Meet the judges

Claire is the Director of Operations at Sintons LLP, where she oversees the daily operations of the People Services, Training, Facilities and Client Experience teams. After 2 years at Grainger Plc, Claire was delighted to return to Sintons in 2024, where she had previously worked as Head of People Services. In her broader leadership role, Claire has the opportunity to shape and influence Sintons’ business strategy, supporting its continued growth and fostering a collaborative, people-centric approach. With over 30 years’ HR experience, Claire is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She is proud to be supporting NEWT and the awards once again this year, celebrating the exceptional HR&D talent across the North East. Claire enjoys socialising with friends and family, holidaying in Greece and by complete contrast, relaxing in the Yorkshire Dales, going to music concerts, and admits to being a shopaholic!

As Organisation Capability Lead for Acas, Garry is responsible for all leadership and management development activity across the organisation as well as the apprenticeship programmes. His career in HR has spanned different sectors and he has also delivered the CIPD professional qualifications for several training providers over the past eleven years. More recently he has been involved in the development and launch of the new Acas learning management system as well as project managed the leadership programme for senior leaders. He has a keen interest in leadership and management development, coaching and change management. He is accredited in both Insights Discovery and Change Style Indicator, tools he uses within the broader learning offer at Acas.

Matt Bratton is Regional Director for the North East and Cumbria at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s largest and most influential business network. He acts as the voice of business in the region, influencing public policy to create the conditions for local and national economic growth. He represents business interest on advisory boards and working groups across the region, and convenes the CBI North East People and Skills Network and Future Leaders Network. After locating to Newcastle to study at Newcastle University, Matt built his career in the North East and has become an ambassador for the region. His background spans economic growth, policy development and business support, with several years’ experience in inward investment and destination promotion. He has worked in both the private and public sectors engaging with various industries from life sciences to advanced manufacturing.

Sarah Carnegie is a Senior Lecturer in human resource management at Newcastle University Business School. She is also the School’s Director of Employability and Co-Director of Scholarship. Before joining the University Sarah held a variety of consultancy roles, which included working with organisations in some very interesting locations, such as Bermuda, UAE, Romania and Ukraine to improve their employee engagement strategies. In her role at the University, Sarah’s research interests are focused on exploring student learning practices, work integrated and experiential learning and graduate employability, particularly championing the North East as a great place for students to start and build their careers, to encourage talent retention in our region. Sarah was Co-Chair of the North East CIPD Branch for 9 years, and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, and also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Susan has had a varied career firstly in the private sector working in operational roles from Branch Manager with Nationwide Building Society to leading contact centres with BT where she moved into HR and Development. After time in T-Mobile and Barclays heading up UK and European HR and Development teams Susan moved to Home Group. At Home Group Susan was the Director of People and Corporate Services leading culture change, programmes on attraction, retention, talent management, diversity, strategy development and communications. Leading and enabling such changes led to Home Group being IiP Platinum, in the top 10 in the UK in Great Place to Work for large organisations and 1st in the UK for where women want to work. Susan is Executive Customer, People and Engagement at Gentoo Housing where engagement and services to colleagues and customers is the key focus making a difference in the community. A Fellow of the CIPD, Susan is passionate about the North East as a place to live and work and delighted to be supporting the Awards again and hearing about the fantastic things our talented HRD community are doing.

Nicola Leyden is Director of HR at Muckle LLP. She has over 15 years’ experience in HR, with a particular focus on employee engagement and brain-savvy HR. Nicola leads Muckle LLP’s people strategy and, through innovative people practices, has recently supported the successful and distinctive law firm to achieve Investors in People Platinum status, placing them 2nd in the world rankings of legal activities sector employers. Prior to Muckle, Nicola headed up the Global HR function at Partnerize and led the award-winning HR team at NCFE.

Dr Elouise Leonard-Cross is an Occupational Psychologist and Group Head of People for Northumbrian Water Limited. A ‘curious collaborator’, with a squiggly career Elouise has a passion for learning and is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD and Chartered Marketer. An ambassador and advocate for the North East as a brilliant place to live, learn and work, she chaired the North East CIPD Branch for 10 years, is Chair of the North East Common Purpose Advisory Group, holds NED roles in education, is an Enterprise Advisor for the North East of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Mentor.

Lynn Perry, Chief People Officer at END., accountable for developing and delivering the strategic people plan, supporting business growth and creating a great place to work for everyone focusing on the people experience through the entire employee life cycle. Lynn is a Fellow of the CIPD, an Executive Coach and holds a Certificate in Neuroleadership. Lynn has over 25 years HR experience working in the utilities, service, manufacturing and retail sectors as a strategic HR leader supporting leadership teams to deliver real business outcomes. She has led complex business transformational change programmes around cultural and behaviour change, reward and recognition, leadership development and employee engagement. Lynn is passionate about learning and supporting people to reach their potential.

Following a twenty year career in HR, working across a number of well-known companies and brands, in 2022 Andy took his experience of culture change, organisational psychology and creative collaboration to change direction - entering the world of communication and PR as the Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations EAR for Aioi Nissay Dowa Europe (AND-E). As a huge believer in the power of people and storytelling, Andy’s motivation is to inspire pride, purpose and belonging by building connections that are a catalyst for positive change. As a passionate advocate for growth, he is also an Executive Coach, Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, kids football coach, and keenly involved as a Trustee for the North East based charity, Impact Family Services.

Li Xue, the Chief Executive Officer at TDR Training Ltd, is a driving force in Talent Development and Apprenticeship development and apprenticeship delivery within STEM sectors. Li’s leadership is characterised by a passion for giving people in the North East every opportunity to reach their full potential. Under her guidance, TDR Training Ltd stands as a beacon for excellence in fostering talent and delivering impactful Apprenticeship initiatives.