Our Team
Extensive Experience
Business and Client Experience
Kate van der Sluis FREC CertIHR
Co-Founder & Director
Kate founded Humber HR People to do HR differently — by putting people, community and regional prosperity at the heart of every conversation. With a BA in English and Psychology and over 20 years advising private and public sector organisations across Yorkshire and the Humber, she leads a specialist team across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
She’s a firm believer in local, sustainable supply chains and champions female entrepreneurship, neurodiversity in the workplace, and education and skills.
Outside of work… Mum to two brilliant girls. Outside of work, you’ll usually find Kate in a lake somewhere, at a live music gig, or enjoying a decent glass of red with good company around a campfire.
Kellie Calvert MHRM, MCIPD
Co-Founder & Director
Kellie has over 25 + years’ HR experience across the UK, Europe and the US. She founded her own HR Consultancy more than 8 + years ago with a clear vision: to challenge traditional HR thinking and show that HR should be an enabler of business growth, not a barrier to it.
She co-designed the Growth HR Model, built on a simple belief that compliance provides the foundations for strong employer and employee relationships, investing in managers is key to business success, and businesses can access high-impact HR support without the need for a full-time HR function.
Outside of work…Kellie is mum to two amazing children, is usually up before 5 am, loves all things health and fitness, and firmly believes that life is all about balance – preferably with a little champagne and chocolate thrown in.
Jess Kilpatrick
Senior HR Partner
Jess has over 10 years of experience, progressing from HR Assistant to HR Business Partner across the oil and gas and social housing sectors. She holds a Level 5 CIPD qualification and a BSc degree in Psychology with Criminology, which has fuelled her natural curiosity about people and their behaviour. She thrives on being a true partner to the leaders she supports, combining commercial understanding with clear, honest advice to find practical solutions that work. Jess is particularly passionate about coaching and development, helping individuals and leaders build confidence, capability and achieve their potential. Employee relations, organisational change and project work are her favourite areas of HR.
Jess prides herself on being authentic, acting with integrity, and building strong relationships.
Outside of work... you’ll usually find Jess in the outdoors with her dog Murphy. She also loves gardening (especially growing vegetables), boxing at her women’s boxing class, baking for family and friends, and planning her next trip somewhere!
Victoria Poppleton
HR Partner - CIPD Level 5
Victoria is Associate CIPD with 10 years of experience supporting SMEs across the manufacturing, logistics, and retail sectors. Having previously managed a customer complaints team, she brings strong problem-solving and people-management skills to her role. Victoria is passionate about making HR straightforward and accessible.
She’s positive, straight-talking, and unflinchingly focused on the best outcome for the client.
Outside of work… You’ll usually find Victoria spending time with Family at the beach, going on hiking adventures with the dog, or at a Beer festival with friends.
Sarah Allen
HR Coordinator - CIPD Level 5
Sarah holds a degree in psychology and is CIPD Level 5-qualified, with experience across occupational health, engineering, and construction.
She’s customer-focused, proactive, and brings a genuine interest in workplace wellbeing to every client conversation.
Outside of work – you’ll usually find Sarah out running, enjoying weekends away, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Anna Narin
HR Advisor
Anna has 10+ years in HR within fast-paced, customer-focused environments and is CIPD Level 3 qualified, with a strong generalist skillset built across the full employee lifecycle. She’s also led teams directly in a business leadership role — which gives her a hands-on read on the real-world tension between commercial performance and good people management, and a knack for helping clients make confident, fair decisions.
Outside of work… You’ll find Anna spending quality time with her family, catching up with friends over good food and getting a little too competitive over board and card games.
Sophie Smith
Client Growth Lead
With a background spanning leadership in the criminal justice system, strategic business development, and family-run retail and manufacturing, Sophie understands business operations from the inside out.
As a business owner, she knows firsthand that straightforward HR advice and robust systems are vital to sustainable management and growth. At Humber HR People, she combines her passion for strategic development with a deep understanding of people management to help businesses thrive.
Outside of work… Sophie is a busy mum of three. She stays energised with early morning gym sessions and walks, loves socialising with friends and family, and enjoys unwinding with good music and a glass of wine.
Jade Beal
Client Engagement Executive
Jade joined us from London, where she worked across events, technology and hospitality, including fast-paced start-up and scale-up environments. She’s friendly, goal-driven and brilliant at building the kind of client relationships that mean people pick up the phone for a chat, not just a query.
Outside of work… You’ll usually find Jade at an aerobics class, enjoying a walk and a coffee or baking sweet treats at home (all while thinking about Disney!).
Jill Gilby
Company Ambassador
Jill has a BA (Hons) in Business and Management and an MA in Education, and spent 20+ years teaching business management, including business planning for start-up SMEs and the PGCE for the voluntary and community sector. She’s since moved into quality assurance and compliance.
Having run her own business, she knows first-hand how much rests on managing a leadership team well, and she’s passionate about helping organisations invest in their people properly.
Outside of work… When not networking, you can find Jill juggling washing, ironing, and managing changeovers at her holiday lets. At home, she’ll be pottering in the garden, listening to music, and going to gigs.
Becky Genney
Client Engagement Executive
Becky holds a BA (Hons) in Business Management with experience in customer service, training, education, and quality assurance. She has led operations and staff training in the leisure industry, managed community and work-based learning projects in the social enterprise sector, and recently overseen vocational qualifications and quality assurance as Assistant Principal for Quality at a special school.
Her career shows a passion for learning, people development, and driving quality improvement.
Outside of work… You’ll find Becky taking a walk, stopping for the occasional beer, and volunteering at a local dog shelter in beautiful Portugal.
Alison Keeble
Personal Assistant
Alison brings 20+ years from the aviation industry making her great at customer service, recruitment and executive support.
She also has experience in primary schools and a stint as a swim teacher.
She’s warm, professional, and the person who makes sure nothing gets dropped between the cracks.
Outside of work… You`ll find Alison in a yoga class or being a dog mum, looking after her dog by taking her on plentiful walks.
Jo Pinkney FCIM
Marketing Manager
Jo is our Fractional Marketing Manager and brings over 25 years of experience across education, training and a wide range of other sectors. Jo is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has provided fractional support to a range of businesses since establishing her business in 2015. Jo developed our new brand and website and works alongside our business and client experience team to help us tell the Humber HR story.
Outside of work…. you’ll find Jo spending time with her family and beloved red Labrador Teddy. She is known to love a beach holiday and checking flight prices, usually with a glass of wine in her hand.
Why Join Our Team
Team
Culture
Progression
Radical
Flexibility
