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New director at industry giant

Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd has promoted 33-year-old Gemma Allchin to the position of HR director.

The promotion takes Allchin from the role of HR manager, a job she has held for four years, to become the tenth member of the executive management team.

Allchin has worked at Forgemasters for nine years. She started out as HR officer and is now focused on delivering a cohesive HR strategy for the company’s 680 employees to tie in with its five-year business plan, and reporting directly to the CEO, David Bond.

David Bond said: “Gemma has moved from the operational side of HR to working alongside our other divisional directors to create and deliver our HR strategy, which forms a crucial part of the company’s five-year business plan.

“I am delighted that we have the opportunity to promote someone of Gemma’s calibre who has the requisite skills to step up and work at the top tier of our divisional management. We are delighted to see that our investing in talent strategy is paying off by promoting Gemma and hope that this latest appointment to the executive team will inspire other members of our staff who want to progress within the business.”

Sheffield Forgemasters has undergone a raft of senior management changes in 2018, to establish an entirely new executive board with the appointments of David Bond as CEO, Stephen Hammell as CFO, Paul Cahill as COO, Colin Smith as chairman and Brendan Kendrick as sales and marketing director.

Gemma Allchin, said: “This is a great opportunity for me and I am very much looking forward to building the HR strategy.

“We have already done work through focus groups across the business to get the workforce more involved in ways that they can input into the development of the company.

“It is a significant shift in approach towards our people and business culture creating greater dialogue and establishing clear company values and behaviours that our staff will help to develop and work towards.”

Sheffield Forgemasters has developed a strong apprenticeship programme, with 49 apprentices currently employed at its Brightside Lane (UK) headquarters.

The company also has a track record of encouraging progression within its ranks, with people like Gareth Barker, director of operations, who started at the company as an 18-year-old apprentice. 

David Bond added: “The future of this business is inherently linked to how we recruit and develop our staff and Gemma and Gareth are great role models for our employees, demonstrating that if they show initiative and talent, we will help them to progress as far as they want to go.”