Costa Coffee, the nation’s favourite coffee shop is delighted to announce the appointment of Kate Seljeflot as Group HR Director, replacing HR Director Jo Bennett who will be taking retirement at the end of September.
Seljeflot joins Costa after 14 years at Diageo PLC, where she was most recently Global Talent Director, responsible for senior appointments and succession planning, as well as overseeing Diageo’s diversity and inclusion strategy. In addition, Seljeflot oversaw key brand initiatives including Diageo’s global graduate programme.
In her new role, Seljeflot will harness her years of experience of working with global markets and her proven track record for effectively driving significant change, to lead the Global HR team and Costa’s international expansion.
She will be responsible for all employee related issues including executive talent appointments, organisation effectiveness, resource planning, recruitment and training. She started at Costa in September and will be reporting into new Managing Director, Dominic Paul.
Dominic Paul, Managing Director of Costa, said, “We are delighted to announce Kate as our Global HR Director. She will be a driving force in the continued expansion of our workforce at a highly progressive time. Costa is an incredibly people-centric business and we want to retain our heritage and DNA while continuing to grow.”
Commenting on her new role, Kate said, “I am thrilled to have taken on my new role with Costa. There is no doubt that this is a business that truly values its people across the globe. I am looking forward to nurturing and building our talent and growing the Costa brand through our world-class people.”
The appointment follows Priya Farish’s promotion to Costa’s Global Talent Director. Priya will now report into Kate.
Costa is the UK’s largest coffee shop chain with over 2,000 coffee shops in the UK and over 30,000 employees worldwide.