Member Profile: Jo Martell

Jo Martell is currently General Manager, People and Culture, at Fonterra. In addition, she is a Board member for HRNZ. Human Resources magazine caught up with her to gain an insight into her world.

1. What do you do in your current role to help your organisation be successful?

As a member of the People and Culture Lead team, my role is to ensure that everything we do brings value to Fonterra’s triple bottom line, Healthy People, Healthy Environment and Healthy Business. In these extraordinary times, this can range from helping our business units to respond to the economic, social and workplace implications of COVID-19, to considering how we can learn from this experience to further build an inclusive work environment and flexible ways of working. On an ongoing basis my colleagues and I support the success of the business by strengthening the diversity of our succession and talent pipelines; building leadership capabilities; and partnering with leaders and teams to implement people plans that lift capability, engagement and performance.

2. What attracted you to pursue a career in HR?

My father was an accountant, and I can recall from a young age having conversations with him about business performance improvement. My mother has a huge heart, and I inherited her passion for caring for people. It wasn’t until I reached my late twenties that I found a way to bring these interests and passions together into a Human Resources career.

3. What motivated you to apply for the role of HRNZ Board member?

Two things really. First, the desire to give something back to the profession and the HR people who I believe add significant value to New Zealand businesses and our communities. We can all play a role individually and within our organisations, however, by collaborating across our HR community, we can do great things for New Zealand businesses and New Zealanders as a whole.

Second, I have an interest in governance. After a year as a Board member, I have gained an appreciation for the different roles a Board and leadership team fulfil across an organisation, and how they interact to support each other. I have a huge amount of respect for the role HRNZ plays across New Zealand and, in particular, for Nick McKissack and the fantastic HRNZ team who are doing such a great job on our behalf.

4. What has been a highlight in your career to date?

That’s a hard one because there have been so many. If I had to pick two, the first would be being part of the team that helped to rebuild Air New Zealand in 2001 post-Ansett. At the time, it felt like a Herculean task, and my heart and thoughts go out to all businesses and leaders now facing a similar challenge as a result of COVID-19. A more recent highlight is the role I play as a senior female leader supporting other women working in Fonterra, including through the Women at Work programmes that we’ve been running for several years now.

5. What do you most value about

HRNZ membership? The opportunity to contribute to the HR profession. In the words of my current boss – it is indeed a noble profession. 6.

What’s something that not many people know about you? I explored professions in journalism, banking and IT before finding my forever home in Human Resources!

7. If you could have dinner with three people living or dead, who would they be and why?

First, Morris West, who is one of my favourite authors. I’d love to talk to him about the spiritual journey that his characters undertake. Second, I would choose Margaret Thatcher. She was such a formidable woman who delivered transformational change across the male bastion of UK politics. And finally, my aunt Larraine who passed away two years ago. She was a dairy farmer, rugby enthusiast and avid shoe collector who knew how to live life to the full.

8. What’s your happy place?

Any time I am having a conversation with someone about how we can solve a problem or find ways to make things better for others. The icing on the cake is when this conversation includes my husband, Andy, in the Hawkes Bay, with a glass of rosé in hand!