Liam Hatcher MCIPD promoted to People Director for CH&CO

Liam Hatcher MCIPD has been promoted to the role of People Director for CH&CO.

In his new role, Liam will draw on his HR and operational expertise to strategically lead the People function across the contract catering and hospitality group, which employs over 9,000 people and includes the well-known brands Company of Cooks, Gather + Gather and Vacherin.

In addition, his leadership responsibilities include the Learning & Development, Internal Communications and Facilities teams.

This deserved promotion is in recognition of the incredible contribution Liam has made to CH&CO and its people over the past 13 years. Most notably and recently, this includes leading his team to deliver award-winning People transformational change initiatives that elevated best practice at every stage of the employee lifecycle. He also expertly spearheaded the People integration into Compass Group UK&I following CH&CO’s acquisition.

Liam Hatcher said: “It’s an absolute privilege to be the People Director for CH&CO. Doing the right thing by our people drives me and together with my amazing team, we’re committed to continually improving the employee experience for everyone. My career path with CH&CO has been fantastic, and I’m grateful for the support and opportunities that have helped me get where I am today. I’m very excited about the future and ensuring our people have access to the great development and career opportunities our business and industry offer is very important to me.”

Bill Toner, CH&CO’s CEO, said: “Nurturing and developing great talent and leaders from within the business is important to us, and Liam is a fantastic example of this. He started out as a brilliant operator, but when people and training took his interest, we supported his career change, and the rest, as they say, is history. He’s put in the hard work, gained qualifications through apprenticeships and proactively learned from others. Today, his impressive HR knowledge coupled with his operational background and understanding make him a brilliant People Director; one that leads with expertise, credibility and empathy. I couldn’t be prouder of Liam. He’s well regarded and trusted across the business and our people are in good hands.”

Liam’s journey with CH&CO started in operations where he quickly proved himself to be a capable, agile and valuable operator, rising rapidly to general manager roles. Despite having a very bright future as an operator, Liam developed a keen interest in people and training and took the bold decision to take his career in a new direction and became a regional trainer. He had found his vocation, and his rapid progression to People Director, which includes five promotions and four industry awards, including a coveted Acorn Award, is testament to this.