James McDevitt

James McDevitt

Vice President of Human Resources
Internal HR
MRA Leadership
If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.
Richard Branson
 

James has been well travelled throughout his career, living and working in both the U.S. and the U.K. James has over 25 years’ progressive HR and international operations experience in a variety of small and large companies, including responsibility for up to 60 off-track betting shops for the U.K.’s largest betting company. James has used this business experience to forge genuine business partnerships with the leaders he has worked with in his HR career, to successfully grow and develop companies and their most valuable assets—their people!

Expertise

Throughout his career as a former international P&L manager turned HR executive, James has focused on building collaborative relationships across the business and served as a business partner involved in establishing blueprints for organizational success and well-being. Through cross-functional partnerships and keen business insights, James has transformed human resources organizations into strategic vehicles for growth.

James has extensive lean experience, including earning a Six Sigma Green Belt. James is process-oriented and data-driven in his approach to problem solving, while still making sure employees understand the big picture in order to do their best work. Deep talent acquisition and employee development experience round out his skill set.

Key Accomplishments

  • Change Leadership: Defined and led delivery of HR strategy for a privately owned engineering company. Partnered with CEO on the successful transition of six P&Ls into a single organization
  • Business and P&L Leadership: Provided leadership with P&L accountability and management of 300 staff for a leading company in the U.K., with approximately $80 million in revenue and $5.2 million in profit
  • Growth and Development: Proven record of partnering with business leadership to grow businesses by up to 50 percent, including development and implementation of HR strategies to build and develop teams

Education

  • University of North London, London, England
  • Post-graduate Diploma, Labor Studies
  • University of Leeds, Leeds, England
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) Political Studies