CH&Co promotes Liam Hatcher to people director

Liam Hatcher has been promoted to the role of people director of CH&Co.

Hatcher, who has been with the contract caterer for 13 years, was head of people and development for almost four years. Prior to that, he was group head of learning and development.

In his new role, Hatcher will draw on his HR and operational expertise to strategically lead the people function across the contract catering and hospitality group, which employs more than 9,000 people and includes brands Company of Cooks, Gather + Gather and Vacherin.

His leadership responsibilities will include overseeing learning and development, internal communication and facilities teams.

Hatcher, who won an Acorn Award in 2019, said: “It’s an absolute privilege to be the people director for CH&Co. Doing the right thing by our people drives me and, together with my amazing team, we’re committed to continually improving the employee experience for everyone.

“My career path with CH&Co has been fantastic and I’m grateful for the support and opportunities that have helped me get where I am today. I’m very excited about the future and ensuring our people have access to the great development and career opportunities our business and industry offer is very important to me.”

Bill Toner, chief executive at CH&Co, said: “Nurturing and developing great talent and leaders from within the business is important to us, and Liam is a fantastic example of this. He started out as a brilliant operator, but when people and training took his interest, we supported his career change and the rest, as they say, is history.

“He’s put in the hard work, gained qualifications through apprenticeships and proactively learned from others. Today, his impressive HR knowledge coupled with his operational background and understanding make him a brilliant people director; one that leads with expertise, credibility and empathy. I couldn’t be prouder of Liam. He’s well regarded and trusted across the business and our people are in good hands.”