Azma Broughton

Azma Broughton

Alumna for Year 13

Currently I am the Director of People and Development for Daniel Thwaites plc, which is a hospitality business based in the North West. As part of the Executive Board for the business, I am responsible for leading the People and Development agenda across the whole business which includes 22 beautiful Hotels and Inns and Head Office. We have 1400 colleagues in the business. I lead a People team who support me with the delivery of my vision and goals. I joined Daniel Thwaites in January 2020 so being part of a new business and being the People lead in the business during the pandemic has been the most challenging time of my career! I live in Longton, Lancashire, I am married (we recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary!). We have a 17 year old son who is studying second year A Levels.

BSc Hons Biomedical Sciences

MSc Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

Occupational testing qualifications with BPS (British Psychological Society Level 1 and 2)

MCIPD qualified (Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) D32 and D33 Vocational Qualifications in assessment and testing

25 years+ experience in various Senior HR and People Development roles in different businesses, mostly retail and leisure.

Also I have been fortunate enough to have held a senior Operational role heading up all of Central Operations for Booths Food Retail. This included leading the Logistics, Warehousing, Transport, Health and Safety and Supply divisions. I also held an Executive Board position when I did this role for Booths. This blend of Operational Experience and HR experience has really supported my own personal leadership journey to become a more rounded leader.

Always believe in yourself. When people tell you “you can’t”, find a way and show them you can! Set the highest aspirations for yourself that you can and as you meander through life, you will meet blockers, you will meet challenges, but believe you have the strength to get through those. Have courage and confidence. Know that unless you have the challenging moments in your life, you will not be able to learn so embrace difficulty, embrace change and you will be a much better person as a result. My overarching advice is this: be kind and be caring. Those values will definitely serve you right.