James Mitton
James is Director General for the Enterprise Transformation Group at HMRC
Building service skills for the future
There has been a lot of news recently about the growing number of young people not in employment, education or training, or ‘NEETs’. Recent figures suggest that there are almost…
Annual General Meeting and Members’ Meeting 2026 (8 Jul 2026)
Our Annual General Meeting and Members' Meeting is an exclusive member-only event, providing a unique opportunity to network with top UK organisations and gain insights from best practices. It will…
Leading through economic uncertainty: agile service leadership fosters enduring customer loyalty
Despite an optimistic start to the year, the UK now faces yet more economic headwinds as global uncertainty continues. Whether it’s the conflict in Iran, rising protectionism or supply chain…
A challenging and rapidly changing landscape
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of addressing 400 business leaders at our Annual Conference. As I noted during my keynote, we are operating in a period of intense…
A transformation in shopping is underway – the customer must remain the priority
UK retail was in the spotlight this week as new data revealed retail spending growth more than doubled last month. This will be welcome news to retailers after a damp December, as…
Sonia Astill
Sonia Astill is the Chief People Officer at Wickes Group, a role she's held since 2019. She brings a diverse background in HR and organisational development, having worked across retail,…
Jayne Wall
Jayne is Director of Central Operations at Marks & Spencer, with accountability for national retail operations and transformation, customer operations, operating models, productivity, and retail safety and security. She leads…
Another rise in customer satisfaction brings encouragement and opportunity
After what has been a whirlwind week for global dialogue and economic data at Davos, it is encouraging to be able to reflect on some positives. Against a backdrop of…
Consumer confidence is the missing piece of the growth puzzle – service can change that
As we step into 2026, many organisations will be eager to put a year of economic uncertainty behind them and seize the opportunities ahead. And despite pessimism in some quarters,…