Move of the month: 1/15

Congratulations to Helen Dickens, who having started her career with biscuits (at United Biscuits, no less) has just been appointed as Regional HRD (EMEA) at the pharmaceutical and packaged goods giant, Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has always been a byword for baby care, a reputation that looks set to continue. They’ve just bought the rights for the ‘dot-baby’ (.baby) suffix name and signed a global partnership with Save the Children.

Sadly, these moves together may scupper our plan to register “hastalavista.baby”.

Dickens cites ‘HR transformation’ as one of her key skills, and has a proven track record with Symantec and, more recently, Shire Pharmaceuticals. Her successful reformation of the helpdesk at Symantec involved changing the automated phone’s accent from American to Irish. A gift of the gab, indeed.

One of the main joys of her new office near Wokingham will doubtless be its proximity to the Pinewood Miniature Railway. Full steam ahead, Helen.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?