Paul Boustead
Associate Consultant
p.boustead@reading.ac.uk
Paul Boustead, MSc, CCIPD is a consultant in Employee Relations, Organisational Development, Transformation and Change. Until recently he was the Chief People and Culture Officer at the University of Leeds. He has over 20 years’ experience in HR and OD in the UK, which has included Local Government, Local Education Authorities/Children and Young People Services, the National Health Service and Higher Education Institutions, and a Non-Executive Director of multi academy educational trust. He supports several school governing bodies in his locality.
During his career he has led several large-scale change programmes, including the merger of three UK Higher Educational Institutions to create a single university and also led the NHS workforce transformation programme across parts of the East Midlands. Throughout his career he has worked effectively in multi-union contexts and has also played various national roles in the negotiation and consultation around terms and conditions in the public sector. He has also been heavily involved in the establishment of a works council in Germany for LU Leipzig and in the creation of staff associations in partner organisations and social enterprises, such as the University Academy of 92 in Manchester.
Latterly Paul has been playing a leading role in advising and supporting Boards and Executive Teams in developing their workforce strategies and transforming working practices in a post pandemic environment. As an accredited executive coach, he supports and coaches a number of senior leaders and also works with the CIPD supporting the development of future HR and People Directors.
Before joining the University of Leeds where he became the inaugural Chief People Culture Officer, he was the Executive People and OD Director at Lancaster University, for nearly a decade and was responsible for developing and implementing their first and second People and Culture strategies which contributed to them becoming University of the Year and securing a sustained top 10 league table position and a rapidly increasing global profile. Paul was also heavily involved in the establishment of Lancaster’s campuses in China, Ghana and Germany. At Lancaster Paul was also responsible for Health & Safety & Wellbeing, Equality & Diversity & Inclusion, Educational Development, Organisational and Staff Development, HR, Payroll and Pensions. He was until recently the elected Chair of Universities Human Resources (UHR) and sits on several national groups/committees including the national pay negotiation board for the sector and the USS employers’ pensions group.
Paul is also a keen and competitive runner and is a keen mountain biker and fell walker.
He is one of a select few Companions of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and was voted as #14 leading HR influencer by HR Magazine in 2022. Paul is also an accredited executive coach.