
The cHeRries Conference
Thursday 24th March, 2022
08:30 – 16:00
P&J Live, Aberdeen
Conference, Networking and Exhibition for those in HR, Training and Recruitment
Following the success of the first cHeRries Conference brought to you virtually in February 2021, The Press and Journal and The Courier are delighted to bring you the first LIVE cHeRries Conference in association with Mattioli Woods on Thursday 24th March, 2022, at P&J Live, Aberdeen. The annual cHeRries Awards will follow the conference and be held in the same evening as the conference. To find out more about the awards, please visit www.cherriesawards.com.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
MORNING
Session 1: RELATIONS – Sponsored by Burness Paull LLP
In this first session of the conference, which is sponsored by Burness Paull LLP, we hear from Andrew Knight, partner within the legal firm’s employment team. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace are essential, and increasingly feature at the top of employers’ agendas, but how does the law serve to protect these two highly important aspects of employee relations and is it fit for purpose in a modern society? Experienced solicitor Andrew reveals more about this in his discussion as well as exploring the legal trends and developments in this area. What can we expect to see in the future? And how will your business or organisation plan for this? Andrew has some inspiration.
Session 2: RETENTION
We have seen significant changes in our working practices, some of which have benefited our people, others that have disadvantaged them – and this can have a detrimental impact on staff retention. However, in this uplifting second session our guest speakers tell us how we appreciate the diverse aspects of our workforce more than ever. The experts also explain what we need to be mindful of now as we move forward to the future with equal opportunities for all, whilst maintaining/striving for diverse and inclusive cultures.
Session 3: RESILIENCE – Sponsored by Lindsay & Lang
Many organisations have had to adapt or reinvent themselves during the pandemic. This third session – which is sponsored by Lindsay & Lang – will explore the importance of resilience as we navigate through this ongoing pandemic. At a time when we are faced with changing employee motivations and expectations, Louise Lang, director of Lindsay & Lang and guest speakers, will share their knowledge about trending themes and real-life challenges facing businesses today as we work towards a more resilient and sustainable future. This is set to be a thought-provoking presentation.
AFTERNOON
Session 4: Panel Discussion
After a morning of guests speakers, the afternoon sessions kick off with an engaging panel discussion. During this session there will be an opportunity for attendees to pose questions to the expert panel, expand on some of the points raised in the morning sessions, and open up new conversations about the issues that affect you and your organisation most. What are you biggest concerns about Relations? Do you have fears about Retention? How can you become more Resilient as an individual and as an organisation? This interactive discussion will be chaired and moderated by business consultant Sylvia Halkerston and feature all of our morning speakers
Session 5: Paralympian Sammi Kinghorn
Scottish Paralympian Sammi Kinghorn is the epitome of ‘resilience’ making her the perfect choice for our motivational speaker. When was 14 years old, Sammi suffered a horror accident on her family’s farm in the Scottish Borders, leaving her with a serious spinal injury and unable to walk. Confined to a wheelchair, the teenager never let her disability get in her way. Spurred on by her physiotherapist, Sammi discovered a new sport – wheelchair racing – and she excelled in this, after coming second in her first event, The London Mini Marathon.
This year marks her 10th anniversary since she competed – and what a decade it has been for this sportswoman. She has achieved many accolades ever since including making her Paralympic debut for Team GB in Rio 2016. In 2017, she became double World Champion in the 100m and 200m. In 2018, the wheelchair racer narrowly missed out on a medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, with two very respectable fourth place finishes. Then in 2019, she won a bronze in the 2019 Para Athletics World Championships in Dubai, despite recovering from surgery. The following year, Sammi brought back her first Paralympic medals to Scotland, after winning bronze in the 100m and silver in the 400m. The Scot is also the current World record holder for over 200m and European record holder over 100m, 400m and 800m.
In this inspiring afternoon session, you will hear how she did it and what kept her going motivated during the huge challenges she faced.
