The early part of his career was spent in Banking before becoming involved in CSR after the Inner City riots of the early 1980s. After this involvement he held CSR related positions at HSBC, TSB, British Aerospace and ran his own CSR consultancy for five years.

In 2003 he joined Boots and became responsible for all the Company's CSR activities. Following the merger between Boots and Alliance UniChem he was appointed into his current role.
The workshop will cover:

• Alliance Boots approach to sustainability
• The process used by Alliance Boots for managing its CSR agenda
• How Alliance Boots is reducing its carbon footprint (energy, transport, waste and recycling, supply chain, stores and products)
• Is off-setting an option?

The business case for diversity is no longer a mystery - it's a clear and compelling strategy for competitive organisations. It makes sense to ensure you understand and implement the power of diversity. The Diversity Culture Change Assessment helps senior teams gain awareness of their core attitude towards diversity, and even more critical, the way they deal with members of staff across the board. The Diversity Culture Change Assessment is a transformational tool for organisations wanting to ensure they fit the bill as an employer of choice.

Over the last six years Eve-olution has been influential in shaping Diversity thinking in the UK, Asia and the US and is now working in partnership with Government agencies and Public Bodies on the new Gender Duty and the drive to increase women's economic participation. Tracey Carr, CEO of Eve-olution will cover:

• Background to the development of the Diversity Culture Change Tool
• Diversity Culture Change in action - how awareness makes the difference
• Where next - the Diversity agenda in the UK

In the last two years the concept of employer branding has raced up the HR agenda. But actually what is it and has it produced tangible results for the organisations who have embarked upon it?

Helen Rosethorn will explain what employer branding is and isn't and what it can deliver if understood and approached realistically.

She will draw upon a range of case studies - local and global - offering valuable learning for workshop participants. She will also reference unique research which the Bernard Hodes Group has conducted offering insight into "the employee deal". As part of the session delegates will have the chance to share issues from within their own organisations as groups debate some of the key issues of engagement. All workshop participants are invited to email Helen Rosethorn in advance to indicate what they want to get from the session on hrosethorn@hodes.co.uk

Employment Law - Hiring and firing senior executives

Managing Senior Executives is a critical area for all businesses. Successful management requires careful planning not only at the termination stage but equally importantly on recruitment to ensure the service agreement terms and any executive reward schemes do not become an expensive headache.

This workshop will look not only at the employment law aspects of this area but will also cover the corporate issues associated with it, for example the process of removing a director from his office as well as his employment and what happens where the director is also a shareholder in the business.

Drawing on their considerable experience, Oliver Pryke, head of the Taylor Vinters employment team and James Allen, head of their Corporate Finance team will guide us through the creation of the contractual arrangements between the business and the executive and the pitfalls to avoid. They will then focus on the strategies that should be considered in removing the executive, including how they might impact on post-termination issues such as restrictive covenants.

Oliver is recognised as a leading employment lawyer in the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession, the Legal 500 and the Directory of Legal Experts. He deals with all aspects of employment law and acts for private and public sector organisations and senior employees. He is experienced in dealing with the removal of directors and senior employees and regularly delivers in-house training to clients and HR professionals as well as speaking at external events for organisations including The Law Society, ACAS and the CBI.

James Allen is recognised as a leader in the Corporate Finance arena by both the leading independent UK legal guides, Chambers and the Legal 500: " 'Incredibly sharp' James Allen is renowned for his work in banking and corporate finance. Noted by peers for his 'good client-handling skills', he is recommended for 'thinking outside the box to come up with practical solutions.' "

Operationally, HM Prison Service's customers are the most difficult to deal with that any organisation could imagine. However there is a powerful change agenda in place and the expectations of prison service managers have moved on considerably in recent years. The recent recruitment of organisational development specialists is one of the final links in a chain of development, which has already seen a move to HR shared services and HR business partners.

Steve Boast held a range of retail HR positions before joining the public sector, and before that he was an army officer. He is also chairman of an ethical standards committee in local government.

Steve Boast, OD manager for the prison service HQ, will lead a workshop to explore how OD can be launched, how it can structure itself to maximise added value, assess need, engage with stakeholders and establish itself some quick wins.

Cancer Research UK is building an organisational communications capability amongst audiences as diverse as research scientists and clinicians (both staff and grantees) and fundraisers (both staff and volunteers).

Christine Lloyd's current role is Executive Director, People and Organisation Development, for Cancer Research UK - the world's largest cancer charity.

She has had a wide-ranging career, working in most parts of the world with companies such as Shell, ICI and Nokia.

Christine's focus is on achieving 'whole systems' change, particularly using emergent approaches that challenge the more traditional thinking of change as a predetermined, linear process. The workshop will cover the approach being taken at Cancer Research UK to build a robust internal communications system.

