Future of Work expert, experienced founder and CEO

Ollie Henderson has over a decade of experience leading creative and technology businesses as a founder and CEO. He now writes and speaks about the forces driving the work/life revolution we’re experiencing and advises business leaders on thought leadership.

As the host of the chart-topping podcast Future Work/Life, Ollie interviews entrepreneurs, business leaders and world-renowned experts, discussing topics such as creativity and innovation, peak performance, productivity, technology, well-being and workplace culture.

His bestselling book, Work/Life Flywheel: Harness the work revolution and reimagine your career without fear, advocates a new approach to growing your career. Rather than seeing your career and personal life as two opposing forces, Ollie argues that the secret is to design an integrated approach that allows them to work in harmony.

As well as tackling significant future challenges and opportunities, Ollie focuses on sharing practical strategies and techniques to help create a thriving company culture which attracts and retains the best talent.

Enterprise Talent & Skills Specialist, Delta Air Lines

Britt's primary responsibilities include supporting Delta's Global Talent Management team and is a key member of the Skills Foundation initiative. Prior to joining Delta in 2021, Britt started her career with Mercer (Atlanta) in the Health and Benefits group, advising clients across the Southeast. Britt graduated from the University of Georgia

Head of Group Downstream HR & HR Director, MOL

Zoltán is an internationally experienced HR leader with a strong drive for business impact utilising data and his consultancy background to foster transformation. He has over a decade of HR professional experience in reward, consulting, digital HR and employee relations. Zoltán facilitated several group-wide transformations and overcame a number of business challenges in the 2020s. His responsibility was recently broadened by MOL Hungary to include the role of HR director. Appreciated by business leaders for his agility, business understanding and solution-focused drive, he is passionate about leading and developing people as well as creating impactful user-experience solutions.

Group Total Reward and International Mobility VP, Prysmian

Lucia is the Group Total Reward and International Mobility VP at Prysmian, a global cabling solutions provider leading the energy transition and digital transformation. Listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, Prysmian operates across more than 50 countries and nine regions.

Lucia joined Prysmian in October 2023, bringing over 20 years of experience in rewards and broader human resources consulting. Prior to her corporate role, Lucia has held advisory roles in WTW, PwC Italy and Korn Ferry (formerly Hay Group), working with clients across different industries. 

Vice President, Total Rewards, Novo Nordisk

Søren is an accomplished executive with over 20 years of experience in Total Rewards and Performance Management. Currently serving as Vice President, Head of International Total Rewards at Novo Nordisk, Søren has been instrumental in shaping the company's remuneration strategies and performance management programs globally.

His tenure at Novo Nordisk spans nearly two decades, where he has held multiple strategic roles, including Director of Total Rewards & Performance Management. Before this, Søren was the Global Compensation and Benefits Director at ALK Abelló and served as Chief Consultant, Total Rewards at Danske Bank.

Søren’s expertise includes designing and delivering comprehensive compensation programmes, managing performance metrics and leading change processes to prepare organisations for future growth. He has extensive experience managing base pay, short-term and long-term incentive programmes and benefits.

Director of Global Reward and Benefits, NCC Group

Kathryn Edgington’s HR journey started over 25 years ago in the financial services industry, where she embarked on a successful career at Swinton Insurance. Throughout her tenure, Kathryn gained extensive experience in multiple HR disciplines, including business partnering, performance management, HR technology, data and insights, and people services. Her chosen specialism is reward.

As a specialist in reward, Kathryn has led reward transformation programmes at Swinton Insurance, Liverpool Football Club, and most recently, NCC Group, a global cyber security business. During her time as VP of Reward at a Premier League Football Club, Kathryn implemented various total reward and recognition frameworks and programmes, fostering individual and team performance.

In her current role as Director of Global Reward and Benefits at NCC Group, Kathryn leads a Global Reward Centre of Expertise across 13 countries. She also plays a key role in executive compensation, working on the delivery of a global job framework, reward strategy and initiatives to support the people proposition in a challenging and competitive industry while driving business transformation.

Head Strategic Projects EU, Novartis

Carsten is Head of Strategic Projects for the European Union for Novartis having previously worked in national and regional roles for the same company for the past six years. He has worked in various DAX corporations in strategic and operational HR roles over the past 20 years. Carsten’s focus has been on HR management, compensation and benefits as well as talent management. 

Group HR Director, Energia Group

Michele is currently the Group HR Director for Energia Group, with responsibility for the implementation of people strategy. Energia Group is a modern customer-centric utility focusing on renewable technology, currently employing over 1,000 people across Ireland.

