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Hachette UK appoints Lisa Waterman as Group HR Director as Melanie Tansey leaves for new role

Hachette UK has appointed Lisa Waterman as its new Group HR Director, as Melanie Tansey departs for a new role outside the publishing industry. Waterman will take up the role in June 2022, based at Hachette UK’s headquarters in Carmelite House, and become a member of the Hachette UK Board.

Waterman joined Hachette UK in 2019 and is currently Head of HR and Group Talent Acquisition Director, overseeing the adult trade divisions, IT department and the newly created talent acquisition team. She was previously HR Consultant for Global, Europe’s largest radio broadcasting company and the leading outdoor advertising company in the UK and Europe, where she led the acquisition and integration of three outdoor advertising businesses. She also worked as Head of HR at Global for nearly eight years, overseeing, growing and developing the entire People and Culture function. Prior to that, she was an experienced HR Manager at Chrysalis Group Plc, a music, radio and book publishing business.

Lisa Waterman said: “I am thrilled to be taking up the position of Group HR Director, leading a first-class HR team. I look forward to strengthening, embedding and building on the initiatives introduced by Melanie to ensure we support the strategic growth of Hachette UK, strive to represent all consumers and maintain the best culture in the industry.”

Melanie Tansey said: “It has been an absolute honour to be part of the growth and transformation of Hachette UK over the past three and a half extraordinary years. This is a special place with the most fantastic people. I will miss David, everyone on the Board, my brilliant HR team, and our extended leadership team of employee networks chairs terribly. I’m thrilled to be passing the baton to Lisa who is an outstanding leader, and she – along with the most talented HR team in the business – will enable the next phase of Hachette’s evolution.”

David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK, said: “Melanie has achieved such an incredible amount in the three and a half years she has been at Hachette and played a transformational role in our success and progress. She has worked tirelessly to ensure we improve our representation and more closely mirror the readers we serve, from her pivotal role in ‘Changing the Story’ to spearheading our ethnicity pay gap reporting and partnering with our employee networks to amplify their voices. She was also absolutely exceptional during the past two years of the pandemic, steering us through with her clear and compassionate communication. Melanie has built and nurtured an HR team that is truly brilliant, and which now sits at the very heart of our business.

“I’m delighted that Lisa will be stepping into the role of Group HR Director in June. She has worked alongside Melanie since 2019 and led company-wide projects, such as the integration of Laurence King Publishing and the expansion of our traineeship in partnership with Curtis Brown and Waterstones, with passion and utter commitment to our mission. She also conducted a recruitment and resourcing review, which resulted in the creation of a new Talent Acquisition team under her leadership. Lisa brings invaluable experience of working in different creative industries and I’m looking forward to working with her on broadening our talent pool as we continue to grow our business and our employer brand.”