Janet Reilly

Where I am based: Bristol office, UK

What I do: As Director of People & Culture, I am responsible for championing an inclusive and professional culture that is aligned to our values and principles and which inspires our people to innovate, be agile and do their best work. I do this by cultivating robust talent acquisition, talent management and talent operations – often on a shoe-string budget but supporting my team to generate exciting solutions to challenges to ensure that Development Initiatives is a great place to work. DI is fast-paced with competing demands, sometimes triggered by the changing external environment and I embrace and manage change effectively to support our people and support my team to do the same.

Previous experience: I’ve been a qualified member of the CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development) for over 30 years and in that time, I have gained a range of skills across various sectors (including international development, humanitarian work, education, housing, and blue-chip professional services) and have acquired a unique mix of people management, business operations and change management experience. After working for 10 years with KPMG, I moved to the South West and was an original member of the Development Initiatives team. I supported the early scale-up, putting in place operating systems to enable it to grow and expand, including adding a not-for-profit side to the business and supporting the set-up of our first regional office in Nairobi. I then worked at an independent boarding school and charitable trust, setting up HR systems and processes, developing trust and co-operation before returning to Development Initiatives as Director of Business and Finance. Following the appointment of a COO in January 2022, I moved back into a people role which has allowed me to focus on DI’s greatest asset – its people.