Bernadette is the Director of People & Culture at North Middlesex University Hospital. Before that she was Executive Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for NHS King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Associate Director of Inclusion at Barts Health Trust, where she was instrumental in rolling out the HPMA award winning Cultural Intelligence programme. Prior to joining the NHS she spent 23 years in the Civil Service where she held a range of operational and HR roles, across many Government departments and agencies, including Ministry of Justice, Home Office, HM Treasury, Legal Aid Agency, Cabinet Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Bernadette is a strategic and progressive HR professional with in-depth knowledge, insight and expertise in Diversity and Inclusion culture and practice. She has a proven track record of leveraging substantial leadership capability and business acumen to shape and embed innovative strategies that promote accountability and engagement in diversifying talent pipelines and driving cultural transformation.

For 5 years, Bernadette co-chaired a multi-award-winning cross government race network; she is a pivotal influencer and trusted partner to senior leaders across a range of sectors. She is also a Different Woman Ambassador and actively advocates for or a more inclusive women’s equality agenda, amplifying her voice for women of colour. In addition, she provides training, facilitates organisational discussions, and delivers keynotes on Cultural Intelligence, diversity, inclusion, organisation cultural change, leadership, employee engagement, wellbeing, and various other aspects of how to create a thriving workforce.

In 2020 Bernadette won the Workplace Hero category in the national investing in Ethnicity Awards for championing and driving race equality and inclusion across the Civil Service. In 2021 she won one of the prestigious “We are the City” Rising Star Champion awards and in June 2021, Bernadette was awarded as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE).