LizPhillips

People Director UK & Ireland

Liz is an experienced People Director who started her career as a Catering Manager in the NHS having studied Hotel and Catering Management and working in hotels and restaurants.

She has a 27 year career with Bass (subsequently Six Continents and Mitchells & Butlers) during the years of moving from a pub business into a food led pub and restaurant business with some hotels.

It was during this time Liz studied for her CIPD and Post Graduate Diploma in Management as an ambitious female in a largely male dominated sector.

She transferred into the Leisure Division and was soon promoted to HR Director leading significant projects, business acquisitions, mergers and transfers, the most notable being the formation of Stonegate Pub Company, acquisition of Orchid Pub Company and HR systems changes creating a shared services team.

A long term goal was to work for herself, she spent 5 years running a successful HR consultancy business, clients included; Krispy Kreme, Whittan, Deloitte, Swissport and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Missing the Corporate life and the lure of returning to hospitality & travel for a Global business, Liz spent a year with Compass Group and now almost a year with SSP.

She is married with two daughters, two stepsons and three grandchildren. With a passion for tourism, she and her husband have two successful holiday rental properties. She loves to travel and keep fit.

People Director UK & Ireland

What does International Women's Day mean to me:

It makes me think about the role of women over the years, the land army during the war, Emily Pankhurst getting women the vote, the changes I have seen during my life and the hopes I have for my children and grandchildren not to have to prove themselves more than others.

To be treated fairly, equally and with respect.

I think about the awful events still happening, my heart goes out to the family of Sarah Everard and others, we all need to report anything we see which does not feel right to protect women and also support them.

8 March 2023