Strategic Workforce Planning in the Age of AI Conference

After many years in the ‘corporate world’ in Retail HR, Jo Dodds started her own home based business in August 2005 publishing a local community magazine in her town. She expanded the business over the following three years to include, at one stage, eight local magazines. She did this mainly through business networking: connecting with local business people, getting to know them and helping them to achieve their business goals (and not necessarily through advertising in her magazines!). After a stint supporting SMEs to improve their online marketing, including focusing on social media in its early days, Jo returned to her HR roots in 2012 working with organisations to maximise their employee engagement with a specialism in using social and digital tools to enable communication and collaboration. She now works with home based coaches and consultants within her online membership programme helping to improve their marketing, productivity and wellbeing, in these days of overwhelm, whether that be physical, mental or digital, using her POWER to Live More 5 Fundamentals of Simplify, Systemise, Share, Self Care and Sustain.

David’s earlier career spans leadership roles across technology, banking and consulting. At NatWest Group, he led a strategic workforce management programme – one of the earliest of its kind – that has since reduced costs by hundreds of millions through smarter fulfilment, workforce mobility, and planning innovation. His is an eclectic background, having also worked in finance, consulting and operations in organisations ranging from the UK National Health Service to startup software ventures. He has experienced triumphs and disasters, and treasures both for what they’ve taught him. 

A passionate advocate for making workforce planning practical, human, and actually useful, David has spent much of his career helping businesses bridge the gap between ambition and execution. His work focuses on helping leaders make better long-term decisions about people, skills, cost and capability – without drowning in process or jargon. 

He is a member of the Workforce Planning Institute’s Global Standards Committee and a regular co-chair of its London conference. A sought-after speaker and writer on workforce strategy, David’s writing is known for its clarity, wit and refusal to accept lazy orthodoxy, with a distinctive voice that is part strategist, part storyteller, and part disbelieving onlooker. His first book, The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, is released in January 2026. 

Originally from Suffolk, David is a lifelong supporter of Ipswich Town FC and claims (with some justification) that the club’s fluctuating fortunes have given him a grounding in hope, realism and improbability – surprisingly useful qualities for a workforce planner. 

He has long since retired from golf, sings soul and blues when anywhere near a microphone and remains unsure how his professional life ended up involving discussions about fish cakes. 

David lives in Hampshire UK with his wife of forty years, Fiona, and his yappy dog Dylan. 

Dr Tracey Leghorn is the Chief Business Services Officer at SUEZ recycling and recovery UK. As a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Tracey’s HR career has spanned both the public and private sectors in industries such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, foodservices, banking services and environmental services as well as several years in business consultancy with PwC.

Tracey’s commitment to improve the lives, position and opportunities of women, in and outside of the workplace, is informed by research into ‘women and work’ which has earned her a doctorate from the University of Leicester to add to her extensive academic credentials.

Leading award-winning world-class business service functions, Tracey has been recognised on the Waste and Resources Sector’s Hot 100 Key Influencers list for three years running as well as being highly placed on the HR Magazine’s Most Influential HR Practitioners list in 2022 and 2023.

Peter Parfitt is Assistant Director for Digital and ICT at Ealing Council, where he leads the council’s approach to digital, data and AI-enabled service improvement. Previously Head of Digital at Buckinghamshire Council, he helped deliver one of local government’s earliest deployments of Microsoft 365 Copilot, distributing 300 licences through a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style use‑case pitching process and pairing adoption with clear governance and human oversight.

At Ealing, Peter is focusing AI where it can release capacity and support staff wellbeing. He is particularly interested in the practicalities of workforce planning in the age of AI: building skills and confidence, creating psychological safety to experiment, and ensuring data and information governance are sound. Peter will share what has worked, what hasn’t, and what he would do differently next time in practice.

Neil is the Director of HR and Communications for FTSE100 water company, Severn Trent with responsibility for the HR, communications, press and marketing teams.  Prior to joining Severn Trent his career has taken him across multiple industries and sectors, including media, retail, B2B and the public sector.

From his early career supporting the delivery of one of the first private finance partnerships in the NHS, through the introduction of pioneering ecommerce in retail, he has led organisation through significant change and was one of the leads in the global merger between Penguin and Random House, the largest merger in publishing history.

Neil sits on the Youth Futures Foundation Board and has previously served on the board of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development and the Board of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. He was one of the inaugural members of the REC’s Good Recruitment Campaign and sits on the Social Mobility Commission’s Employer Panel.

Dee Roberts-Molloy is a strategic people and organisational development leader with deep expertise in talent strategy, inclusion, learning and culture transformation. She currently serves as Head of HR at Birmingham City Council, where she leads initiatives that align workforce capability with organisational purpose and long-term strategic goals. Dee’s role encompasses strategic talent development, performance optimisation, inclusive culture building, and workforce engagement across complex public sector environments.

Dee brings both academic rigour and practical experience to workforce planning and development. She has a track record of embedding inclusive practices into core talent processes, championing psychological safety, and reframing diversity discussions to highlight lived experience and human-centred organisational design. Her leadership reflects a belief in authentic storytelling and human-centric engagement to drive both individual and organisational growth.

Dee’s professional journey is shaped by her commitment to creating environments where people feel valued, heard and empowered to contribute fully. She is known for her practical approach to organisational change—grounded in direct engagement rather than top-down prescription—and for redefining traditional HR and OD practices to better address the needs of today’s evolving workforce. Across her career she has worked to ensure that talent strategy and workforce planning are aligned with organisational purpose and that inclusion isn’t an add-on but a lived reality.

