Andrew Francks
CHRO Chief of Staff & Global Talent & Leadership Strategy Director, IHG Hotels & Resorts
Andrew is currently Chief of staff to the Global CHRO at IHG Hotels & Resorts and leads the Talent & Leadership strategy workstream globally. IHG is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good, operating 18 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes. IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline. Over 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally. In his role, Andrew supports the development of the Global HR plan, continuous improvement activities across HR function and running the communications and engagement strategy across HR.
Andrew has also held roles at IHG as the Global Director for Talent & Performance and the Global Director for Early Careers. Prior to IHG, Andrew worked for Yum! Brands for 6 years in multiple roles including Group HR Director for a large Franchise partner, leading Global Learning for the KFC Brand while based in the US, Head of Learning for KFC UK & Ireland and various HR Business partner roles. Prior to this Andrew worked for Marks & Spencers for 5 years, working in Retail, Head Office and Logistics Learning & Development roles.
Andrew is an experienced generalist HR, talent and learning professional having worked in both international retail and global hospitality companies whilst based in the UK and the US. He has a strong learning and development background having been responsible for national and global learning and talent strategies. He recently launched the IHG Skills Academy for IHG Hotels & Resorts, an open-source online skills building and education platform aiming to upskill the next generation of hospitality talent facing barriers to entry, for free, across the world. The platform is currently available in multiple languages and can be accessed at www.ihgskillsacademy.com.
