Interview with Gaenor Bagley: HR's commercial acumen

I n a way it looks quite odd that I’ve come into the role,” admits Gaenor Bagley, sitting in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ brand new building overlooking the Mayor of London’s office and Tower Bridge (see overleaf). “I’ve come up through the business. I’m currently on the tax leadership team and I run M&A tax – advising companies when they’re buying and selling other companies.” The hard-nosed nature of mergers and acquisitions is not the most people-orientated part of PwC. But therein lies the point. Bagley has, in a sense, led two parallel careers, purposefully keeping a “people part” to her role throughout – in order, she says, to “keep sane”. She has long been a staff partner for her team, a role that required her to take on management and personnel issues on the ground. She heads the women’s leadership programme, and has also undertaken special people projects for the board – most recently looking at graduate retention. All of which, says Bagley, “got me a lot of exposure”. When Ian Powell, chair and senior partner of PwC UK, asked her to take on the people partner role, she says she “jumped at it”.