Our Movers and Shakers series spotlights the people shaping workplace culture and employee health and wellbeing. In this edition, we highlight the leaders moving up, out or across roles in December 2025 – from senior people and culture appointments to health and wellbeing advocates recognised in the New Year’s Honours List.
Yamuna Morton
First up is the incomparable Yamuna Morton who, after two years as HR Operations & Rewards with telecommunications company Hyperoptic, has moved to a new role as Chief Operating Officer at global investigations and advisory firm, Veleda.
Writing on LinkedIn, Yamuna commented: “As a founding member, it is great to embark on this new chapter with an amazing team and to build something from the ground up”. Yamuna is looking forward to driving Veleda’s growth, shaping its culture and creating an environment that enables all to innovate and thrive.
Sounds like you’ve got the perfect opportunity to shape a workplace culture that supports employee health and wellbeing from the outset Yamuna.
You can read about how start up Shift8 achieved this in this article: “How a robust wellbeing strategy helped Shift8’s employees become happier and healthier as well as improve their bottom line”.
Rohan Kallicharan
Next up is Rohan Kallicharan, who in December 2025 started his new role as Head of People and Culture with Christian Aid.
Commenting on LinkedIn Rohan wrote: “Really excited to join a great team and support our brilliant and critical mission. It’s not often you find a role which fuses skills and personal values in this way”.
Away from work, Rohan is a committed mental health campaigner and speaker around wellbeing. He is also a Trustee of The Choir with No Name and a keen runner who has run 107 marathons, raising over £45,000 for chosen causes.
You can read more about Rohan’s perspective in this article which he contributed comment to when he was Director of People and Talent with Carbon Clean: “Is your work environment fit for purpose in a hybrid world?”
Emma Gage
Our next Mover & Shaker is Emma Gage who, after eight years in multiple roles with Business in the Community (BITC), campaigning for better work, and making work a happier place, has returned to her roots in a People and Culture team – joining University of East Anglia as their new Employee Wellbeing Partner.
BITC is a long-standing partner of www.makeadifference.media and it’s been a pleasure collaborating with you Emma. We wish you luck in your new role and look forward to keeping in touch.
If you’re not familiar with BITC’s work around workplace culture, employee health and wellbeing, check out some of their reports, including their “Workwell self-assessment tool”.
Louise Dixon Chapman
Workplace culture, employee health and wellbeing span many different roles, and our network reflects this breadth. With workplace environment increasingly recognised as a crucial part of the wellbeing equation, it’s great to see Louise Dixon Chapman featuring in our latest Movers & Shakers.
After two years as Regional Director and Head of Strategic Workplace Advisory (UK & Ireland) at AtkinsRéalis, Louise has taken on the role of Interim Group Head of Real Estate, Workplace and Facilities at global payments and acceptance services leader Ingenico.
For more insight into the latest thinking on the link between workplace environment and employee health and wellbeing, explore our The Office section.
New Year’s Honours
Last, but not least, with a number of employee health and wellbeing advocates rightly recognised in this year’s New Year’s Honours List, they definitely deserve a place in our Movers & Shakers list this month.
Nancy Hey OBE
Huge congratulations to Nancy Hey, who is Director of Evidence & Insight at Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Here Nancy leads the World Risk Poll, impact & evaluation, and the Global Safety Evidence Centre. Nancy’s career covers 15 years in public policy, including10 years running the UK’s Wellbeing Evidence Centre.
Nancy has been awarded the honour of the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2026 Honours List for her services to wellbeing and tackling loneliness in the UK.
Ben Towers MBE
Still only 27, Ben started in business aged 11 and has since successfully exited his marketing agency, invested in disruptive start-ups and inspired millions. Through the benefits and engagement platform Happl, Ben is now on a mission to change the health outcomes of his generation.
Ben has received his MBE for services to the Startup Business Community, Excellence in Innovation and Enterprise.
Stu Skinner MBE
Meanwhile, mental health and resilience trainer Stu Skinner has been awarded an MBE for services to mental health through outdoor leadership, training, and community engagement.
Writing on LinkedIn Stu said: “I’ve dedicated the last 20 years to mental health work, often at the expense of my own. It’s been an unconventional life, with some incredible highs that have taken me on extraordinary journeys, and some very real lows along the way. This feels like validation more than anything else”.
Congratulations to all of you! What a great way to start 2026.
