The Team
Claire Watt, Managing Director (FCIPD)
Claire Watt is a Fellow of the CIPD and an experienced HR professional with over 30 years’ experience across professional services, retail, and the not-for-profit sector.
With a background in Psychology and a Master’s in Personnel and Development, Claire is also qualified in Psychometric Testing (Levels A and B) and is an accredited Executive Coach.
Before founding Ditton HR, Claire was Executive Director of People at Samaritans, leading all aspects of people strategy for employees and volunteers. She now works with small businesses to deliver practical, commercially focused HR support that helps build high-performing, thriving teams or with larger organisations, supporting their HR teams with specific projects or investigations.
Claire is a recognised voice in the HR community, writing for Brightmine (formerly XpertHR), hosting her podcast “Watt About HR?”, and contributing to industry publications, radio and webinars.
Her work has been recognised through multiple awards, including Small Business Leader of the Year (Surrey Business Awards 2023), HRi Inspirational Indie Award (2022), and HRi High Growth Award (2024). Ditton HR has also won the Excellence in Professional Services (2024) award and was highly commended for the Best Place to Work (2025) award (Kingston Chamber of Commerce).
Claire is passionate about helping businesses succeed through great people practices and is a strong advocate for flexible working and supporting women returning to work.
Sue Ross, HR Consultant (FCIPD)
Sue is a Psychology graduate and Fellow of the CIPD with over 30 years’ experience delivering the full range of HR services across professional services and charity sector.
Sue has worked with high-profile organisations including PwC, Clyde & Co, and a subsidiary of Allianz Global Investors, bringing both operational and strategic expertise to her clients.
Sue provides practical, high-quality HR advice across policies, procedures and employee relations. Known for her proactive, solutions-focused approach, she combines strong commercial awareness with a genuine sensitivity to client needs, consistently adding value to the businesses she supports.
Her experience includes designing and leading graduate recruitment programmes, including assessment centres for trainee solicitors, and partnering with senior leaders to drive best practice and manage organisational change. Sue supports clients with the full spectrum of day-to-day HR activities.
Sue has been an HR Consultant at Ditton HR since 2019 and enjoys working closely with a diverse range of businesses as a trusted HR partner.
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Liz Stringer, HR Consultant (CIPD)
Liz has over 20 years’ experience delivering operational and strategic people solutions across a range of industries and sectors. Having supported businesses as part of an in-house team, as well as through a consultancy provision, she understands the importance of being commercially focused as well as legally complaint. Liz is able to build strong and trusted relationships quickly and effectively with key stakeholders at all levels to ensure businesses are equipped to attract, engage, develop and retain high performing individuals.
Specialising in employee relations, Liz has successfully navigated businesses through complex case management and change programmes, embedding strong cultural shifts to ensure values, norms and behaviours are aligned to business goals.
Amy White - HR Consultant
After graduating with a first-class degree in psychology, Amy began her career in general management including roles in management consultancy (KPMG) and executive search (Saxton Bampfylde).
Recognising the vital role that good people management plays in the success of any business, Amy trained in employment law with the CIPD in 2014.
Since then, she has worked in both inhouse HR teams and in HR consultancy roles. Her career spans the public, private, and charity sectors and she has worked at Executive Director level in a range of operational management roles.
Amy's broad professional background gives her a clear perspective on the role of HR within the wider business context so she is well placed to advise at board level on both strategic and operational HR issues.
Michielle Smith, HR Consultant (FCIPD)
Michielle is a qualified HR generalist and a Fellow of the FCIPD with over 20 years’ experience across the complete HR spectrum. Michielle has worked across a number of industries from Distribution, Media Finance, Investment Banking and most recently in Retail at Marks and Spencer. These roles have taken her around the world spending a large amount of time in Asia and Europe. Michielle is available to support organisations with the full breadth of HR activities and is particularly experienced in employee relations.
Zoe Clark, HR Consultant (MCIPD)
Zoe has been working in the HR Industry since 2006 and has worked with a wide variety of small businesses. With cross sector experience gained predominantly in Tech, Insure Tech and Insurance, Zoe is experienced in bespoke strategic solutions for shaping business through recruitment, restructure & redundancy, operational support, and metrics-based people reporting and analysis.
Zoe puts great value in creating strong personal connections to make positive impact within a short time-frame; and enjoys the opportunity to see results first hand.
Caroline Huggett, HR Consultant (MCIPD)
With over 25 years experience and MCIPD qualified, Caroline is a self-assured senior leader with a breadth of HR experience gained in financial services, public and not for profit sectors.Strong HR generalist in strategic and operational HR. Track record in employee engagement and ability to develop collaborative relationships with multiple stakeholders. Leads through action with a hands-on approach, focussing on efficiency, quality, and customer service. Brings a high level of energy and commitment to drive and support change to help senior colleagues deliver on their business objectives.
Claire Wilson, HR Advisor (CIPD)
Claire is an experienced, level 5 CIPD qualified, HR Advisor providing robust support to a range of stakeholders; HR colleagues, senior managers, the Board and wider workforce. Offering timely and accurate HR advice in a range of settings which have included global corporates to smaller businesses. A natural relationship builder, adapting to a range of requirements and expectations. Adept at working with policy, legislation and experienced in managing confidential business & HR data.
Neil Watt, IT & Operations Manager (PGDip)
Neil is an ISTQB-qualified QA Test Manager with a Postgraduate Diploma in Software Development.
Having extensive experience in IT delivery, software testing and quality assurance in the City of London, Neil brings a different perspective and approach to the team.
At Ditton HR, Neil leads IT and Operations, overseeing the Recruitment Applicant Tracking System, Customer Relationship Management System, HR Software and operational platforms and processes.
