This year’s roundup of CHRO of the Year Award finalists are driving innovation and transformation across the EMEA region.
Tuğba Akyel
Chief Human Resources Officer
T.O.M. Digital Banking Group
Tuğba Akyel has more than 15 years of experience and leads the people and culture strategy at one of Turkey’s fastest-growing digital banks, after holding HR leadership roles at Türk Telekom, HSBC, Çalık Enerji, and Turkcell, and advising on large-scale transformation as a principal at Korn Ferry.
Fahad Al Shehri
HR and GRO Advisor
Ornua Saudi Arabia
Fahad Al Shehri has more than 20 years of experience in hospitality, healthcare, aviation, construction, and manufacturing and has managed workforces of up to 3,000 employees and led HR teams of up to 19, implemented HRIS solutions that improved HR data accuracy, and cut recruitment cycle times.
Sarah Buyaki Allen
Group Chief People Officer
Mawingu Networks
Sarah Buyaki Allen has more than 17 years of experience, and in that time has led large-scale HR transformations, organisational restructurings, talent strategies, M&A due diligence, and HR digitalisation initiatives across high-growth companies in East Africa, building and transforming people functions in sectors from technology to hospitality.
Karen Dennehy
Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Head of Human Resources, EMEA
PIMCO
Karen Dennehy has 30 years of HR experience at firms including CQS, BlackRock, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley, and she also serves as a trustee of the homelessness charity The Passage, where she chairs several committees, and sits on the HR committee for Room to Read.
Başak Erzi
Regional HR VP
Unilever, The Magnum Ice Cream Company
Başak Erzi has more than two decades of experience, including building the HR function at Red Bull from the ground up, leading Marks & Spencer’s expansion across MENA and Asia from seven to 11 countries, and guiding one of consumer goods’ most complex corporate separations.
Susan Imisa Kakai
Head of Human Capital
Sanlam Allianz Life Insurance (Kenya) Ltd
Susan Imisa Kakai has more than 15 years of experience and leads human capital transformation at Sanlam Life Insurance, where she championed initiatives such as Sanlam Woman and Sanlam Man and drove a major increase in engagement scores.
Gerishen Katieno
Chief Human Resources Officer
Saruni Basecamp
Gerishen Katieno has more than 15 years of experience across more than seven African countries and has advised over 30 organisations on building their human capital functions, unified the cultures of two companies through a merger, grew female representation, moved 100% of eligible staff into a formal pension scheme, and mentored more than 5,000 young adults into the workforce.
Judy Macharia
Head of People & Culture
Mogo Kenya, Part of Eleving Group
Judy Macharia established standard operating procedures across Ezra Group’s nine subsidiaries, standardised pay processes across EMEA and APAC, supported a headcount increase as HR lead for Sama’s Meta account, and sat on the steering committee for the Quickmart and Tumaini Supermarkets merger after setting up an HR department from scratch at Hygrotech East Africa.
Evelyne Munyoki
Director of Human Resources
Britam Holdings PLC
Evelyne Munyoki has more than 25 years of experience and has led the people agenda for the Co-operative Bank of Kenya and its group subsidiaries as part of the executive team, has directed IBM’s HR across three regional hubs covering over 11 countries in central, east, and west Africa with a team of at least 20, and has also previously headed human capital at PwC Kenya.
Raymond Muthama
Chief People and Culture Officer
Zamara Group
Raymond Muthama has more than 20 years of experience and oversees the people agenda across Zamara Group, advising its leadership on people matters after leading people and culture functions at KPMG East Africa, Africa Legal Network, and Gatsby Africa, and earning a place among Africa’s top HR leaders on lists from People Hum, Workforce Africa, and Seamless HR.
Srijith Nair
Director of Human Capital
SAL Saudi Logistics
Srijith Nair has more than 25 years of experience and leads human capital for the Middle East at SAL Saudi Logistics Services, after directing group talent management and executive leadership development at Dubai Islamic Bank, where he achieved 100% compliance with the CBUAE board succession mandate, overseeing talent and leadership development for more than 25,000 employees across 13 lines of business at Landmark Group.
Lillian Ngala
HR Director
Diamond Trust Bank
Lillian Ngala founded the Lillian Ngala Network and the Lillian Ngala Foundation—which builds houses for widows—after serving on the boards of the Kenya Bankers Association, the National Industrial Training Authority, and the Aga Khan Development Network, and she has been recognised as a National Hero by the Government of Kenya and named among the 50 Most Influential Women in Kenya by Africapitol Ventures.
Andre Claude LaPack Nyaleve
Administration and HR Director
CAMTRACK SAS
André Claude Lapack Nyaleve has eight years of experience in multi-site HR management across the hotel, technology, and services sectors, and currently directs HR and administration across CAMTRACK’s operations in Cameroon, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Chad, where he implemented the group’s HR ERP, oversees recruitment, payroll, and social dialogue, and previously led HR at Fini Hotel Limbe and Hôtel La Falaise Bonapriso, including the HR processes for the hotel’s ISO certification.
Joy Oginni
Director People and Culture
Moo Hub Technologies
Joy Oginni is a CIPD Level 7-qualified HR leader with more than 10 years of experience who has strengthened leadership capability, improved internal mobility, advanced engagement, and performance frameworks, and embedded inclusive people practices across the employee lifecycle, while challenging senior leaders to adopt flexible working, well-being and employee voice initiatives.
Kemi Onadiran
Head of Human Resources
Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie
Kemi Onadiran has more than 17 years of experience driving people strategy and organisational transformation across professional services, consulting, financial services, technology, FMCG, and legal sectors. She leads HR at one of Nigeria’s leading commercial law firms, and founded the “Agile HR Mentorship Programme,” through which she has mentored and trained more than 700 HR practitioners.
Eranga Pathirage
Chief People Officer
KAYA Global Inc
Eranga Pathirage has 20 years of experience and has architected an AI-powered employee experience platform that achieved 90th percentile satisfaction and retention at scale, built specialist engineering talent acquisition across 10 new international markets, led the people integration of multiple cross-border M&A transactions, and is now building a global people function from first principles across the UK, US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.
Emma Redfern
Group Chief Human Resources Officer
Creditinfo Group
Emma Redfern has more than 15 years of experience spanning across Australia, the UK and international markets and has transformed Creditinfo’s people function since 2024, introducing its first group-wide performance and development framework, launching a global learning platform, expanding employee engagement and recognition programmes, and laying the foundations for strategic workforce planning.
Mai Refaey
Chief People and Transformation Officer
CIT Global
Mai Refaey has nearly 20 years of experience and has led long-range people strategy and change initiatives, managed the marketing department, built a professional pool of internal trainers, and standardised interviewing at Alkan CIT, in addition to teaching HR management for the University of Toledo MBA programme since 2017.
Clotilde Teson Ruiz
Europe & Asia Talent & Culture, CSR and Environment Director
Draxton
Clotilde Tesón Ruiz has more than 25 years of experience and has led large-scale transformation and global talent strategies at SEAT, Volkswagen, Zurich, Pharmacia, and Grupo Codorníu, architected Draxton’s decarbonisation and sustainability road map, raised internal promotions, and increased workforce retention in high-turnover regions.
Aly Sparks
Global CHRO
LHH
Aly Sparks brings more than 25 years of experience to LHH, where she redesigned LHH’s operating model, launched its unified “Culture Commitments,” built the global talent function that increased both succession coverage and female representation at a global leadership level, and previously lifted Zurich’s job applications through a new talent brand while rolling out an applicant tracking system across 46 countries.
