ER/IR Network: From Policy to Practice: Implementing the Employment Rights Bill

Mustafa is Employee Relations Strategy Director for BT. Prior to this he’s worked for a number of large private and public sector organisations including British Airways, Heathrow Airport, Network Rail and Tesco. 

His career in HR has specialised in negotiating with trade unions, managing pay and reward, implementing workplace change, developing HR policies and overseeing employee casework including employment tribunal claims. 

He is also an Employer Panel Member for the Central Arbitration Committee which is a tribunal of the Department for Business and Trade that resolves collective workplace disputes involving trade unions. 

Outside of HR, he volunteers as Chair of Muslim Aid, a faith-based British international charity founded in 1985, that provides humanitarian relief, healthcare, housing, education and livelihood programmes to over 4 million people in 19 countries.

Kevin is the Chief People Officer of First Bus – a division of FirstGroup. First Bus is a FTSE 250 Company and is one of the UK’s largest bus operators with 14,000 employees.  In his time at First Bus, Kevin has kicked off a transformational people strategy, which will put colleagues and customers first. As part of this, People Centricity, at bottom-up change process, has started to roll-out across the business, driving a more human culture across First Bus where colleague behaviours are fully aligned to our purpose of ‘your journey is our everything’ and the First Bus values – or ‘Our Way’. Kevin has also introduced a step change on Diversity and Inclusion including the company-wide introduction of inclusion networks and a ‘Celebrating our Differences’ development programme for all managers. Quarterly employee engagement surveys are an integral part of ensuring that First Bus listens to its people and becomes a great place to work.

Kevin has been an entrepreneur, a CEO and HRD of a FTSE 100 company, he brings a wide range of skills and experience from each of these roles to assist the organisations he works with. He specialises in businesses that want to scale up or transform. Kevin has long been recognised as an award-winning business leader. He has worked with many leadership teams to maximise their performance by developing both unique customer offerings and differentiated people strategies which provide sustainable competitive advantage. His passion is creating great cultures where people want to give their best every day.

Clare is a Partner at Eversheds Sutherland. She supports employers in all employment matters whilst focusing on Labour Relations and Employee Wellbeing. Clare carried out her training contract in-house with the Co-operative Insurance Society. She qualified in 2003 with a trade union firm and spent four years acting for trade unions and their members, gaining valuable experience and insight before joining Eversheds Sutherland in 2007.

Clare now spends her time helping employers define their trade union relationships and providing critical support if relationships breakdown.

She drafts collective agreements as part of helping clients review their relationships.

Clare supports restructuring and TUPE exercises where careful management of the trade union relationship can be crucial. Clare also defends failure to provide information claims, I&C complaints, unlawful inducements claims. Clare advises strategically when employers are faced with industrial action and has obtained industrial action injunctions.

Clare leads the relationship with a number of clients predominately from the transport, manufacturing and education sectors.

Clare has gained significant experience supporting employers in their employee wellbeing agendas and presents on various wellbeing subjects both publicly and in-house.

Kevin Rowan joined Acas as Director of Dispute Resolution in March 2025. Prior to this, he was Head of Organisation and Services at the Trade Union Congress, responsible for trade union renewal, public services and transport policy, regional policy, workplace learning and the TUC’s extensive programme of workplace representative training.

Kevin has had many non-executive director roles over his career, including being a member of Acas Council, representing the interests of workers, collaborating with other board members to tackle issues such as HSE effectiveness, inclusion, L&D and equality and diversity.

John Whelan is a Director at Corporate Research Forum. Formerly UK HR Director of BAE Systems, the FTSE 100 defence, security, and aerospace company, John’s experience and strengths lie in business and HR Transformation, Organisation Development and Employee Relations. Prior to joining BAE, he held a variety of HR roles in engineering, technology and manufacturing businesses across the telecommunications and semi-conductor industries including Matra-Marconi Space where he was HR Director for the UK and, latterly, Group HRD.

Nick is a consultant, speaker, author, and advocate. Until end of 2020, he was Executive Vice President H.R. at Unilever.

After graduating with a degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and spending a year as a student politician (sabbatical secretary of the student Union), he joined Unilever in 1986. His first role was in Hull, UK, as an employee relations manager in a Bird’s Eye Walls
factory. He later became personnel manager for a bigger site covering Hull and Grimsby, where he managed large scale restructuring that became an ACAS case study of best practice.
After 15 years working in Bird’s Eye in various locations, he went off to Rotterdam, the Netherlands to work in Unilever’s ice cream and frozen food business in Europe. His role there was to scale and regionalise the business. Then he went to Switzerland to establish what is called the Unilever supply chain company, first on a European level than on a global level. Before becoming EVP HR for Business
Transformation, Nick was EVP HR for Europe and the Global Markets, having day to day responsibility for Unilever’s HR partnering globally.
The last 35 + years, has seen him covering all areas of H.R. ranging from introducing new HR information systems, recruitment, designing new reward systems for sales forces, working with marketing teams to speed up innovation times, through to setting up new Companies and troubleshooting industrial relations ‘crises’ across the globe.
His passion is for change management, Organisational development and industrial/ employee relations. He describes his ‘purpose’ as ‘ bringing creativity from conflict’. He is an H.R, professional because he believes that if ‘we change the workplace, we do change the world’. He has co-authored
the book HR (R) evolution, change the workplace, change the world (2019- Routledge), and has also co-authored an article for the Harvard Business Review (March/April 2022). His work on Unilever’s Future of Work programme has been captured in case studies currently used in programmes by the Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics.
Since 2020, Nick has worked as a consultant in the financial services sector, aviation sector, retail sector and software (AI development) sector, as well as for FMCG companies. Nick also speaks regularly at HR, business conferences and training events, advocating for the ‘Paradox wave’, by explaining the 7 Great Waves of people management. Starting from ‘Paternalism’ at the dawn of the industrial revolution, moving through the waves of ‘Power, Process, Profit, Purpose, Paradox and Planet’. Concepts explained fully in his co-authored book and manifesto for change –
‘H( R ) evolution, Change the workplace , change the world.’

Melissa is responsible for the growth of CRF through the acquisition of new corporate members and sponsoring partners of the annual programme as well as the growth of CRF Learning. Melissa also helps members optimise the value of their CRF membership through events, research, networking, and advisory services. Melissa brings 10 years of experience within the HR Advisory space from her experience at Korn Ferry, Hay Group and CEB.