Hi, I'm Mandy

VIRTUAL HR DIRECTOR | LEADERSHIP MENTOR


I’m an Award-Winning Leadership Coach and Freelance HR Director for UK Small & Medium businesses. 


I help UK CEOs build high-performing leadership teams and create workplaces people love. 




PROBLEMS I SOLVE

These are the kinds of problems I can help CEOs to solve:

A weak leadership team or mediocre managers 

You’ve got good people, but they’re not stepping up. There’s a lack of direction, drive or ownership at the leadership level. And it’s costing you growth, time and peace of mind. My signature Accelerator Programme is designed to address this.

Lack of accountability within your team
You’re constantly chasing, reminding, or stepping in to do things your team should be owning. It’s draining, and it’s not sustainable. I can help you embed more accountability into your team.

Outgrown or ineffective team structure

Maybe your org structure no longer fits the size or complexity of your business. Maybe the wrong people are in the wrong roles. I'm certified in organisational design, by the CIPD so I can help you design the optimal team structure. 
Inconsistent or poor performance 


Some team members are on it. Others? Not so much. And you’re left wondering whether it’s a capability issue, a motivation issue, or something deeper. The lack of consistency is frustrating and holding the whole team back. I can help with performance management frameworks that work.

Low motivation or employee engagement
You’re noticing a dip in energy. People seem reactive, not proactive. They’re doing the bare minimum and you’re starting to feel it in the culture. I can run employee engagement surveys or help you create a team strategy for success.

Blurred roles & messy responsibilities
No one seems entirely clear on who’s doing what. Deadlines are missed. Things fall through the cracks. And there’s a general sense of confusion or finger-pointing. I can find out why and how to fix this. 

Everything is ending up on your plate
 



You’re not leading at the right level, because you're wearing all the hats. You're the unofficial problem-solver, back-up planner and final checker. You feel like the bottleneck, even though you’re the one trying to lead. I can help you find more freedom by building a strong leadership team. 

With a proven track record of success, my clients have:

✅ Won Best Company Awards
✅ Scaled fast with strong leadership
✅ Boosted sales revenue per employee 
✅ Experienced more freedom
✅ Felt less stressed and slept better


HOW I CAN HELP YOU


Modern HR exists to help UK CEOs build strong leadership teams, because they are the foundation of every high-performing business.


VIEW MY SERVICES HERE


MY CREDENTIALS & QUALIFICATIONS 


My formal qualifications include:

✔️ Certified Gallup Strengths Coach

✔️ Fellows Certified (Level 7) by the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development)


✔️ CIPD accredited in Organisational Design (the art of designing the optimal team structure).

✔️ MSc in HR Management from London Southbank University

✔️ BA Hons Degree in Business Studies from Nottingham Trent University  

MY RECENT AWARDS

I’m also proud to be:

🏆 NatWest Business Woman of the Year (2025) – MK & Buckinghamshire

🏆 Best Leadership Coach 2025 (SME News)

🏆 Finalist – Service Excellence Award (2025) NWBA Awards  


LEARN HOW I CAN HELP YOU

With 20 years experience in HR, 
I can help you with:

Business Growth

I've helped leaders to grow their business in the right way at the right time, with my organisational design skills and modern HR strategies

Culture Change

Working with business owners to articulate their vision, goals and values to then build the team and culture they need to succeed

Team Performance

I've supported business owners to improve team performance, employee engagement and skills in a variety of ways

Employer Branding

I can create strategies and campaigns to enhance your brand as a great place to work, and enter you into employer award schemes

Recruitment

I've revamped recruitment for companies, and also hired for them, including data scientists, marketing, digital, tech, finance, HR and more

HR Transformation

If your HR department isn't as good as it needs to be, I can help. Let me assess your HR's performance and help you make the changes needed

Employee Issues

I can support you with tricky employee issues such as AWOL, theft, complaints, absence, poor performance and much more!

Legal Compliance

I can assist with all types of legal elements including creating staff contracts, HR Policies, legal documents and HR or risk audits

Redundancy

If you need to reduce the cost of your workforce , I can help you run a redundancy programme and support your staff.