Prior to this role, Michele held other senior HR positions at Translink, Coca Cola and Sx3 (Capita).

Director, Global Head of Rewards, HR Technology and People Analytics, Tetra Pak

Akos is a total rewards director with 20 years of multicultural work experience in all aspects of international rewards management. After obtaining his master’s degree in economics, he started his career as a compensation consultant at Aon. After that, he held various rewards, global mobility, and people analytics roles at Merck. Currently, he is leading the global compensation and benefits, HR technology and people analytics teams at Tetra Pak.

Director of People and Learning, Northern Ireland Water

Rose has held her current position of Director of People & Learning at Northern Ireland Water since 2018 with key responsibilities for Human Resources and Health and Safety.  She has an extensive and varied background in HR, people development, business and corporate social responsibility and previously held the position of Vice President working in the technology sector and also the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.  Rose has served as a Board Director of the Ulster Orchestra Society and currently on the Board of the Diocese of Down and Connor Trustee. 

Holding a degree in English and Modern History from Queen’s University Belfast, Rose also  has a degree in HR Management and a Master’s degree in Law and Employment Relations.  Rose has led a wide range of people and transformation strategies in the organisations she has served which have been recognised in numerous HR and business awards including NI Water Employer of the Year 2023 and personal awards such as the CIPD HR Professional of the Year. 

Head of Total Rewards Digitalisation, Novo Nordisk

Martin Kerttu has over a decade of experience in driving continuous improvement and development in HR and Finance. Currently serving as the Head of Total Rewards Digitalisation and UX at Novo Nordisk, he oversees a global portfolio of digital services, ensuring business value and solutions that supports making HR strategies reality at the front line.

Martin is passionate about driving innovation and deploying solutions at scale, leveraging the latest technologies to enhance TR operations and toolsets. In his role, he acts as both a product owner and product manager, working cross-functionally with the full HR value chain to develop and deliver impactful solutions.

Global Practice Lead Compensation, Roche

Alexander Legel is the Head of Compensation at Roche. His past experience spans various key roles, including those in consulting and in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been Country Head of HR in Vietnam and Digital Transformation Lead for Roche Diagnostics. Alexander is a recognized thought leader in leveraging artificial intelligence to redefine HR functions, emphasizing innovation and efficiency to shape the future of human resources. His current interests focus on the application of AI in benchmarking, job evaluation and pay equity.

Global Head of Reward and Talent, GFG Alliance

Mariia is a dynamic and strategic leader with expertise in developing and implementing multinational reward and talent programmes. With a genuine passion for driving positive and productive workplace cultures, Mariia leverages her understanding of business challenges and priorities to create impactful programmes that attract, engage and retain top talent.

Her journey began in consulting with Aon, followed by Mercer in the UK, where she honed her expertise in total rewards and beyond. Now, as the Global Head of Reward and Talent at GFG Alliance, Mariia is deploying her consulting toolbox to refine people practices and drive dynamic evolution across the organisation.

A strong advocate for horizontal growth within her organisation, Mariia constantly challenges herself to upskill and reach new levels. She is a proud holder of a BSc (Hons) degree in investment and financial risk management from Bayes Business School in London, and in May 2023 she received FCIPD accreditation, further showcasing her commitment to development and constant learning.

Chief People Officer, NCC Group

Michelle Porteus brings over two decades of experience to her role as Chief People Officer at NCC Group, a leading global pure-play cybersecurity consultancy. Throughout her career, Michelle has demonstrated her expertise in driving transformation and navigating change across diverse sectors, including outdoor and lifestyle brands, construction, retail and gold mining. 

Like many others in her position, Michelle faced the unique leadership challenges posed by the pandemic, the “Great Resignation” and fierce competition for tech talent in a rapidly expanding business with global aspirations. In this competitive market, with the headwinds of global business transformation and a profit warning in 2023, she led the implementation of NCC Group’s global reward strategy, executive compensation and global job-level framework — initiatives that have been crucial in fortifying the Group’s people proposition.

Michelle’s unwavering passion for her profession and her commitment to addressing complex business challenges have led her to dedicate more time to supporting future generations of HR professionals. As a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Michelle actively engages in pro bono advisory work, coaching and support, helping to support the continued evolution of the world of work and the advancement of the HR field.

