Beth Evans is the CEO of HR consultancy Barrow & Parker. She is a Fellow of The Institute of Leadership and was runner-up for Institute Advocate of the Year in the Leadership Awards 2024.
How did you come to be doing the job you are doing today?
I have worked in human relations (HR) for more than 30 years, with a variety of companies. Nearly 10 years ago, I decided to try my luck going out on my own, and formed Barrow & Parker to provide HR advice, coaching and training to others. I wanted more control over how I split my time between home and work, and wanted to deal with ‘kind and clever people’ within my own business and with external clients.
What is the highlight of your working week?
I get to talk to a huge variety of people and I’m always curious to hear their story – how did they get where they are and what is next for them? I’m always learning and it’s wonderful to be part of someone else’s learning transformation in terms of the training work that we do.
“If I won the lottery, I would pack up my day job and become an alpaca farmer in the depths of rural England”
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you like to do?
I always joke that if I won the lottery, I would pack up my day job and become an alpaca farmer in the depths of rural England. That’s probably not too far from the truth; I’d set up an animal welfare charity and rescue, rehabilitate and rehome everything that I could help!
What piece of advice would you offer to your 18-year-old self?
I imagine that everyone would want to tell themselves that it was going to all work out. But I’d experienced some very serious bullying at school that really impacted my confidence, so I’d want to share a vision of how far I have managed to come from that time and tell myself not to lose faith.
If you had a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
There’s going to be a recurrent theme here – I’d love to be able to communicate with animals in order to calm their fears. I’d like to save them from cruelty and neglect, and lead them to a place where there is no hunger, fear or abuse.
What is one fact about yourself that most people would be surprised to know?
I am guessing that few people would imagine that I used to do a lot of charity volunteering in medieval re-enactment – I was Nottingham Castle’s Maid Marian and I would fight with a broadsword.
This article is adapted from a feature first published in the spring 2025 issue of Edge.
