Athalie Williams on leading enterprise transformation – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

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Putting people at the centre of change

For Athalie Williams, meaningful transformation starts with people. Over more than three decades, she has led complex change across global organisations in the resources, telecommunications, and financial services sectors, always with a focus on aligning people, strategy, and performance.

In senior executive and board-level roles, Williams has guided large-scale organisational shifts by embedding workforce strategy into the heart of enterprise transformation. Her philosophy is grounded in the belief that lasting change requires investment in capability, culture, and leadership, alongside operational and technological evolution.

Shaping BT Group’s shift to a modern tech business

As Chief HR Officer and Executive Committee member at BT Group, Williams played a key role in enabling the company’s transition from a telecommunications provider to a modern technology business. This enterprise-wide shift impacted over 115,000 employees globally and was anchored by a long-term workforce strategy that aligned with BT’s digital and commercial priorities.

Williams helped drive the development of a future-ready capability strategy rooted in innovation, customer focus, and agility. Her work integrated strategic workforce planning, hybrid working models, and performance systems that supported the organisation through sustained change. She also contributed to enterprise-level decision-making around transformation risk, productivity, and long-term value creation.

Transforming operating models at BHP

Before BT, Williams served as Chief People Officer and Executive Leadership Team member at BHP, where she led the people and culture aspects of a major operating model transformation. The effort sought to simplify structures, lift efficiency, and create a more connected and agile organisation across a workforce of more than 80,000 people.

Her remit included redesigning the HR function, introducing new service delivery models, and implementing digital tools to improve talent management, learning, and workforce analytics. These changes contributed to both cost effectiveness and stronger strategic alignment. Williams also led BHP’s ground-breaking work on gender balance, supporting the company’s aspiration for gender parity by 2025 and embedding governance and accountability into inclusive leadership efforts.

Building long-term capability and workforce readiness

Across both organisations, Williams championed a strategic approach to workforce planning – connecting business needs with long-term capability development. At BHP, she led the consolidation of multiple capability models into a single enterprise-wide framework and introduced Digital Fluency programmes to raise baseline digital skills across all levels.

These efforts helped position both organisations for future growth, supported innovation readiness, and formed part of broader enterprise strategies for risk, succession, and performance.

Leading through crisis

Williams’ leadership was especially tested during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she served on BHP’s global crisis management team. She helped in accelerating flexible work practices and shifting to outcome-based performance models that helped the organisation remain agile and resilient. Her work reinforced the importance of leadership, governance, and adaptability in uncertain times.

Looking ahead

As she moves into a portfolio career, Williams brings a strategic lens to enterprise transformation, emphasising the critical role of culture, capability, and strategy alignment in navigating disruption and creating long-term value.

Her experience underscores the importance of people-centred transformation in an era shaped by digital disruption, evolving workforce expectations, and increased scrutiny from stakeholders. For Williams, successful transformation is not simply about structural change, it’s about creating workplaces for extraordinary performance, where people matter, and where they can grow, contribute, and lead lasting impact.



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