CIPHR, one of the UK’s leading providers of SaaS HCM solutions, has appointed two new members to its C-suite and board – Tracy Ellison and Claire Williams – ahead of what looks to be another year of strong growth.

Effective immediately, Ellison – the former UK MD of Adare International – joins CIPHR as its first chief customer officer, while CIPHR’s HR leader Williams takes on the newly-created role of chief people officer.

As chief customer officer, Ellison will be responsible for leading the customer-focused functions across the group, including the customer success and customer support teams. She brings decades of leadership experience to CIPHR, having previously held senior roles at outsourced marketing provider Adare, Wickland Westcott (now New Street Consulting Group), A4e (now part of Staffline, one of the largest Work Programme providers in the UK) and global recruitment firm Kelly Services, where she spent over 17 years – rising through the ranks to UK managing director.

As chief people officer, Williams will continue to lead the group’s people and development strategy, overseeing CIPHR’s HR function and HR consultancy services. In the three years since she joined, Williams has been a central figure in many of CIPHR’s key strategic projects.

Both Tracy Ellison and Claire Williams will report to CIPHR’s chief executive, Chris Berry.

CIPHR’s COO Matt Russell will continue to oversee all sales, marketing, and commercial roles across both new and existing business.

Chris Berry, CEO of CIPHR, says: “Both of these new appointments are instrumental to the future growth of the business and will expand the focus and representation of the customer and HR leadership at board level.

“We are delighted to welcome Tracy to CIPHR. She is an experienced senior executive and brings a wealth of experience to her role – helping to ensure that our customer-facing teams work seamlessly and effectively together to deliver an industry-leading customer experience. She will be a tremendous asset to the company.

“On behalf of the entire board, I would also like to recognise Claire’s contribution, expertise and success in being promoted to chief people officer. She will continue to play a key role in driving CIPHR’s own people strategy and helping our employees reach their full potential.”

Tracy Ellison, chief customer officer at CIPHR, says: “At a time when technology plays a crucial part in keeping us all connected, I’m delighted to be joining an organisation that has specialist technology and first-class customer support at the heart of its reason for being. I’m truly delighted to be joining such an innovative, creative team, with a tangible people culture where everyone can and does make a difference.”

Claire Williams, chief people officer at CIPHR, says: “I’m delighted to join the CIPHR board at this incredibly exciting time. My goal, as ever, is to support and develop a strong and truly inclusive company culture, ensuring that we invest in our employees to maximise their individual opportunities for success, which will, ultimately, help CIPHR go from strength to strength in the coming years.”

CIPHR’s ongoing investment in its business, technology, and people, has seen employee numbers rise by 19% in 2021. Over 200 employees now work across the Marlow-based group, which includes CIPHR, Digits Industries and Payroll Business Solutions (PBS).

CIPHR is a specialist provider of SaaS HR, learning, payroll and recruitment software through its HCM platform, CIPHR Connect. More than 600 organisations use CIPHR’s solutions globally across the public, private and non-profit sectors, with customers including British Museum, Bunzl UK, Cera Care, Claire’s Accessories UK, Met Office, The Cambridge Building Society, The University of Buckingham, and Volkswagen Group UK.

For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.