Kathryn Ward

I joined Wessex Archaeology as a Trustee in 2025, bringing my people and culture expertise to support the Trustees, Executive, and HR team through the main Board and Remuneration Committee.

My passion for anything heritage and historical grew from an early curiosity into an undergraduate History degree at Worcester College, Oxford, where I had the privilege of studying under some of the greats of early medieval history and archaeology, including Prof James Campell and Dr Peter Heather. My enthusiasm for history developed into a love for archaeology after two summers wielding a trowel for the St Albans’ Cathedral dig team, under Prof Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, followed by a Master’s degree under Dr Helena Hamerow.  

Since my student days, I have spent my career as a recruiter in the UK and Germany, an HR professional across the UK and continental Europe with UBS and Sotheby’s, where I also led our CSR activities, and since 2019 as Chief People Officer for the well-loved disability charity Guide Dogs.  

My current role covers our employed and volunteer workforces, our culture including alignment to our strategy, accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and the effectiveness of our leadership teams. I’m proud of our increased staff engagement, the establishment of an Academy to train our unique technical workforce and the impact we have every day, enabling people with sight loss across the UK to live the life they choose. Since 2017, I have been an external advisor to the management team at Worcester College, Oxford, sitting on the Audit and Risk Committee, HR Committee and Remuneration Committee.

I am deliberate about combining inclusive practices and authentic leadership and believe strongly in the opportunity for great HR and Managers to drive commercial success and individual engagement. I enjoy demystifying the constituent actions that allow you to create an incredible organisational culture by design rather than accident. I believe in kindness, transparency, sharing the credit, education, and that people are the best asset for any charity. My family will also confirm that on every holiday I plan we conveniently stumble upon stone circles, Roman ruins, castles, tumuli, Iron Age fortifications -the list goes on - and that I can be easily held hostage by a historic information board.