Collette Roche is the Chief Operating Officer at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. She held a number of senior HR positions at large companies before becoming one of the small number of women who hold boardroom roles with Premier League football teams. In 2018, she was listed by ''Vogue'' as one of the 25 "most influential women working in Britain".

Career

Roche grew up in Lancashire, and attended

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

, graduating from BBA Management with German in 1997. After her studies, she took up a role in employee relations at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, as part of the company's HR graduate scheme. In 1999, she moved to

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

, where she was a HR executive, then in 2002 she became a HR Manager for commercial and international business at United Utilities. After seven years at United Utilities, Roche joined

Manchester Airports Group Manchester Airport Holdings Limited, trading as MAG (originally Manchester Airports Group) is a holding company which is owned by the ten metropolitan borough councils of Greater Manchester, in North West England, and Australian investment fun ...

, holding positions as chief of staff and acting managing director. In spring 2018, Roche was appointed Chief Operating Officer at

. She is also currently a board member of Northern Powerhouse and a non-executive director at

JW Lees Brewery J.W. Lees & Co (Brewers) Ltd is a brewery and pub company in Middleton, Greater Manchester, that has produced real ale since 1828. The brewery owns and operates 150 pubs, inns and hotels mainly in North West England and North Wales. It also o ...

Recognition

* 2015: Ranked at 31 in Northwest '' Business Insider'' Women 100 list. * 2017: Listed as one of "100 inspirational women from Greater Manchester" by the '' Manchester Evening News''. * 2018: Listed as one of the 25 "most influential women working in Britain" in ''Vogue''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Collette Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English women in business Alumni of Lancaster University English businesspeople