Head of Global Compensation Solutions, Takeda

Martin is the Head of Global Compensation Solutions within Takeda, a global pharmaceutical company.  He has more than 22 years HR experience in European, Asian and American companies, across different industries and has led total rewards activities supporting global mergers and acquisitions and integrations, spin offs, new market entries, globalisation, restructuring and HR transformation.  Martin holds an MSc in International Business Studies from Maastricht University, is a Certified Global Remuneration Professional from the World at Work as well as having an MIT Sloan Executive certification on the Implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Business Strategy. As a regular contributor to LinkedIn with a passion for AI, Martin often shares his personal insights and experiences with the wider HR and total rewards community.

Senior Digital Communications Strategist, Mercer

Kaivai is a skilled, experienced and organised marketing communications professional with a mix of public service and private sector work experience. Kaivai uses his creative muscle, curiosity, digital savvy and smart strategic nous to help businesses large and small get their people excited about work and engaged with its purpose.

President, Career and Head of Strategy, Mercer

Ilya Bonic is the President of Mercer’s Career practice, Head of Mercer Strategy, a member of Mercer’s Executive Committee and co-author of Work Different: 10 Truths for Winning in the People Age.

Ilya’s interests have always focused on the impact of people strategy on organisational performance. In leading the Career business, he has turned this interest into the firm’s growth agenda, positioning Mercer as one of the pre-eminent people strategy consulting firms globally. At the heart of his growth philosophy for the business is a deep understanding of market trends and client needs. In leading a workforce of thousands of professional services consultants, Ilya practices what he preaches to turn Mercer’s leading talent capability into the driving force, influencer and market-shaper that it is, with a focus on long-term value creation and the organisational agility to respond to dynamic market circumstances.

Ilya has over 25 years of experience in human resource consulting. He has lived an international career, working in the Pacific, Asia, Europe and the US. He has worked with leading multinational companies, helping them navigate their most strategic people issues. Everything  Ilya writes about, he has lived and breathed — from both the perspective of a trusted adviser to clients as well as running a substantial and complicated international line of business within a global Fortune 500 firm that has navigated business model changes, the ups and downs of economic cycles, the pandemic and evolving the business for the next phase with the opportunities and risks presented by technological change and generative AI.

As a member of Mercer’s Executive Committee and Head of Strategy, Ilya works across the breadth of Mercer’s portfolio. Through M&A, global client management, thought leadership, marketing and a focus on data and analytics and ESG, Ilya ensures Mercer’s strategy continues to evolve in line with its clients’ needs and that Mercer maintains its position as a market-leading consulting firm and shaper of the industry.

UK and European Practice Leader, Executive Reward, Mercer

Peter is Mercer’s UK and European Practice Leader for executive reward, based in London.

He has over 25 years’ experience advising the remuneration committees and management teams of major companies on executive compensation matters. His client base includes some of the world's largest companies and spans the UK, Europe, Asia and North America.

UK DEI and Pay Equity Consulting Leader, Mercer

Lucy leads Mercer’s UK DEI and Pay Equity Consulting practice. Lucy has 10 years of consulting experience with a focus on creating an engaging and inclusive workplace culture that aligns an organisation's strategic vision with the lived experiences of its employees. Lucy has co-curated Mercer's neurodiversity proposition and has supported employers in creating an LGBTQIA+ inclusive environment.

Lucy is the Global Co-Chair for Mercer's Pride Business Resource Group, regularly connecting the dots between what Mercer does internally and how they support their clients. Lucy is also the founder of www.diversitydreaming.com  which she created to be a safe place for employers and employees to learn about DEI and access approachable and engaging training.

Senior Principal, Career UK, Mercer

Will is a Senior Principal in Mercer’s UK Career practice with 16 years’ experience in supporting HR professionals and their teams. Will has a strong understanding of wider Mercer and MMC businesses and is pivotal in ensuring collaboration internally to provide maximum benefits to clients.

Sitting within UK Career Products, Will and team support HR teams with their people, HR and reward challenges, helping them to make informed decisions based on data-driven insights and empowering clients with the tools and knowledge necessary to make strategic and impactful choices.

Will has been dedicated to assisting clients in navigating complex challenges in the field of HR and reward. Will has worked with NCC Group, one of today’s guest speakers, for a number of years and has coordinated the support that Mercer have provided in their transformational people journey.

Principal Career Business, Mercer

Debbie is a Principal within the Career business in London. At Mercer, Debbie works with a range of clients across the UK, Nordics, Netherlands and Switzerland. She also has experience working with clients in North America, the Middle East and Japan.

