Board of Directors

Bob is Emeritus Professor of Human Resource Development, University of Wolverhampton, UK.  His main research interest focuses on perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness within public and private sector organizations within the UK and 17 other countries.  Bob has authored/co-authored 52 peer-reviewed journal articles and contributed 32 chapters to various HRD-related books.  He is author of Universalistic Models of Managerial and Leadership Effectiveness (VDM Verlag Dr Muller, 2009), and lead co-editor of Organizational Change and Development: A reflective guide for managers, trainers and developers (FT Prentice Hall, 2001) and Evidence-Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development (IGI Global, 2019).

Working with the initial joint sponsors of the IJHRD sponsors (the UFHRD and the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations) Rick was instrumental in the launch of the Journal and was its founding editor.

Rick’s career in HR began with Cadbury Schweppes where he was an industrial relations officer and then a training manager in the confectionery division.  He subsequently spent nearly 30 years with Leeds Beckett University (formerly Leeds Polytechnic). During this time he published extensively in and around his principal research interest of workplace learning. He is a co-author of the leading HRD textbook ‘HRD: Theory & Practice’.

He was Editor of the Journal ‘Education & Training’ for 20 years and more recently has been the newsletter Editor with IFTDO and the European Association of People Management. Now semi-retired he maintains a role as Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool John Moors University.

Bob is a senior international HR professional with extensive experience in International Human Resources Leadership and Organizational Development. Bob has lived in the UK, USA, Switzerland and Germany and worked on HR and organizational change and capability projects across the world.    

Bob is President of the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). He is also Chair of CIPD Enterprises Ltd Board (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) in the UK and is a Chartered Companion of the CIPD. He is past President of the European Association of People Management (EAPM) and is currently Secretary General of EAPM.

He has strong practitioner academic links internationally and edited and co-authored a book on International HRM, ‘The Global HR Manager’ with Professor Pat Joynt. He is past Vice Chair of the Governing Council of Bristol University and was chair of the University’s HR and HSE Committee.