MEC has today announced the appointment of Sarah Homer as director of people and culture for the EMEA region.

Based in London, Sarah will report to Marie-Claire Barker, global chief talent officer, and Alastair Aird, Global COO and CEO of EMEA. She will oversee MEC’s people and culture strategy, in line with Marie-Claire’s ambition to change the face of talent management in the industry. She begins her new role on 1 November, and replaces Mike Harris, who retired over the summer.

Sarah joins MEC from the Dentsu Aegis Network, where she was the HR director for Northern Europe, sitting on the UK executive board, and partnered with the NE and country CEOs to ensure alignment in driving commercial performance. In her role, she focused on transforming HR within Northern Europe, and in particular secured a real commitment to investing in capabilities and talent and building an infrastructure around talent and development. Prior to this, Sarah spent 12 years at Barclays Plc. in various senior roles including leading change and cultural transformation programmes.

Commenting on Sarah’s appointment, Marie-Claire Barker says, “Sarah has the perfect blend of operational and strategic HR excellence. We are really looking forward to working with her on partnering with our regional management board to drive a culture of change across the EMEA region, to support our talent manifesto and market the MEC employer brand to existing and new talent.”

Sarah Homer says, “I have always been fascinated to understand how organisations, cultures and people behave and the influence they can have on business performance. I am passionate about the contribution and role of HR in aligning this and creating an environment where people can be creative and brave enough to create something special for our clients.

She says, “MEC's ambitious and innovative talent manifest of ‘Don’t just live. Thrive.’ is truly alive within the organisation and I believe it's a real game changer for our industry. It has captured my imagination and I could not resist the opportunity to be part of its development and work in partnership with our people to create a different and unique proposition for talent. I'm delighted and honoured to be part of the MEC management team and look forward to working with them."

Alastair Aird, global COO and CEO for EMEA, says, “I’m delighted to welcome Sarah to MEC. She’s a seasoned talent professional with great experience across Europe, working at the senior management level. Her insights and partnership skills will be invaluable as we continue to grow this, our largest region, developing our employer brand across very diverse markets.”