Speakers

David Edwards is an internationally recognised expert and one of the leading global voices in Strategic Workforce Planning, known for designing practical, impactful approaches that connect people, data, and strategy. He’s also renowned for combining hard-won practitioner insight with a sharp wit and a deep sense of how organisations really work – and often, how they don’t.

He is currently Global Head of Workforce Planning at Ericsson, where he has built and implemented a global SWP framework from the ground up – as a team of one.

David’s earlier career spans leadership roles across technology, banking and consulting. At NatWest Group, he led a strategic workforce management programme – one of the earliest of its kind – that has since reduced costs by hundreds of millions through smarter fulfilment, workforce mobility, and planning innovation. His background is an eclectic one, having also worked in finance, consulting and operations in organisations ranging from the UK National Health Service to startup software ventures. He has experienced triumphs and disasters, and treasures both for what they’ve taught him.

A passionate advocate for making workforce planning practical, human, and actually useful, David has spent much of his career helping businesses bridge the gap between ambition and execution. His work focuses on helping leaders make better long-term decisions about people, skills, cost and capability – without drowning in process or jargon.

He is a member of the Workforce Planning Institute’s Global Standards Committee and a regular co-chair of its London conference. A sought-after speaker and writer on workforce strategy, David’s writing is known for its clarity, wit and refusal to accept lazy orthodoxy, with a distinctive voice that is part strategist, part storyteller, and part disbelieving onlooker.

Originally from Suffolk, David is a lifelong supporter of Ipswich Town FC and claims (with some justification) that the club’s fluctuating fortunes have given him a grounding in hope, realism and improbability – surprisingly useful qualities for a workforce planner.

 He has long since retired from golf, sings soul and blues when anywhere near a microphone and remains unsure how his professional life ended up involving discussions about fish cakes.

David lives in Hampshire UK with his wife of forty years, Fiona, and his yappy dog Dylan.