For all event enquiries please contact Laura Adam (Event Manager) on laadam@dctmedia.co.uk 07976 702707
For all sponsorship enquiries please contact Carole Bruce on carole.bruce@ajl.co.uk 07799 545753
Key Dates
24 Mar 2022 | The cHeRries Conference and Award Ceremony |
Conference Speakers
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Sylvia Halkerston (Host)
Consultant and Non-Executive Director
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Andrew Knight
Partner, Burness Paull LLP
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Sean Westwood
Employee Benefits Team Director, Mattioli Woods
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Emma Smith
Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager, Burness Paull LLP
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Louise Lang
Co-Founder and Director, Lindsay & Lang
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Ed Watling
Employee Benefits Consultant (Healthcare), Mattioli Woods
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Keith Davidson
HR Director, Absoft Limited
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Sammi Kinghorn
Scottish Paralympian
Event Sponsors
Mattioli Woods plc is one of the UK’s leading providers of wealth management and employee benefit services, advising over 10,000 clients with assets under management, administration and advice of over £12 billion. The Mattioli Woods employee benefits team delivers benefit solutions to help clients increase productivity and profitability through improved employee engagement, retention and motivation. These include:
- flexible benefits – our portals allow for all sizes of business, covering employee engagement, total reward statements and employee discounts
- pensions and workplace savings – pensions and group SIPPs
- employee health and wellbeing – financial education, executive financial counselling, healthcare and risk benefits
- specialist services – covering mergers and acquisitions and international
Our wealth management clients, meanwhile, come from many walks of life – from the young entrepreneur in the early stages of their career to the retired property developer couple with a combined wealth of more than £20 million.
Whoever they are, Mattioli Woods is here to help and support our clients in protecting and growing their finances to meet their aims and ambitions.
Visit Mattioli Woods website- flexible benefits – our portals allow for all sizes of business, covering employee engagement, total reward statements and employee discounts
- pensions and workplace savings – pensions and group SIPPs
- employee health and wellbeing – financial education, executive financial counselling, healthcare and risk benefits
- specialist services – covering mergers and acquisitions and international

Mattioli Woods plc is one of the UK’s leading providers of wealth management and employee benefit services, advising over 10,000 clients with assets under management, administration and advice of over £12 billion. The Mattioli Woods employee benefits team delivers benefit solutions to help clients increase productivity and profitability through improved employee engagement, retention and motivation. These include:
Our wealth management clients, meanwhile, come from many walks of life – from the young entrepreneur in the early stages of their career to the retired property developer couple with a combined wealth of more than £20 million.
Whoever they are, Mattioli Woods is here to help and support our clients in protecting and growing their finances to meet their aims and ambitions.
Visit Mattioli Woods website
Burness Paull is one of Scotland’s top independent law firms with 77 partners and over 550 staff across our offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Our status as a truly independent firm gives us the ability to support our clients, and our people, in ways that they genuinely value. It means we can help our clients to grow, protect them, and save them time and money.
We have Scotland’s largest employment law team, advising on the full ‘life cycle’ of employment relations issues, ranging from recruitment, employment contracts/policy documentation, remuneration, benefits and rewards, business immigration, disciplinary and performance issues/absence management/grievance through to termination of employment and claims.
We service many of our clients throughout the UK. In Aberdeen, we have worked closely with the energy industry in particular, and we have a deep understanding of the unique working environment and the industrial relations issues that arise offshore. Our team win plaudits for their pragmatic, solution-driven way of thinking. We stand out from the crowd because of our employer/client focussed and driven approach, which we always adopt when providing employment law advice, whatever the industry sector.
Visit Burness Paull website
Lindsay & Lang are a people-focused consultancy concentrating on Whole Person Management. We support businesses to deliver a positive culture in the workplace. We create this by looking at Development, Wellbeing and Communication within the organisation. This includes resilience, self-awareness, mental health, and behaviours to improve the employee experience and the organisation’s productivity and profitability.
Whole Person Management is centred around Wellbeing and Mental Health. Our Wellbeing programmes combine emotional and physical support to encourage organisations to foster an open company culture when it comes to mental health issues.
Whole person management provides the catalyst for a meaningful conversation within the workforce that connects and underpins leadership, people and wellbeing within an organisation. This is even more important in our current challenging climate.
Visit Lindsay and Lang website