She has over 12 years’ experience advising on reward and has previously also advised on global shares schemes. Debbie specialises in drawing together her knowledge from an executive and workforce rewards lens to deliver holistic advice to Remuneration Committees and Reward teams. 

Consulting Leader, Technology and Life Science Sectors, Mercer

Gaurav is a senior principal with Mercer and an experienced executive team and management advisor, with expertise in helping organisations develop strategy and operations to drive growth and manage risk. With more than 17 years of consulting experience spanning organisations headquartered in Europe, the US and Asia, Gaurav has focused on helping private and public companies from the technology and life science industries for the past 14 years.

Gaurav is based in London but works extensively across geographies to lead global client relationships and teams that deliver industry insight and capabilities. Gaurav’s passion is helping clients navigate strategic challenges and opportunities regarding workforce, performance, reward and risk.

Global Rewards Solution Leader

Gordon is Mercer’s Global Rewards Solution Leader and has over 30 years of consulting experience, advising clients on how to strengthen the relationship between business strategy and people programs. He has extensive experience advising Boards of Directors and senior management on the design of market competitive total rewards programs that attract and retain top talent, align decision-making with organizational objectives and are consistent with sound governance practices.

Gordon has deep knowledge of the strategy, design, and financial impact of rewards programs, including equity-based incentive plans and sales incentive plans. He has also led broader projects related to talent strategy with a specific focus on the needs of a globally mobile workforce. In his current role, Gordon is responsible for ensuring that Mercer’s rewards solutions are best-in-class, allowing local consulting teams to deliver leading advice to clients and build total rewards programs that are future-focused in a rapidly changing and globally competitive marketplace.

Gordon first joined Mercer in 2000 and has been a member of both the Mercer Canada leadership team and the Global Career Practice leadership team. His consulting experience covers a broad range of industries with clients ranging from pre-IPO start-ups to global Fortune 100 companies. He also spent over 2 years as the Vice President of Global Compensation for a multi-national organization before re-joining Mercer in 2013.

European Leader, Industries and Networking, Mercer

Patrick Gutmann leads the Industries and Networking team for Mercer’s Career business in Europe. The team’s primary focus is developing industry-specific survey solutions, networking events, dedicated research and consulting services to help clients understand the competitive environment in which they operate.

With a 20-year career spanning various roles focused on pay and reward, Patrick helps clients broaden their understanding of how industries differ in their approach to reward. He is passionate about HR metrics and tech sector pay. Patrick holds a diploma in engineering. 

Workforce Products/Mobility Leader, Germany & Austria, Mercer

Thomas Gruhle is a senior principal and member of Mercer’s Career Leadership team for Germany and Austria, specialising in compensation and benefits. Currently, he leads Mercer’s Workforce Products & Mobility business in Central Europe, supporting organisations in recruiting, selecting, retaining, compensating and developing their employees.

Thomas’s areas of expertise include job evaluation, work architecture, benchmarking and designing compensation structures. He has 20 years of professional experience in rewards consulting. Before joining Mercer, Thomas served as Director of Compensation & Performance Management at Kienbaum. He also held a leadership role at Hay Group (now Korn Ferry) in Germany, overseeing the survey and product business.

European lead for skills-powered job architecture, Mercer

John is a Principal based in Stockholm and serves as the European lead for Mercer's initiatives related to skills-powered job architecture. In addition to this role, he also leads industry networks for the European Industries and Networking team.

Since joining Mercer in 2017, John has held a variety of roles. He has driven various industry initiatives and served as a commercial lead for solutions related to job architecture and skills. Additionally, John has worked as a consultant for Mercer's Swedish Career team, where he focused on executive and workforce rewards, including the development of job architectures, reward structures and incentive design, among other projects.

John holds a Master of Science in Finance and Strategic Management from Copenhagen Business School and a bachelor's degree from Lund University. As part of his degrees, he has also studied in Singapore and Paris.

Pay Equity Leader Europe & UK, Mercer

Lea is part of Mercer’s HR Transformation team, where she serves as Pay Equity and DEI Leader for Europe and UK. She joined Mercer Denmark in 2019 as Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consulting, supporting international companies building more diverse and inclusive workforces. 

Besides working with clients from a broad range of industries, she supports clients in the non-profit sector. Leveraging her experience in the non-profit sector, she has represented Mercer and MMC in several AmCham and European Commission forums, has co-authored several articles and appeared on podcasts on topics related to pay equity, pay transparency and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Before joining Mercer, Lea worked for United Nations and Maersk in senior human resources and organisational development roles in the USA, Qatar and Denmark. 

