Gillian McAuley, Group HR Director at Devenish won the Excellence in HR Leadership Award at the 2021 CIPD NI Awards.
The CIPD Awards, which took place on 7th October at the Crown Plaza in Belfast, seek to celebrate the best in HR and people management by honouring individuals and organisations that are championing better work, and better working lives for their people.
The HR Leadership Award recognises individuals that have demonstrated excellence and impact across their organisation to achieve business success, applying innovative and unique approaches to addressing business issues, improving culture and providing a sustainable solution that contributes to the success of the organisation.
Gillian joined Devenish in 2015 and has built an HR and Learning and Development team that has been instrumental in supporting the business through a key growth period. Congratulating Gillian on the accolade, Chief Executive of Devenish Richard Kennedy said: “Gillian has been the driving force behind our people strategy at Devenish and I’m delighted to see her being recognised in this way. Her strategic approach to HR and learning and development has been key to our growth, and we’re all very proud to see her receive this award.”
Gillian, who was recently appointed Vice-President of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, commented: “It’s a real honour to be acknowledged in this way. Over the last few years, we have focused on building an exceptional HR team to support the delivery of our strategic aim of being a Great Place to Work and it is great to see this being recognised. I’d like to thank my team for all of their hard work and support to the business”.
Gillian is Chartered Director and Fellow of the CIPD and a Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors. She sits on the Board of the Now Group and is on the GNRC Committee of Ulster University. Gillian also recently sat on the Skills Strategy Advisory Group to support the development of the new Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland.