Ceri Forward

Background

About Ceri Forward

I am a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a senior People leader with responsibility across People, Transformation, and Health & Safety with the trust of bringing together culture, capability, and operational excellence to deliver meaningful business change.At my core, I’m passionate about putting the human back into HR. I believe high performance comes from environments where people feel safe, supported, and challenged and I have built my career creating exactly that.I have led large, dispersed teams through complex transformation programmes across retail, manufacturing, and healthcare environments. Whether reshaping structures, embedding new ways of working, or elevating leadership capability, I focus on making change land not just designing it.My approach is practical, values-led, and commercially grounded. I partner closely with senior leaders to balance people outcomes with business performance, ensuring that strategy translates into action on the ground.Key areas of impact include:Leading end-to-end organisational transformation and cultural changeBuilding leadership capability and coaching senior teams to perform at their bestCreating scalable, consistent people frameworks across complex operationsDriving engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion in fast-paced environmentsStrengthening employee relations approaches with a fair, pragmatic mindsetEmbedding health, safety, and wellbeing as core to organisational successI am also an experienced coach and mentor, known for being a trusted sounding board to leadership teams bringing honesty, challenge, and support in equal measure.Above all, I care about doing the right thing for people and for the business and creating workplaces where both can thrive.