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Meet the judge

Meet judge, Louise Atkinson 

Louise Atkinson, Chief People Officer at Babcock International Group

Louise is Babcock International Group’s Chief People Officer and leads the Global People Strategy across a workforce of 25,000 globally. As an operator and business leader, she is passionate about creating a workplace where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best work to deliver Babcock’s important operational outputs.

Before this role Louise was Managing Director of the Through-Life Equipment Support business within the Land Sector of Babcock. This business delivers strategic asset management for a broad range of specialist vehicle fleets in both Defence (the British Army and UK MOD) and National Resilience (London Fire Brigade) in the UK and globally.

Louise has also worked in a diverse range of sectors. After graduating with a degree in Psychology she started her career in Financial Services, and then traversed the varied sectors of Construction, Hospitality, Training and Civil Nuclear. Over this time, she has carried out a range of roles focussed in Supply Chain and Operations. Louise joined Babcock in 2013 in a Supply Chain role and went on to run the Civil Training business, before moving into Defence in 2020. In 2021 Louise was appointed the first female MD in Babcock. Louise is an elected councillor of the Confederation of British Industry, representing industry in the shaping of government policy, sitting on both the London Council and the Public Sector Partners Council.

Louise recently became a published author, with Her Voice: the curated wisdom of brilliant women being launched in November 2024 and quickly charting in multiple categories. Her Voice is a powerful collection of personal accounts, offering a glimpse into the lives of women doing extraordinary things