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Emma Leonis-Hughes, Client Executive Director

Emma specialises in global, large-scale and complex end-to-end HR change programmes. She spent over 10 years at Deloitte before joining LACE Partners in early 2018 as Client Executive Director. Emma works with Chief People Officers and their leadership teams to develop their people strategies and help them drive business value – be that designing the HR operating model around the employee experience, optimising HR service delivery through improved use of digital tools or through building HR’s capability.

She is passionate about HR and challenging, inspiring and motivating HR leaders to achieve more. As part of this, Emma leads LACE’s thought leadership into the future of HR service delivery and operating models. For example, LACE’s bi-annual HR Shared Services trends reports which began in 2020, the ‘HR on the Offensive’ whitepaper and currently LACE’s ‘Demystifying the HR operating model’ campaign.

Skills

  • HR operating model assessment and design
  • HR operating model implementation
  • HR transformation
  • Business case development
  • Shared services
  • Solution design
  • Employee experience
  • Organisation design
  • Change management

Reach out to us to see what opportunities we have available

Insights. Our latest thought leadership, including blogs, webinars, podcasts and videos.
Event
JGA and LACE Fantasy Premier League 2025/26
JGA and LACE Fantasy Premier League 2025/26

Back for its second season: The JGA and LACE Fantasy Premier League (FPL)! LACE Partners has once again teamed up with JGA Recruitment to bring some footballing fun to the HR and Payroll communities with our free-to-enter Fantasy Premier League (FPL)...

Blog
EU AI Act – HR, are you prepared?
EU AI Act – HR, are you prepared?

The clock is ticking. With the EU AI Act coming into force in August 2025, HR leaders, transformation directors, CIOs face a critical question: are we ready?   This landmark legislation isn’t just another compliance hurdle; it’s a significant shift in how...

Podcast
Can HR play a role in driving business transformation?
Can HR play a role in driving business transformation?

What does it really take for HR to become a driving force in business transformation? In this episode of the HR on the Offensive podcast, Chris Howard and founder of LACE Partners, Aaron Alburey, dive into findings from our latest research into HR’s role in...