Our senior leadership team supports our board in shaping the CIPD’s strategy. And it’s responsible for our culture, performance and processes. The CIPD is growing, and our day-to-day operations need to remain future-fit.

Our team endeavours to lead by our purpose – championing better work and working lives. This means investing in the changes we advocate, so we can demonstrate good practice and generate the right results for our members, our wider community and our people.

As well as the leaders listed here, several key roles report directly into our Chief Executive and regularly attend leadership meetings: Head of Finance, Head of Strategy Development, Head of Programme Management Office, and Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Peter Cheese, Chartered FCIPD

Alongside his role as CIPD Chief Executive, Peter sits on many forums linked to wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, routes in to work and skills, flexible working, and corporate governance. He is Chair of Engage for Success and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, and sits on the Board of the College of Policing.

Peter writes and speaks widely on the development of HR, the future of work, and the key issues of leadership, culture and organisation, people and skills.

Before joining the CIPD in 2012, Peter was Chair of the Institute of Leadership and Management, an Executive Fellow at London Business School, and held a number of board-level roles. He had a long career in consulting at Accenture working with organisations around the world and, in his last seven years there, was Global Managing Director for the firm’s human capital and organisation consulting practice.

He is a Fellow of the CIPD, AHRI (the Australian HR Institute), the Royal Society of Arts, and the Academy of Social Sciences. He’s also a Companion of the Institute of Leadership and Management, the Chartered Management Institute and the British Academy of Management. He holds honorary doctorates from Bath University, Kingston University and Birmingham City University, and is a Visiting Professor at Aston University and Unitar University, Malaysia.

People and Transformation Director

Amanda Arrowsmith

Amanda is responsible for organisational development and transformation, as well as leading our people function. She is also currently providing interim leadership for our Customer Experience and Marcomms division. She joined the CIPD in October 2022 having been a member for many years and working in HR for over 25 years.

Amanda has been a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD since 2012 and has previously volunteered with us as a Branch Committee Member and supported our events as a blogger, speaker and panel member. Before joining us, Amanda had a long career as an HR professional, working in the public, private and third sectors. Amanda also holds a number of volunteer roles, including being an independent committee member on the People, Culture and Inclusion panel at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

DIRECTOR OF LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE, AND INSTITUTE SECRETARY

Angela Attah

Angela joined the CIPD in September 2019.  As part of her role, she is also Company Secretary for the CIPD and our subsidiaries. This includes supporting our Board to ensure proper oversight of the organisation’s activities and compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations. In addition to corporate governance, her teams are responsible for legal and contracting, risk management, procurement and the Code of Professional Conduct and work in support of ethics for our members.

Angela is legally qualified and a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. She has over 25 years’ company secretarial/senior governance experience across several sectors and organisations, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Financial Conduct Authority. Angela also holds several voluntary governance roles.

DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR

David Cox

David is responsible for developing and executing our digital strategy and supporting technology, as well as ensuring we deliver truly customer and learner-centric learning, qualifications and content with a first-class digital experience.

Before joining the CIPD in 2020, David held a number of roles in global education and publishing organisations, with a focus on large-scale digital transformation and business change programmes.

Director of Membership

David D'Souza

David is responsible for growing our membership and ensuring a strong connection with the profession, enabling us to understand how to continually improve our support for our members. Before joining the CIPD, David worked as an independent consultant, having held previous roles across a range of financial services and retail organisations.

Described as one of the UK’s most influential HR and workplace commentators, David is a respected and in-demand speaker and writer on progressive HR and business practice. He has expertise in a wide range of areas, including organisational development and culture, learning and development, corporate ethics, employee engagement and the future of work. 

David is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, the Australian HR Institute, the Centre for Evidence-Based Management and a Fellow and Trustee Board Member of the Royal Society of Arts.

Finance Director

Helen Osagie

Helen joined the CIPD in October 2023 and leads our Finance division. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales. 

With a career spanning more than 20 years in Finance, Helen’s experience covers a broad range of industries including the National Audit Office and PKF where she worked on financial controls and reporting for government bodies, charities, and private companies.  

For the last 10 years Helen has led finance teams and strategy for global tech companies, media agencies and private equity-backed scale-ups, successfully growing businesses in the UK, Europe, US and Africa. Helen’s approach to financial growth has always been people-centred and she is passionate about using business growth and profitability as an active and sustainable force for good in society.   

Helen is an active supporter of the UK startup and scale-up communities, running financial growth workshops for the British Library, a national bank, and female entrepreneurs’ programs.

Commercial and Marketing Director

Tony Osude

Tony joined the CIPD in 2020. He is responsible for driving crucial parts of our strategy and growth ambitions in key areas, including our international operations, sales and marketing functions and extending our trusted brand internationally.

Tony brings 20 years’ experience of working with businesses in the UK and internationally to develop talent and capability through research, consulting, learning and development, qualifications, membership and employer accreditation programmes. His previous role was with University College London’s consultancy division, where he led business development, marketing and programme delivery. Before this Tony’s career spanned BPP (one of the UKs largest providers of professional education), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, where he successfully developed markets internationally and built global partnerships with employers, learning providers and regulators.

Director of Professional Development

Victoria Winkler

Victoria has overall responsibility for our professional standards and membership framework. She leads both the design and development of our professional standards and CPD, assessment and qualifications strategy. She’s responsible for ensuring that our professional designations and qualifications are of the highest standard and quality.

Victoria joined the CIPD in 2003, initially leading research in the field of learning, development and talent management. Before this she held a number of roles across the charity and publishing sectors, with a focus on learning and professional skills development. Victoria is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

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