global standards & Content Committee.
Aušra Gabrėnaitė , UAE
Committee Member
About Aušra
Aušra is the head of strategic workforce planning for one of Nissan Motor Companies largest regions – Africa, Middle East, India, Europe & Oceania. Based in Dubai, UAE, Aušra has led Strategic Workforce Planning across the region for Nissan for the last 5 years. Prior to her strategic workforce planning experience, Aušra spent more than 12 years working across a number of HR generalist roles covering talent acquisition, compensation & benefits, talent management and employee engagement. Aušra has a well-rounded background and brings broad insight to the global standards and content committee.
Aušra’s experiences also span strategic organisational projects, to which she brings people insights to support the development of business plans and strategies. She believes in the power of data and is driven by purpose, people and the notion of making a positive difference.
Away from the workplace, Aušra loves hiking and spending time with family.
Dr Rob Major, United States
Committee Member
About Dr Rob
Rob has 10+ years of experience building people analytics and strategic workforce planning platforms across a variety of industries including healthcare, life science, technology, utility, and non-profit. In his current role at MilliporeSigma he oversees the development and enablement of the strategic workforce planning process utilised by over 100+ HR Business Partners and 30 key strategic initiates.
He is also an advisor to late-stage HR tech start-ups with SHRM’s Workplace Tech Accelerator. He holds a PhD in Consulting Psychology and enjoys collaborating with HR and business leaders to drive people analytics and strategic workforce planning needs across organisations.
May Kaptuiya, Africa
Committee Member
About May
May is the founder and Managing Director of KOTOEIA Solutions, a company that specialises in workforce planning software and solutions.
She has over 11 years’ experience in Workforce Planning having worked in the complex aviation industry and working with SMEs in the manufacturing industry. Her experience spans Strategic Workforce Planning, Operational Workforce Planning, Change Management, Project Management, Data Analytics and Visualization, Shift Roster Creation and Management, Trade Union Negotiation, Workforce planning tools and systems management and people leadership.
She is professionally trained in Business Management (B.Com), Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, and Workforce Planning.
Her passion is grounded in her purpose which is to alleviate poverty by redefining work and jobs particularly for the workers and youth in Africa.
Dirk Volschenk, Canada
Committee Member
About Dirk
Dirk Volschenk is a solutions-focused senior executive and consultant with more than 25 years of success spanning the manufacturing, education, customer service, and health industries. Leveraging extensive experience in insightful leadership, Dirk is a valuable asset for companies requiring expert assistance with business transformation, organisational issues, change management, safety issues, strategy development, and new program implementation. His broad areas of expertise include problem analytics and diagnostics, organisational efficiency, team building and training, HR strategy development, qualitative and quantitative analytics, restructuring, competency model building and assessment services and large corporate intervention project management.
Throughout his career he showed exceptional strength in supporting new business initiatives and start-ups as well as driving renewal in more established institutions. He has a proven record of accomplishments in facilitating and leading cost reduction through the implementation of work process redesign initiatives.
Jen Allen – United Kingdom
Committee Member
About Jen Allen
Jen has over 14 years’ experience in the HR field, with a passion for human-centred organisational design. Her experience covers finance, manufacturing, aviation, and the public sector.
A love of data and an aptitude for spotting complex patterns and relationships brought Jen to Strategic Workforce Planning, beginning first with the medical workforce in New Zealand, and later in Health back home in the UK. Jen designed and now leads the Strategic Workforce Planning and People Analytics functions of Police Scotland – she is the creator of the first ever Police Scotland Strategic Workforce Plan; the first in the Scottish Justice sector as a whole.
Jen holds an MA in Business Management and Psychology from the University of Glasgow and is a Chartered Member of CIPD. A vocal advocate for SWP as the evidence-based game-changer so needed by HR, Jen has wide experience as both an in-house SWP trainer and more recently as a guest lecturer to HR Masters students at the University of Edinburgh.
Nick Kennedy, Asia Pacific
Committee Member
About Nick
Nick has over 20 years of experience, including strategic and operational workforce planning, project and program management, change leadership and global talent management. This is complimented by a strong aptitude for continuous improvement, supported by experience across sectors including, government, mining and resources, automotive, consulting and minerals processing.
Having managed strategic workforce planning and organisational design teams for large global organisations and overseen major change and optimisation programs, Nick has a deep understanding of the complex challenges faced by many organisations. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and is passionate about connecting strategy, planning and people.
Nick has significant experience designing strategic workforce planning solutions across local, state and federal government clients and is an accomplished trainer and workshop facilitator. Nick has designed and facilitated public and in-house training in strategic workforce planning, workforce data & analytics, and capability mapping for clients in the state and federal government sectors across Australia.