Mandy's Full Story

VIRTUAL HR DIRECTOR | LEADERSHIP MENTOR


I grew up with an entrepreneurial father who ran multiple start-ups. It was incredibly inspiring to watch him build businesses out of nothing, but I also witnessed first-hand the challenges that come with running a business and managing people.


It was this, along with a steer from my Business Studies teacher Mrs Rhodes, which first sparked my interest in HR. I was about 15 when I asked her ‘why do some people work harder than others’. And so she explained the role of HR. I don’t think I even knew such a job existed until that point.


My Degree & first Job in HR 


From there, I studied Business Studies as a Degree at Nottingham Trent University, and specialised in HR Management. After some travelling, I got offered my first HR job at Sodexo and began my mission of helping people reach their potential. However, the reality of working in HR wasn’t quite as I’d imagined it. My days were spent handling employee complaints, disciplinary cases and redundancies. I was probably dealing with around 8 employee issues at any one time.  


After nearly quitting HR, the HR Director at the time helped me to understand how important HR is in these critical moments and reignited my passion for HR. She said that how we act and support people in the moment is a huge part of why we exist. We set the standards and tone of the organisational culture and ethical excellence. That really stuck with me throughout my career. 

My progression up the corporate ladder


Over the years, I continued to progress up the HR Ladder, and after joining Pearson, I achieved my goals of becoming HR Manager by the time I was 25 and Global HR Director by the time I was 30.


I also completed my Masters Degree in HR from London Southbank University, whilst working full-time. 

As Global HR Director, for the Technology division at Pearson I partnered with an inspirational CIO & Technology leader, Genevieve Shore, who had a big, bold vision. I was tasked with helping her to create a high-performing leadership team and building a high performance culture. 


In this role, myself and my global HR team of 15 people were able to add a tremendous amount of value – I helped her build a high performing leadership team, restructured the ensure function to help provide clarity and purpose to each team, we revamped our recruitment process to hire 200 digital roles and piloted the first ever virtual induction programme, which turned out to be a huge success. 


Then I started a family


 After being in that role for a few years, I went on to have my first baby boy. After he was born, I realised the commute, global travel and long hours were no longer feasible so I found a job closer to home, working as Head of HR at Argos Head Office. This was a great role, where I led a range of strategic HR initiatives. 


During my time at Argos, we sold Homebase and we were acquired by Sainsbury's, so there was a high expectation for the HR teams to support the leaders and employees navigating a huge amount of change.


After this was complete, I started to reflect on what my next personal goal would be. What would I want to do, that would give me more freedom and flexibility, whilst still being able to work at a strategic level and deliver high-quality HR Services. 


The beginnings of Modern HR


After supporting a friend with some HR issues (as a favour) who ran her own successful small business, she suggested that I set up my own HR Consultancy. 


As I began to research the idea, I realised that people, like my dad and my friends who run small businesses, don’t always know how to build a high-performing team, what policies you need to have, how to have a difficult conversation, or how to attract the best and brightest people. 


But these were exactly the kind of things I could help with. 


I passionately believe with the right advice and guidance, not only can a lot of the pain and hassle associated with people in the workplace be prevented but also small businesses can achieve a competitive advantage through their culture, performance, leadership and talent – And if you don’t believe me - just google Netflix or Zappos!


So, in 2017 I created Modern HR, and now, I work as a Virtual HR Director & Leadership Mentor for ambitious, yet kind small businesses in a freelance capacity. I also became a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, to add an extra dimension to my offerings. 


Over time, I've helped my clients win business company awards, grow and scale, hire game-changing roles and solve tricky people issues. I absolutely love what I do. But this is a lifestyle business. I have no desire to build an HR Agency. 


I’ve also held a number of Board & volunteer roles, including Safeguarding Trustee for a Multi-Academy Trust and HR Lead for UN Women UK. I'm currently a Trustee for COSMIC, London.  



LEARN HOW I CAN HELP YOU