Lesley Richards is Head of CIPD Wales, responsible for representing the organisation and its 6000 members across the Principality. Her role encompasses three main drivers – influencing policy, building partnerships, delivering for members – all aligned to the overall objective of representing the voice of CIPD in Wales and for Wales Lesley’s involvement with the CIPD spans over 30 years, having joined the South East Wales branch as a student member, holding a number of branch roles before chairing the branch for three years, and progressing discussions which ultimately led to the creation of CIPD Wales.

Prior to joining the CIPD Lesley spent 25 years working in HR. The first decade of her career was spent in professional services working in-house for several well-known accountancy and legal practices before she set up her own consultancy business. She then returned “in house” and spent eight years as Group Executive HR Director for one of Wales’ leading marketing and communication consultancies advising on all aspects of HR and people management as the company made a series of mergers and acquisitions, floated on AIM and delisted.

Lesley also continues to run her own HR consultancy (www.lesleyrichards.com) with a client base which has spanned the private, public and not for profit sectors including local government, manufacturing, hospitality, higher education, scientific consultancy, professional services, transport & logistics, telecoms, retail, charity and childcare.