Management Team

Chris Sandham, Chairman

Before joining SHL, Chris led the buy out of Castlebeck Care Group, a specialist provider of psychiatric services, backed by HgCapital.  It was sold this year achieving the second best returns enjoyed by HgCapital.  Preceding Castlebeck, Chris was CEO of Priory Healthcare Group, Europe’s leading group of psychiatric hospitals.  The HgCapital operation was successfully sold in 2000.

Before the Priory, Chris spent seven years as Corporate Services Director of Grand Metropolitan, now Diageo, with worldwide responsibilities of HR, Legal Services and Corporate Affairs.  During that time he chaired a number of business units and overseas affiliates including Bombay Sapphire Gin Co.  He was appointed to the Board in November 2006.

Dr John Bateson, Chief Executive Officer

Prior to joining SHL John was with the CAP Gemini Group, most recently as a Senior Vice President and practice leader in Gemini Consulting.  He has a first degree from Imperial College and an MBA from the London Business School.  He also has a DBA from the Harvard Business School.  He was appointed to the Board on 4 September 2000.

Emma Lancaster, Finance Director

Emma is a Chartered Accountant and prior to joining SHL she was Director of Finance and Business Development at The Rank Group.  Previously she was employed as Worldwide Financial Controller for the Global Corporate Finance business at Arthur Andersen.  She was appointed to the Board on 19 November 2001.

Lisa Stone, Non-Executive Director

Lisa, who is in charge of the portfolio management team, joined HgCapital in 1999.  She was previously at LucasVarity for three years where, as Director of Strategy and Business Planning, she was closely involved in the disposal of LucasVarity to TRW.  Prior to that she was a management consultant with both Kalchas and Bain & Co.

Lisa was involved in the investments in Profiad, Tunstall, Newchurch and Match. She is also a director on the board of Sporting Index, Addison Software, IRIS Software and Newchurch, and a non-executive director of Remploy.

Lisa holds a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University.  She was appointed to the Board in November 2006.

Robin Lincoln, Non-Executive Director

Robin is Head of the Services Sector at HgCapital.

Robin joined HgCapital in 2001 from ISIS Private Equity where he worked for four years. Robin is a director on the board of Clarion Events, the UK’s leading independent exhibition organiser. 

He qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Anderson and gained a first in Economics and Accounting from Bristol University. He was appointed to the Board in November 2006.

Suzanna Barrett, Company Secretary and Head of Legal Affairs

Suzanna, a UK barrister and solicitor, joined SHL in 2004. She was previously with Wragge & Co and is a commercial lawyer with extensive experience in advising large international clients on infrastructure and outsourcing projects. She was appointed as Company Secretary on 1 August 2005.

David Leigh, Chief Commercial Officer

David joined SHL from Steria, a major French IT Services company employing 18,000 people in 16 countries. David was a member of the Executive Committee and Group BPO Director and UK Business Development and Commercial Director.

Prior to Steria, David was the Group Business Development and Commercial Director at Xansa plc.  David’s early career was as a corporate lawyer with Herbert Smith, a consultant at McKinsey & Co and a Director of iFormation Group, a private equity fund owned by Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic Partners and the Boston Consulting Group. 

David has an MA from Trinity College, Cambridge and was appointed to the SHL board in March 2008.

Prof. Dave Bartram, Research Director

Dave is SHL Research Director. In this role he is responsible for long-term strategic research projects and for exploring ways in which current scientific advances can be turned into applied assessment technologies.  He joined SHL in 1998, having been a Faculty Dean and Professor of Psychology at the University of Hull.  He is Chair of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Steering Committee on Test Standards and Chair of the EFPA Standing Committee on Tests and Testing.  He is President of the International Association of Applied Psychology's Division 2 (Measurement and Assessment) and a past-President of the International Test Commission.  He recently received the BPS award for Distinguished Contribution to Professional Psychology.  He has been widely published in a range of areas relating to occupational assessment, especially in relation to computer-based testing.

Eugene Burke, Director of Design & Innovation

Eugene is responsible for global product design and innovation for SHL. In this role, he is responsible for innovations in new products as well as the business processes through which psychometric models are applied and products delivered. Eugene leads the SHL programs for online ability testing. He joined SHL in 1998 having previously served as a military psychologist.  As a consultant, Eugene has developed senior manager and executive development programs for major corporates.  He is Chair of the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology Committee.  Eugene has also chaired the BPS Steering Committee on Test Standards leading on guidelines for fair testing and computer-based testing and was a Council Member of the International Test Commission.  He has authored several articles, book chapters and books covering psychometrics, computer and Internet testing, training and pilot selection.

Prof. Ronald Hambleton

Ronald is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts, USA. He has served as a Council Member and President of the International Test Commission and he is the past-President of the Measurement and Evaluation Division of the International Association of Applied Psychology. His current research interests include computer-based testing issues and test designs, item response theory, development of methods for setting standards on performance assessments, methods and guidelines for adapting tests from one language and culture to another, and implementation issues in large-scale assessment programs.

Prof. Robert Roe

Robert is Professor of Organisational Theory and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. He has been Professor of Work & Organisational Psychology at the Dutch universities of Delft, Tilburg and Nijmegen, director of the Work and Organization Research Center in Tilburg and of the Netherlands Aeromedical Institute, and organisational consultant. Robert is founding president of the European Association of Work & Organisational Psychology (1991). Robert has a long track record in HRM Methods. Robert holds a masters degree in Psychology and a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam.

Prof. Peter Warr

Peter is Professor Emeritus in the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield.  He was previously Director of the Social and Applied Psychology Unit at that university.  The recipient of three awards of the British Psychological Society for distinguished contributions to the development of the discipline, he has worked with a large number of employing organisations and has published many books and articles across the range of occupational psychology.  Areas of particular expertise include the measurement of psychological variables, personality and work behaviour, organisational climate, employee well-being and effectiveness, and ageing in work settings.

Prof. Filip Lievens

Filip Lievens received his Ph.D from Ghent University, Belgium and is currently Professor at the Department of Personnel Management and Work and Organizational Psychology at the same university. He is the author of over 100 articles in the areas of organizational attractiveness, high-stakes testing, and selection including assessment centers, situational judgment tests, and web-based assessment. He was a past book review editor for the International Journal of Selection and Assessment and serves as editorial board member for seven journals. He is currently treasurer for the Organizational Psychology Division of the International Association for Applied Psychology. Filip has received several awards including the Best Paper Award from the International Personnel Management Association (2001), the Distinguished Early Career Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2006), and the Douglas W. Bray - Ann Howard Award (2007).

Dr. James Jian-Min Sun

Dr. James Jian-Min Sun is a professor of management and associate dean at the School of Labor and Human Resources in Renmin University of China, Beijing. He holds a Ph.D in psychology from Beijing Normal University and is a member of the Academy of Management, the International Association of Applied Psychology, the International Association of China Management Research (Founding member), the Asian Academy of Management and the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Sun’s research focuses on the measurement and assessment of individual characteristics; personality and performance; competency modeling and effectiveness; strategic human resource management. His work has been published in a number of journals including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior and Leadership and Organization Development Journal. In addition to teaching and research Dr. Sun provides consultancy to a number of international businesses.