Manage HR Magazine: Awards Ranking
Manage HR Magazine Europe proudly presents the Top 10 Chief People Officers in Europe 2026, recognizing HR leaders who are redefining workforce strategy across the region’s diverse business landscape. These executives align people initiatives with organizational priorities while supporting cultures that encourage growth and adaptability. Their leadership helps organizations strengthen employee engagement and respond to evolving workforce expectations, enabling businesses across Europe to build high-performing teams while sustaining long-term organizational success.
Top 10 Chief People Officers in Europe - 2026
Wendy Tomlinson
Chief People Officer, Winston Taylor
Wendy Tomlinson has over 25 years of experience in talent, learning and organisational development within the legal sector. Her expertise spans the full employee lifecycle, from talent acquisition and business partnering to cultural integration and sustainability.
Will Serle
Chief People Officer, National Grid
Will Serle serves as Chief People Officer at National Grid and is a member of the company's Group Executive Committee. His role sits at the center of workforce decisions for an organization that operates critical electricity and gas infrastructure across the United Kingdom and the Northeastern United States. His responsibilities place him within discussions that connect business strategy, workforce planning and leadership capability across a large and geographically dispersed employee base.
Maria Kokkinou
Chief People Officer, NatWest Group
Maria Kokkinou serves as Chief People Officer at NatWest Group, where she leads the bank's people strategy and is a member of the Executive Committee. Her career spans more than two decades across human resources leadership roles in financial services and professional services, including senior positions at NatWest, HSBC and Deloitte. Her experience has centered on workforce strategy, organizational effectiveness and leadership development within large, regulated institutions.
Chris Bradford
Chief People Officer, Gamma
Chris Bradford is a people leader focused on employee experience, organizational culture and creating inclusive, purpose-driven workplaces. His work at Gamma centers on supporting employees’ professional and personal development while connecting people strategy with customer experience and the company’s wider community commitments.
Jelle Jacquet
Chief People Officer, Orange
Jelle Jacquet is a human resources executive with more than 20 years of experience in HR, change management and talent development. Her career spans recruitment, learning and development, employee engagement and digital transformation, with a focus on helping people and organizations navigate change.
Luigi Marino
Chief People Officer, Datalogic
Luigi Marino is a human resources executive with an international career spanning headquarters and regional HR roles across multiple countries. His experience covers people strategy, organizational development, leadership coaching, talent management, compensation and benefits, organizational design, process reengineering and industrial relations.
Natalie Bickford
Chief People Officer, Sanofi
Natalie Bickford is a human resources executive with more than 20 years of experience across consumer-facing industries, including hospitality, retail and healthcare. Her career spans senior HR leadership roles at Barclays, Kingfisher, AstraZeneca, Sodexo, Merlin Entertainments and Sanofi, with a focus on organizational transformation, inclusion and diversity, and workplace culture.
Renarta Guy
Chief People Officer, Aviva Investors
Renarta Guy is a human resources leader with 20 years of experience spanning business partnering, people strategy and HR functional leadership across multinational organizations. Her career encompasses financial services, leadership development, recruitment and reward, with experience advising board-level leaders, leading large HR teams and guiding organizational change across diverse business environments.
Sally Austin
Chief People Officer, Barratt Redrow
Sally Austin is a human resources executive with experience across engineering, defence and manufacturing, focusing on organizational capability and business performance. Her career spans change management, mergers and acquisitions, business integration, workforce planning and leadership development, supported by her Chartered Fellow membership of the CIPD.
Sarah Armstrong
Chief People Officer, Rolls-Royce
Sarah Armstrong is a human resources executive with more than 25 years of experience developing commercially focused people strategies across multiple industries. Her career centers on organizational design, leadership and talent development, and strategic change, with an emphasis on aligning workforce capabilities with business priorities and long-term organizational objectives.
