
Derek O’Donnell
Senior Vice-President
Business Optimisation, Brambles
Don’t hide. We need our HR professionals out front and holding our leaders accountable!
About his talk
Derek has noticed a pattern emerge as his career has brought him through many industries, many organisations and many countries. He consistently sees HR leaders and their teams hide behind the ‘support function’ badge, rather than realising that they are the spine of the business.
In his talk, Derek will challenge HR leaders and professionals to stop focusing on the newest acronym, the latest craze or some cutting edge software, which can often be a distraction from what’s really important when it comes to leading people.
He’ll ask HR to stop allowing people leaders within organisations to abdicate their responsibilities. Instead, Derek will tell us why HR need to hold leaders accountable to deliver the people leadership that’s fundamental for your organisation’s growth and success.
About Derek
Derek is a senior leader who has built a 25 year career in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and currently in the UK. He has worked in a diverse range of multi-national organisations and industries including microprocessors, dairy, domestic appliance manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, beverages, brewing, food and most recently Global Logistics.
He’s currently Vice-President of Business Optimisation for Brambles, an Australian headquartered international supply chain and logistics company with operations in over 60 countries.
He has built his career on a relentless drive to empower and release the potential of his teams, develop bottom-up cultures of innovation and make leadership behaviours core to sustainable results delivery.