MD of el:consulting Cambridge Ltd and author of 'Leadership Scaffolding', Judith Elliott is perfectly placed to discuss the benefits of structured management - and what happens in organisations where the communication frameworks are not properly put together.

The best managers construct a framework of actions around the main focus of getting the job done, which increases the efficiency, decreases stress and is ultimately more rewarding for all concerned. This is not theory - it's all about what the seriously good ones actually "do".

There's a lot of mumbo jumbo around "developing talent" these days and a lot of very superficial advice and articles. Would you really like to know what different organisations do? What works for them? What doesn't?

Judith will be telling tales about her experiences in " developing management talent" from multi nationals to SMEs, how some achieve a return on investment and how some don't even know what they mean by leadership.

Making A Difference (MAD) is a behavioural change programme with which May Gurney has had some stunning results and won national awards. MAD has helped the company achieve spectacular success in reducing accident rates and improving safety performance - and is now being deployed to help achieve occupational health and environmental objectives. 'Spectacular success' is a strong claim - but in this case it's justified.

During 2006 - having already achieved 20% year on year improvements since 2003 - May Gurney virtually halved its AFR (Accident Frequency Rate) from 0.43 at the outset to 0.24 at the close - predominantly as a result of the introduction of MAD.

Chris Heath, May Gurney's Director of BISHE was instrumental in developing the MAD programme in-house and will talk about the background to the programme and how it has achieved such impressive results.

"MAD is a positive programme - it's about helping people understand the issues and then encouraging them to make the right choices," Chris Heath explains. "By involving and empowering the workforce, MAD can bring about a change in culture very quickly - sometimes as little as one month."

Outsourcing is now a key management tool. Successful outsourcing saves money and improves efficiency but it is also heavily regulated.

Eleanor Freeman of Taylor Vinters' employment team and Matt Meyer, outsourcing specialist in their commercial and technology team, will guide us through the practical and commercial application of the relevant legislation including TUPE, the Data Protection Act and collective redundancy law.

Recruited from the City, and nationally recognised in Chambers' Directory, Eleanor advises on all aspects of both contentious and non-contentious employment law. Examples of recent outsourcing advice include: all the employment issues relating to the off-shoring of a UK call centre, including the relevance of TUPE and collective redundancy legislation (and the requirement to inform and consult under each) and the second generation contracting-out of a public sector service currently split between multiple organisations.

Matt Meyer principally acts for companies involved in IT and outsourcing transactions and heads the IT group at Taylor Vinters. Much of his work involves project management, contract drafting and negotiation. Specific areas of expertise include business process re-engineering around new technologies, IT outsourcing, software licensing and systems integration and implementation. Matt recently advised Premier Foods Plc on an IT outsourcing project and has helped a number of government sector bodies outsource business processes to the private sector. Legal 500 said of Matt: "Clients say that he is 'exceptional' and praise him for 'an intuitive ability to demonstrate an appropriate level of business and technical knowledge.' "

The 360° on 360° - Maximising the value of 360° feedback, with an internal perspective from Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals

Everyone has a different perspective on 360 feedback. If conducted well, a 360 programme can be a powerful catalyst for individual and organisational. But it's not just about the tool, or the competency framework. To get the most out of a programme all aspects must be considered and managed.

MSA Interactive develops and manages 360 programmes for blue chip organisations globally. Vandy Massey from MSA helps clients to design and implement feedback programmes, ensuring that all the critical success factors are in place.

Vandy Massey and Steve Fortune, Learning & Development Manager for Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals will discuss the development of Pfizer's programme, and overall best practice in developing a feedback process.

• Getting buy-in from the organisation
• Communication is key - addressing the 'what's in it for me?' question
• Fear factors - are they realistic, and if so how do you deal with them?
• Deployment - critical factors that can dictate the success of a programme
• What next? - delivering real organisational benefits.

Vision led change at HFL - Using creativity and innovation techniques to energise the organisation

HFL is the only laboratory in the world engaged in both sports drug surveillance and contract research. Creativity and innovation are at the heart of HFL's people-based culture. New ideas and ways of thinking all help provide energy that creates an environment and culture that maximises performance.

Caroline Russell has been actively involved with HFL's transformational programme and will discuss how the company uses creative techniques to re-energize and re-enthuse people.

The workshop will cover some of the broader aspects of the change program instigated at HFL, as well as the practical application of creative problem solving techniques and innovation as catalysts of change in the workplace:

• Why vision-led change?
• Managing behaviours
• Sustaining the momentum of change

• Blocks to creativity
• Creative techniques
• Innovation (making money out of creativity)