Biographical note

Chris Yates is the Chief Learning Officer and Head of People and Organisational Development for Caterpillar Inc. Chris is Founder and MD of Ethical Organisational Design; previously he has most recently held the position of Group Head of Organisational Development for the HSBC Group. Previously he was the Vice President for Organisational Capability & Talent at American Express Group of Companies. He has also worked at Canon, the Japanese FMCG group and the National Health Services in the UK He has work across the Globe and brings a unique perspective of having developed commercial people solutions in 5 continents. He specialises in organisational design, leadership development, articulation of competitive culture and the management of significant change initiatives. Chris adapts his style for the diverse set of stakeholders in varying geographies, often working directly on projects personally commissioned by the Group Chief Executive / Chairman. He holds a Masters in Occupational and Organisational Psychology and has lived in 4 continents. Pooja Sachdev was engaged as a consultant Organisational Development Specialist for HSBC for many years, where she was instrumental in the development of a global programme aimed at reducing the impact of unconscious bias in decision-making, and increasing female representation at senior levels. Prior to HSBC, she worked as a consultant at Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson), where she developed a bespoke programme to identify issues around work-life balance, or "life-work integration", for employees in the pharmaceutical sector worldwide. She was appointed Senior Policy Officer at the Commission for Racial Equality, where she was responsible for equality and diversity within the organisation as well as the guidance it provided to others publicly. She has worked with a wide range of organisations in the public and private sectors, including Channel 4, London Borough of Newham, the Department for Trade and Industry (as was), Novartis and Royal Mail. Pooja holds an MSc in Occupational Psychology. She has lived in three countries, and is a trained counsellor, coach and group moderator.