John Athanasiou

John has held the role of Director of People at HarperCollins since October 2008. Sitting on the UK Executive Board, he has implemented an industry-leading strategy on diversity & inclusion at HarperCollins, leading to the company being recognised at the 2016 Race Equality Awards, winning the Employee Network category; being placed in the Top 100 Best Employers For Race by Business In The Community – 2 years in a row and HarperCollins being the first Publisher to launch a Traineeship for talent from Black, Asian and underrepresented backgrounds, now in its fifth year running.

John has worked in a number of HR roles including Time Warner, Warner Music Group, Dixons Stores Group and Camden and Islington NHS Trust.

As well as his advisory role with Included, John has also been a Non-Exec Director for Middlesex University, supporting the strategic direction of the organisation. He holds a BA (Hons) in Finance, an MA in Human Resource Management and is an ILM Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner.