Hall of Fame - Emerging Practitioner of the Year Award
The HR profession is at its best when new talent brings fresh ideas and the drive to match
The Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year Award shines a spotlight on those early-career HR professionals who are already making their mark. With less than four years in the profession, these are the individuals who bring fresh energy, sharp thinking, and real impact to their organisations, and who show every sign of becoming the HR leaders of tomorrow.
Holding accreditation as an Accredited Professional, past winners have demonstrated that experience isn't the only measure of excellence. Their capability and commitment to the craft have set them apart from the very beginning of their careers.
We're proud to celebrate those who have received this recognition, and to support the next wave of HR talent as they make their mark.
Are you an HR professional on the rise? If you've been working for four or less years and hold Accredited Professional status, this award could be yours. Find out more about the upcoming awards and how to apply.
Emerging Practitioner of the Year Award winners
Caitlin Ward, Danone Nutricia
Emerging HR Practitioner 2025
As an HR Coordinator and a student pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Management, majoring in Human Resource Management, Caitlin supports the end-to-end employee lifecycle with a proactive approach. Caitlin's exceptional emotional intelligence and heart-led leadership style make her the go-to person for the Balclutha site.
Caitlin’s work significantly impacted the culture and engagement at the Balclutha site. She has been instrumental in the Digital Manufacturing Acceleration project, aiming to improve productivity by $1.7 million NZD. Caitlin was a key facilitator and champion of the Danone Behaviours Training, driving culture team initiatives, and raising Danone EVP through community initiatives.
Grace Coffey, Massey University in Palmerston North
Emerging HR Practitioner 2024
Grace is the Senior Employee Relations Advisor at Access Community Health | Hauora Tara-Ā-Whare. Grace joined the HR Profession two years' ago after graduating with degrees in Law and Human Resources and has recently moved into the position of Senior Employee Relations Advisor. Grace is passionate about creating a fair and inclusive workplace for all Access Kaimahi. Her goal is to address the barriers that prevent this and create a workplace where people are 100% human at work. She is also passionate about building capability and knowledge in our regional teams, so they are confident in their own abilities.
Jason Cook, Mt Pokaka Timber products Ltd
Emerging HR Practitioner 2023, in association with MAS
Kia Ora my name is Jason Cook recently promoted HR Manager for Mt Pokaka Timber Products Ltd a NZ owned, outdoor timber processing plant in Kerikeri, Northland, NZ. The HR profession allows me to critically think about solutions to challenges faced by my organization. Extremely rewarding when those solutions create positive change within the organization. A profession that I fell into and learned to love and enjoy immensely as I deal with every single one of our 116 employees from the beginning in attracting them, all the way through until the end of the employee life cycle. I would like to thank my employer and whanau in supporting me on my professional HR journey.
Abbigail Surridge CMHRNZ, Blue River Dairy
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2022, in association with MAS
Having left school at 15, Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year winner Abbigail Surridge (Blue River Dairy) spent the past 3 years learning the foundation and fundamentals of HR – self-taught by reading, watching videos/podcasts and reflecting. Abbigail was a key member of the team that helped Blue River Dairy achieve Visa Accreditation through immigration. Then, in September last year, Abbigail gained Chartered Member accreditation, a great achievement that demonstrates her passion for and total commitment to the human resources profession.
Sona Valesyan, Tonkin + Taylor
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2021
Sona Vaelsyan from Tonkin + Taylor was awarded the Emerging HR Practitioner Award. The judges were impressed with Sona’s willingness to take on specialist tasks such as involvement in wellbeing and diversity and inclusion teams. She also operates significantly outside of the business involving herself in many external groups relating to HR and engineering and in community groups particularly focussing on youth and employment.
Sophie John, Cedenco Foods NZ
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2020
As an HR Practitioner, I consider myself incredibly lucky to be working within an industry that I am so passionate about. Being earlyin my career, I have been fortunate to have gained a great deal of experience and exposure in my various roles.One of my strengths is my ability to build relationships and understand motivations. I am passionate about developing people andworking to grow them to their full potential.Working within Operations, I enjoy seeing the tangible outcomes of HR practices, and strongly believe in our ability to improveproductivity and outputs through HR initiatives.
Heidi Gillingham, AJ Hackett Bungy NZ
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2019
After taking an unconventional path into the HR profession, which saw me travelling the world, working in variousroles within the Recreation, Leisure, Hospitality & Tourism industries, I am loving my role as Recruitment & TrainingOfficer with one of NZ's most iconic Tourism Operators. I am inspired to continually improve all aspects of HR withinthe organisation. Having settled in Queenstown 8 years ago, I honed my HR skillset in positions such as InternshipManager at Queenstown Resort College & am relishing the chance to offer assistance to others developing their ownHR capabilities, through local involvement with the Queenstown HRINZ chapter & Chamber of Commerce HR PilotScheme.
Sarah Geraghty, Grant Thornton New Zealand Ltd
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2018
Newly graduated and with a number of years of administration experience, Sarah commenced employment at Grant Thornton New Zealand as our People and Culture Team Co-ordinator in March 2015. In a very short time frame she has set about learning and developing a broad range of HR competencies at levels well beyond her years of experience. Starting with payroll and HR administration duties, she quickly progressed to advisory responsibilities and leading national HR projects; she now leads the Learning and Development function. Sarah has a high level of credibility within the business, and very strong relationships built on trust with Partners and wider team members.
Amy Bonham, Auckland Council
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2017, in association with Melbourne Business School
Amy is barely one year out of the highly successful Auckland Council Graduate Programme, yet she is already leading and participating in the most complex and exciting projects the People and Capability function has seen since its amalgamation.
Having worked in many areas of HR through her graduate programme rotations, she already has a well-rounded view of the contribution HR practice can make. Since being promoted from the Graduate Programme Amy has secured some challenging projects, including working directly for the People and Capability Director on a complex restructure, and working alongside both EY and Deloitte on organisation-wide projects.
Sarah Barrow
Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year 2016
Sarah has achieved meteoric career progression since she joined Beca in January 2014. From Coordinator to Advisor, then to Business Partner within 18 months. Her ability and application defies her tenure. Strategic in nature, she has created step change within her business line leadership teams. With a natural intuition when it comes to business partnering, she continuously finds ways to build leadership capability which influences better outcomes for our business. Sarah offers a glimpse at the future of HR – using research in new fields of thought to influence and shape the future.