Alongside this, he works as a freelance software quality assurance and test consultant.
Kevin Churchill, Workplace & Employment Mediator (MBA, MSc)
Kevin is an accredited workplace mediator who supports businesses with mediation and conflict coaching cases. Kevin is accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and the Civil Mediation Council (CMC).
Kevin’s corporate experience is in leading and managing organisations and teams in the UK and East Africa. His career began in banking over two decades ago with the Lloyds Banking Group, followed by the Local Authority sector in London and Oxford and thereafter in international consultancy and international development most recently in Nairobi, Kenya.
Kevin has mediated a wide range of workplace and commercial disputes for public authorities, universities, businesses, suppliers and clients.
Kevin describes his mediation style as thoughtful, respectful, and carried out with care. He adopts a calm conversational approach, providing parties with the time and space to speak, listen, think and reflect upon what is being said, to find a way of working together day to day, into the future.
Emma Cowling, Employee Benefits Consultant
Emma is an Employee Benefits consultant with over 15 years' experience working with companies of all sizes from start-ups to large global organisations such as Apple.
Emma has worked in wide range of sectors including retail, technology, media and not for profit. Helping companies to build low-cost, creative, and engaging Benefits strategies that align with their company culture and business constraints. Enabling the companies to attract diverse talent and keep their team members healthy and engaged.
She has provided tailor made solutions for projects including local and international benefits audits & strategy reviews, annual renewals & benefits windows, technology implementations, and ensuring that the company has access to benefits expertise when they need it.
Katerina Rose, Performance Coach & Learning Facilitator
Characterised by an enthusiasm and energy for people development and for creating stimulating and enjoyable learning environments (including virtual) which achieve lasting business results. Katerina is a qualified Business and Master practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (trained by both the co-founders of NLP), and now specialises in helping people achieve business and personal success in Leadership, Influencing, Sales, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, and Relationship Management. She has worked alongside Kimberley Hare one of the leading pioneers in the area of accelerated learning training.
Katerina is certified to coach Leaders in the area of Emotional Intelligence and is seen as an authority in the area of Emotional Intelligence, developing stimulating Leadership programmes with an emphasis on the practical application of this model with a number of corporations throughout the UK and abroad.
Sanjiv Dodhia, Business Coach
For over 35 years Sanjiv has helped more than 100 business owners grow sustainably profitable
enterprises that can work without them. This means working ON their businesses strategically, rather than being buried, fire-fighting in the day-to-day. Sanjiv can help business owners shape their business around the life they want, able to do what they are best at and enjoy the most.
Asha Kumar, Employment Lawyer
Ditton HR has an association with an independent employment law solicitor, Asha Kumar of Keystone Law, who is a highly experienced Employment Lawyer having worked in a City law firm for 18 years and who was promoted to partnership in 2012. Whilst specialising in employment law, she can assist in connecting people to a full array of legal services.
Asha helps individuals and corporates with all aspects of employment law. She has extensive experience in helping individuals on leaving employment and on joining new employment. She deals with workplace grievances and disciplinary matters. Her advice to companies, includes assisting start-ups, Entrepreneurs, SMEs and larger corporates in need of day-to-day employment law advice throughout the employment life-cycle from recruitment, during employment and on termination.
Sinead Scott-Lennon, Career/Outplacement Coach
Sinead has over 20 years' experience in senior management communications roles, before retraining as a Transformational Coach with Animas, ICF Accredited Centre for Coaching in 2019.
Sinead's coaching style is centered around moving forward from where you are to where you want to be. This may be due to a redundancy, following a resignation or returning to work after a period of time off.
It's a powerful way of enabling people to challenge themself, find solutions to problems and overcome fears, doubts and any hesitancy – all done in a conversational, collaborative and congenial way. It's a safe, confidential and non-judgmental space just for the individua to help them transition to the next career or return back into the workplace.
Johanne Penney, LLB (hons) Law - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant
Johanne Penney is a senior executive leader whose work experience spans over 20 years advocating for equality and diversity. Johanne runs EDI training workshops for Ditton HR.
In 2020, after seeing a gap in education around ‘Black lives matter’ (BLM) in corporate companies and the cry for collaboration with individuals, she used the lockdown period in Covid as a reset button, realised her dreams and set up her own anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion consultancy called ‘Amp Up Your Voice’.
Johanne is unapologetic in her passion to achieve real equality for Black, minority and ethnic groups. She believes this is the time where progressive companies and individuals can collectively shift the dial and make fundamental, tangible change which is so desperately needed. Johanne runs EDI training workshops for Ditton HR.
Matthew Keeffe LLM, CIPD
GDPR Specialist
Matthew is a Data Protection Consultant. Having spent 25 years as a Data Protection Officer in the public/private sector and latterly with medium and large employers in the consulting, education, legal, catering and care industries. Matthew has assisted circa 285 organisations with their UK GDPR, GDPR and data protection compliance both in the UK and in some overseas jurisdictions including assistance with implementing a privacy management system, data breach management, standard contract clauses, binding corporate rules and adequacy decisions in conjunction with various data protection authorities and much more. Matthew is also a Professional Member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Alex Duggan
Health & Safety Specialist
Alex Duggan is a highly experienced Health & Safety and Sustainability Consultant. With over 30 years of experience gained both in the UK and overseas, Alex has worked across a range of diverse industries including oil and gas, manufacturing, commercial and construction in the UK and in the Middle East, Africa, and Australia.
He is experienced in conducting risk assessments, developing, and writing policies and procedures, developing customised training programmes, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Passionate about safeguarding both employees and organisational assets, Alex is dedicated to promoting a culture of safety and well-being in workplaces through proactive measures and effective communication. Ready to collaborate and support organisations in achieving their health and safety objectives.