Jon has spent nearly 20 years helping companies achieve more by uniting culture, brand and story; unlocking meaningful experiences for colleagues and customers alike. A Cambridge graduate, exec coach, and therapist, his multi-award-winning approach is practical and emotionally connected. After helping to build Swissport’s culture for its 65,000 people around the world, he is now back agency side, setting up a culture and engagement practice in London.

I am a Partner in the Employment team at Lewis Silkin, which is ranked Band 1 by all of the major legal directories.  I provide practical and strategic advice to employers on UK and global employment law issues, with particular expertise in managing multi-jurisdictional transformation and restructuring projects and complex litigation.  My clients range from start-ups to global fintechs, advertising and marketing businesses to global manufacturers.  As a result, my ‘day to day’ is incredibly varied and no two days are the same!

Jo has been a volunteer with the Engage for Success movement since its launch.  As Partnerships & Strategy Director she sits on the Advisory Board and co-hosts the weekly Engage for Success radio show, interviewing guests from across the engagement world. The EFS agenda is absolutely aligned with Jo’s vision ‘to make workplaces better places to be’.

Jo was the founder of Woodreed, a consultancy leveraging the creative and insight led approach of the advertising world to engage employees inside organisations. She built and sold Woodreed to 7 Seas, The Culture Consultancy where she now works as a senior consultant, supporting clients to create workplace cultures that make workplaces work, for employees as well as shareholders and stakeholders.

Hi, I’m Donna Marshall, Chief People Officer at Age UK.

I’m driven by a simple idea: when people feel seen, safe and valued, they do their best work. I champion DEI as a business imperative—shaping inclusive hiring, leadership capability and everyday practices that build belonging.

I partner with colleagues across our charity and network to grow psychological safety, improve engagement and strengthen our volunteer and colleague experience.

I’ve led culture change through times of transformation, always balancing compassion with clarity and evidence. I’m curious by nature, data‑informed, and happiest when listening to our people and turning insight into action.

Above all, I’m proud to help Age UK be a place where diverse voices thrive and our work for older people has the biggest impact.

James is an People and Culture leader and recognised Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing professional with over 18 years’ experience creating inclusive cultures across public, health and community sectors. He is currently Head of Employee Engagement, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Sheffield City Council.

A two-time National Diversity Awards Positive Role Model nominee (2019 & 2021), James also won the Watercooler Wellbeing Inspirational Leadership ‘People’s Vote’ Award in 2023 for his work on belonging and wellbeing within the NHS.

James is Co-founder of NXTGEN Learning Ltd and #SpaceToTalk, an EDI Committee Member at Nottingham Forest Community Trust, and a sought-after keynote speaker on EDI, Black inclusion, wellbeing and belonging. His work is rooted in lived experience and a passion for inspiring inclusive, people-centred leadership.

After many years in the ‘corporate world’ in Retail HR, Jo Dodds started her own home based business in August 2005 publishing a local community magazine in her town. She expanded the business over the following three years to include, at one stage, eight local magazines. She did this mainly through business networking: connecting with local business people, getting to know them and helping them to achieve their business goals (and not necessarily through advertising in her magazines!). After a stint supporting SMEs to improve their online marketing, including focusing on social media in its early days, Jo returned to her HR roots in 2012 working with organisations to maximise their employee engagement with a specialism in using social and digital tools to enable communication and collaboration. She now works with home based coaches and consultants within her online membership programme helping to improve their marketing, productivity and wellbeing, in these days of overwhelm, whether that be physical, mental or digital, using her POWER to Live More 5 Fundamentals of Simplify, Systemise, Share, Self Care and Sustain.

Dee Roberts-Molloy is a strategic people and organisational development leader with deep expertise in talent strategy, inclusion, learning and culture transformation. She currently serves as Head of HR at Birmingham City Council, where she leads initiatives that align workforce capability with organisational purpose and long-term strategic goals. Dee’s role encompasses strategic talent development, performance optimisation, inclusive culture building, and workforce engagement across complex public sector environments.

Dee brings both academic rigour and practical experience to workforce planning and development. She has a track record of embedding inclusive practices into core talent processes, championing psychological safety, and reframing diversity discussions to highlight lived experience and human-centred organisational design. Her leadership reflects a belief in authentic storytelling and human-centric engagement to drive both individual and organisational growth.

Dee’s professional journey is shaped by her commitment to creating environments where people feel valued, heard and empowered to contribute fully. She is known for her practical approach to organisational change—grounded in direct engagement rather than top-down prescription—and for redefining traditional HR and OD practices to better address the needs of today’s evolving workforce. Across her career she has worked to ensure that talent strategy and workforce planning are aligned with organisational purpose and that inclusion isn’t an add-on but a lived reality.

After many years in the ‘corporate world’ in Retail HR, Jo Dodds started her own home based business in August 2005 publishing a local community magazine in her town. She expanded the business over the following three years to include, at one stage, eight local magazines. She did this mainly through business networking: connecting with local business people, getting to know them and helping them to achieve their business goals (and not necessarily through advertising in her magazines!). After a stint supporting SMEs to improve their online marketing, including focusing on social media in its early days, Jo returned to her HR roots in 2012 working with organisations to maximise their employee engagement with a specialism in using social and digital tools to enable communication and collaboration. She now works with home based coaches and consultants within her online membership programme helping to improve their marketing, productivity and wellbeing, in these days of overwhelm, whether that be physical, mental or digital, using her POWER to Live More 5 Fundamentals of Simplify, Systemise, Share, Self Care and Sustain.