Katie Saunders has been appointed as Group People Director at the Devonshire Group, the company that represents the interests, charities and businesses of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.
Having been operating at board level for the past 15 years in High Street retail and during 20 years in the motor industry, including Volkswagen UK and Audi UK, Katie Saunders joins the Devonshire Group with responsibility for more than 1400 employees spread across 65,000 acres at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, the Compton estate in Sussex, and Lismore in the Republic of Ireland.
Katie Saunders: “I’m genuinely excited by the challenge. My experience is very broad, which I think will be important given the Devonshire Group includes such a variety of businesses from visitor attractions, shops, restaurants and luxury accommodation to farming and forestry, and property development.
“Although there are many different job roles and responsibilities, it's very clear that there is a strong, shared passion for the organisation and its values, at all levels. Part of my role will be to share my experience and expertise in Learning and Development, and particularly Management Development and Leadership, to enable everybody to make the very best of their skills and reach their full potential.”
“Some great work has been done to introduce young people and apprentices to the Devonshire Group through the Kickstart scheme and there’s more to come. To be an employer of choice we need to listen to our team and respond to their concerns so I’ll certainly be looking at issues like wellbeing and diversity to see what more we can do to further develop a modern, motivated and committed workforce.”
Brought up in Doncaster and now living in Chesterfield, Katie Saunders and her husband are frequent visitors to the Peak District and keen foodies. “We know Chatsworth well and often take walks across parts of the estate. For many years I’ve experienced first hand the professionalism, commitment and good humour of the people who work here - this really is my dream job,” she says.
Devonshire Group - www.devonshiregroup.co.uk
The Devonshire Group comprises the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s interests, charities and businesses throughout the UK and Ireland, including Chatsworth, which sits within the Derbyshire Estate, the Bolton Abbey Estate in North Yorkshire, the Lismore Estate in County Waterford, and the Compton Estate in Sussex.
The businesses include visitor attractions, shops, restaurants and luxury accommodation at Chatsworth, Bolton Abbey and in Lismore Castle in Ireland. The estates include tenanted businesses and residential property, a property development business with a pipeline of 2000 homes, sustainable forestry and farming businesses and an estate farm shop at Chatsworth. The Devonshire Group employs approximately 1,400 colleagues across their estates which are spread over 65,000 acres.
The group is committed to benefitting heritage, people and a shared future, by preserving, restoring and enhancing their heritage assets, by being a significant contributor to their communities and by being seen as a leader in the way they do things.
Devonshire Property Group
Devonshire Property Group is part of the portfolio of Devonshire Group businesses set up in 2016 to deliver the wider group's property ambitions in the management and development of both residential and commercial property.
The wider group’s ambitions are evidenced in the published ‘Our Commitment to our Shared Future, 10 goals for 10 years’ document, and specifically ‘Goal 1 – To enable the creation of 1000 homes for local families and 1000 jobs for local people’.
The Property Group has a pipeline of residential development sites in both Derbyshire and Yorkshire that will deliver over 2,000 new homes over a 20 year period. Creating good places for people to live and for communities to thrive. In addition, the Property Group has a pipeline of almost 100 acres of land suitable for various commercial, retail and leisure uses, that will provide valuable employment opportunities with spaces for businesses to grow.
Devonshire Property (Retail) Ltd
Devonshire Property Retail is a subsidiary company of Devonshire Property Group, and has been specifically established to manage, invest in and revitalise Peak Village in the village of Rowsley on the edge of the Peak District National Park and the Chatsworth Estate as part of a long term commitment to the local area and its economy by the wider Devonshire Group.