Partner and Rewards Practice Leader Europe, Mercer

Seán is a Partner and Mercer’s Europe and UK Rewards Practice Leader, overseeing our rewards products, consulting and technology solutions across the region. Seán has 25 years’ experience in the rewards and broader human resources consulting space, including compensation (executive and workforce), engagement, communications, transformation and digital.

Prior to his European role, from 2011 to 2023, Seán led Mercer’s Southeast US People Consulting line of business, managing a team of 50 consultants, covering sales, delivery and operations across all solution areas. He was also client relationship manager for a number of key local clients.

Between 2007 and 2011 he held a Reward Advisory role with PwC, managing a variety of human resource and compensation projects for major clients across pharmaceutical, financial services and manufacturing sectors, including The Coca-Cola Company, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Boston Scientific and Allianz Insurance. He also developed PwC’s human capital metrics offering and launched the first survey of its kind in Ireland.

Head of Employee Change Communication, Mercer

Tricia is an award-wining senior communicator within Mercer UK’s Impact team, based in London. She has more than 25 years of communication experience (both internal and external) across a wide range of industries, from financial and professional services to technology and telecommunications, utilities, construction, mining, pharmaceutical, luxury, aviation, food, and consumer manufacturing. Tricia focuses on strategic employee communication in support of organisational change initiatives and has developed strategies, implementation plans and tactics for UK and global projects.
Some of her projects include HR harmonisation efforts following M&A; new approaches to reward, benefits, and performance management; employee value propositions (EVPs); rebranding and purpose; organisational sales model redesigns; CEO transitions; and the launch of multi-year business strategies.
Before joining Mercer, Tricia lived and worked in Canada and Nigeria. She also ran her own PR agency for 10 years. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and was one of its Founding Chartered PR Practitioners. Tricia is also a CMI Chartered Manager.

Innovation Leader Career, Europe and UK, Mercer 

Andrzej is Innovation Leader for Career business in Europe and UK responsible for creating and bringing to market new solutions for Mercer clients. He leads the team which created the globally consistent Mercer living wage methodology.

Prior to that he was responsible for implementing global pay equity offering of Mercer in Europe and co-created Site Selection methodology and offering. He co-created Mercer’s European Consulting Hub supporting Mercer clients and consultants in Europe. 

Andrzej has worked for Mercer for nearly two decades contributing to the health and wealth businesses (managing Polish pensions and benefits consulting).

EMEA Client Solutions Leader and Denmark Career Business Co-leader, Mercer

Eugenia Naser leads the Client Solutions team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa within Mercer’s Career business. She also currently holds the interim co-leadership position for the Career business in Denmark, with a specific focus on rewards and mobility products.

Eugenia joined Mercer in 2006 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before relocating to Warsaw, Poland, where she is currently based. Throughout her tenure at Mercer, she has held various roles in different areas and regions, including marketing and sales effectiveness, and she has led indirect sales for Latin America and Europe.

Eugenia’s passion lies in tackling people challenges and engaging in cross-cultural work. She is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, actively committed to fostering an inclusive environment. In Poland, she has served as the executive sponsor of the D&I business resource group and held the position of Global Chair of Mercer’s Rising Professionals Network.

Eugenia holds a degree in communications from Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she also taught and conducted research in anthropology. She completed a master’s degree in marketing from Universidad de San Andrés, which included an exchange program with the Kellogg School of Management in the US.

Pay Equity Leader Europe & UK, Mercer

Lucye Provera is part of Mercer’s European HR Transformation team, where she acts as Pay Equity and DEI Leader for Europe and the UK. Lucye has over 18 years of international consulting experience working with clients across Mercer’s Career, Pay Equity and DEI solutions offerings, using data and analytics to design and implement business centric solutions.  

She has worked with clients from North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, China and the Far East. Lucye represents Mercer at internal and external conferences and webinars sharing insights, market trends and client case studies on emerging pay equity and DEI topics. 

Lucye’s extensive consulting experience includes working with companies on pay equity and gender pay disclosure, diversity and inclusion strategy and policy reviews, total rewards, executive remuneration and incentive design, pay for performance, performance management and HR transformation.

HR Solution Architect, Mercer

Christoph has 15 years’ experience in strategic HR roles. He started his HR career at Deutsche Telekom where he held various executive roles. In the consulting industry he worked for big four among others.

His focus has always been on transformation of HR and its departments into value driven contributors to business success. At Mercer he works with clients across the DACH region to create the right HR portfolio, HR interaction model and operations model that suit their unique needs and goals.