritage since Victorian times.

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider looking to the UK for your next hires:

1. The UK has a bigger pool of candidates

Australia has an ageing population, and a talent short market. In fact, there are half as many children born today than there was 50 years ago.

Australia may be 32 times bigger geographically than the UK, but 40.3 million fewer people live in Australia than in the UK. So statistically the UK has a much greater pool of potential candidates.

Over the next three years demand for infrastructure connected labour in Australia is anticipated to reach unprecedented levels, with a likely shortfall of up to 105,000 roles by mid-2023. Adding into this the fact that up to 40% of the workforce is set to retire over the next 15 years, business as usual and solely recruiting from the domestic market is unlikely to be a sustainable option.

2. Brits are willing to travel

In London a 90-minute commute is considered the norm for most people. With candidates emigrating to Australia, they will have the flexibility to find accommodation that is in the right location for their new job which can be a positive factor for them vs. a long commute in the UK.

3. Government control in the UK

Due to the recent changes in how train operating companies are managed, the UK TOC sector is now very heavily controlled by the government. This means that a lot of commercial decisions have been standardised across all franchises.

In the UK we have a lot of very talented and experienced commercial candidates who will now feel limited by these measures. They will undoubtedly be looking to move into new sectors or overseas to transport operators who have more commercial freedoms.

Due to the pressures on public transport budgets, many candidates employed in the UK transport sector are also not getting annual pay increases or bonuses which is a factor making candidates more open to considering new opportunities.

4. Privatisation Experience

Here in the UK, the railways have been privatised since 1996 so some candidates have 25 years’ experience working within a competitive tendered private sector model. The UK franchising model is effectively changing to an enhanced concession model where the transport operator will no longer have revenue risk. We therefore expect certain bidding specialists in the UK to have less demand from UK transport groups as their input on bids will not be required to the extent it was pre-Covid.

5. Buoyancy of the Australian Market

Australia has a huge pipeline of infrastructure projects, with total engineering and construction expenditure over 2020 to 2025 expected to equal $1,095 billion. Major public infrastructure expenditure will account for 20% of this.

Therefore, we expect there will be a derived demand for talent across both infrastructure and operations in the result of public transport investment.

Although Covid-19 has negatively impacted upon passenger transport demand however logistics and freight has benefitted hugely from the market changes. Mordor Intelligence predicts a growth rate of 5.85% CAGR from the Australia freight and logistics market between 2022-2027.

6. Market conditions

The UK market is going through a significant readjustment due to Covid-19 with many organisations suffering from budget reductions leading to redundancies, pay freezes and non-existent bonuses.

Add to this the UK economy is experiencing high inflation (predicted by the Bank of England to increase to over 7% by April 2022), many candidates in the UK transport sector are experiencing a notable drop in their “real” wages as they are not getting pay increases.

7. Plans have been put on hold

There is pent up demand from candidates seeking international career opportunities, who have had to put their plans on hold for the last couple of years due to the impact of Covid-19. We have spoken with plenty of candidates since the start of 2022 who planned to move overseas just as countries closed borders to stop the spread of the virus.

That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of really great candidates within Australia, but if your domestic search has run into a dead end make sure that you get in touch with us to see how we could assist you finding suitable candidates keen to relocate from the UK to Australia.

It would be great to learn about your experience with recruiting from the UK into your business.

You can schedule a time that works for you via this link; https://calendly.com/rd–20/internationalrecruitment to diarise a time directly or please do let me know what times could work for a brief introductory call.

It was in the news this week that Network Rail’s Diversity Chief, is the highest paid public sector Diversity Chief on a salary that equals the prime minister.

Diversity across the Transport & Infrastructure sectors is always a hot topic, and increasing it across all walks of life is fundamental to the success, growth and innovation of the markets we work in.

When we take a look at our Diversity Report from 2021, public sector businesses are actually amongst the top performing organisations when it comes to gender diversity. This may, in part, be attributed to having a centralised Diversity Chief who forms the diversity strategy and policy for the company.

And, there is no argument that having an expert bringing new and fresh ideas into your business is only a good thing. But recruiting a Head of Diversity alone isn’t going to suddenly overhaul your organisation.

If we take a look at the organisations who are really achieving outperforming the market when it comes to a diverse workforce, some don’t even have a Head of EDI or a Director of Inclusion, or a Diversity Chief.

They do have a truly inclusive culture, that enables them to retain and attract a diverse team at all levels.

Their success comes down to working with people to embrace the changes that are needed in order to achieve diversity. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and you are only ever going to improve diversity of your executive leadership long-term if you get buy in from all levels of the company. You cannot afford to lose your future diverse board members of 2032, by not taking action in 2022.

The key to achieving diversity long-term is by building a solid foundation of diversity at graduate and apprentice level, and then nurturing that talent and fostering an inclusive environment to encourage them to grow and progress within the business. In the short-term you can improve diversity in your leadership team by poaching talent from other sectors or your competition.

There are some fantastic examples across the Transport & Infrastructure sector where companies are taking some really great steps to be more inclusive.

1. Flexible Working

Covid-19 forced many companies to switch to remote working, and now lots of companies have realised the benefits of flexible working. Flexible working helps many to achieve a better work/life balance. Especially for those balancing work and childcare responsibilities.

Arup was one of the first big names in the industry to announce their new flexible working policy. Their 6,000 UK employees will have the flexibility to work their hours across all 7 days of the week, with only 2 days needing to be spent in the office.

2. Setting Targets

Laing O’Rourke recently set itself the target to employ equal numbers of men and women across its 5,500 global staff by 2033.

3. Returner Programmes

Atkins have implemented a Returners Programme to celebrate diversity within the workplace. They offer a 6-month returnship for talented, experienced professionals with the opportunity for a permanent role at the end of the programme.

4. Mentoring & Networking

Networking and mentoring are critical. It helps to ensure that diverse talent in the sector are expanding their personal networks, building relationships, and creating opportunities. In recent years we have seen the construction and infrastructure sectors really stepping up on this front. In transport we’ve seen the rise of “Women in Transport” and “Women in Rail”. For the Built Environment there is “The National Association of Women in Construction”.

5. Reverse Mentoring

Senior Directors passing on their wisdom to up and coming talent is one thing but reversing the roles can also be hugely beneficial.

Giving junior employees the opportunity to voice their experiences and the forum to discuss what is important them can give you insights that may never have occurred to you given your own background.

The world looks very different to each individual and there is an awful lot we can learn just by listening to each other’s point of view.

6. Role Models

This is something we are seeing more and more of on social media, particularly this month with LGTB+ History month. Having people within the business who act as role models and spokespeople for acceptance and inclusion can go a really long way to attracting talent to your business and making everyone feel like they work in a safe space.

Attraction is one hurdle but retention is equally as important if you want to see the results of your efforts at board level down the line.

So while having a Diversity Chief is a positive thing, it is also not by a long shot the whole solution to fostering a diverse workforce.