Meet Jo Spilsbury
Over 20 years in senior HR leadership, and one word keeps coming back from the people I've worked with: trust. As Jonathan Streeton, who worked with me at Saint-Gobain, put it: "She is calm precisely where it counts... the harder the room, the steadier she gets." Matt Pullen, CEO and former Managing Director at British Gypsum, adds: "Jo built strong, trusted relationships across operations and commercial teams, and was a steady, calming presence during the uncertainty of COVID-19."
That's the thread running through two decades of senior HR leadership: translating strategy into capability people actually use, and staying steady enough that the people around me can too.
Within that, a substantial thread of M&A and integration work at Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland, where deals were part of the regular operating rhythm, and structural change on a much larger scale in the public sector, including mergers of departments and workforce transitions spanning thousands of employees. Different scales, same principle: deal value protects itself when the people side is handled with care and judgment.
Those two decades span very different operating contexts: nearly eight years as Head of HR for Saint-Gobain's UK & Ireland business - the UK arm of a global multinational with 156,000 employees - and more than a decade inside a 7,000-plus-person public sector organization as Head of HR Strategy and Employee Relations, where the stakes were just as high and the judgment calls just as complex.
None of that means your business has to look anything like those to benefit from the same thinking. I take what actually works at scale and apply it right-sized for wherever you are now - not the version built for 7,000 people, the version built for you.
I build strong, trusted relationships at every level - from the factory floor to the boardroom - and if there's one thing people mention more than results, it's that I don't lose the human in the pressure, usually with a flash of humor thrown in. That's the thinking I bring to every business I work with now.
No network, no clients and no reputation in this market. Just 20+ years of experience and the conviction that what I'd built in the UK was worth something here too.
That turned out to be more true than I expected - and more humbling than I'd like to admit.
Building Mercate from scratch taught me that most business owners aren't struggling because they make poor decisions. The struggles come from not having the right support at the right moment. You're juggling HR responsibilities because there's nobody else to carry them. Handling the complaint, the resignation, the difficult manager, the compliance questions you're not sure about - on top of everything else you're supposed to be doing.
That's where I come in. If you want to know what that looks like in practice, take a look at my Services page - or just book a call and we’ll talk.
I moved to the US in 2022 and started over.
On the UK experience and why it’s relevant to you
UK employment law is genuinely complex - redundancy, TUPE transfers, collective consultation, protected characteristics. I spent my career working inside that framework, which means I bring a level of rigor most HR professionals only pick up the hard way.
Carole Mills, who I worked for during a period of significant pay equity and workforce change, put it this way: "Jo is a senior HR professional whom I trusted absolutely. Her advice was always clear, practical and robust."
When I work with businesses here, I bring that same rigor, calibrated for your context. I'm not here to make your business feel like a London or New York law firm - but the instinct for what matters, and what to do about it? I can do that.
What I’ve learned working with smaller businesses.
I know what HR looks like at scale. The governance structures, the strategy frameworks, the way a well-built people function operates.
What I’ve learned working with founders and leadership teams is that the principles don’t change - it’s just the proportions. You don’t need the apparatus of a large corporation. You need the thinking behind it, right-sized for where you actually are - built to last and not bolted on.
Most of the businesses I work with have never had proper senior HR support before. Not because they didn’t need it but because it wasn’t accessible.
What I've seen over more than 20 years - is what strong leadership does for a business. Teams perform better, challenges are addressed earlier, and people have the clarity and support they need to do their best work. What I've also seen is what happens when people practices don't evolve as businesses grow: managers aren't equipped for the challenges they face, decisions become inconsistent, and issues that could have been prevented become urgent.
What you’ll get from me.
I aim to be your trusted advisor. Not someone who tells you what you want to hear, and not someone who pushes their views on you either. Someone you can think out loud with - who brings a fresh perspective, gives you options with the reasoning behind them, and challenges your assumptions when it helps.
I'm calm and straight with you throughout. I don't pull punches but I don't force things either. My job is to help you find a way forward that you can stand behind.
I care whether my contribution lands, and whether the things we build together still fit when I'm not there. Your business reflects on me - and more than that, the people in it deserve to get this right.
I'm in this for the long haul if that's what you want. I'll act with integrity, tell you the truth as I see it, and bring a sense of humor to the harder parts of this work.