A huge thank you to Harriet Johnson
Two Ridings want to let the region know that Harriet Johnson, our brilliant Head of Partnerships will be stepping down from her role at the end of March. After five years at the Foundation, Harriet is hanging up her Leadership box of tricks to focus on her passion for the earth and our environment and put her many talents to the joy of growing flowers.
Harriet has made an immense contribution to Two Ridings during her time, not least growing HEY Confident Futures into a tremendous, collaborative and crucial leadership network for over 500 people in the region.
Harriet’s reflections on her decision
“Over the past five years I have witnessed many leaders make brave and beautiful decisions. I have been in awe and inspired by the leaps that they’ve taken, and now it is my turn to make a brave decision.
“In those years I have also had some big personal life challenges and it’s the combination of those things and the awareness of a rapidly changing climate that needs people offering an alternative, that have made me want to take the leap into becoming a full time flower farmer.
“Working on the leadership programme I have experience countless magical moments; seeing people grow themselves as individuals and in turn their organisations while doing incredibly important jobs under challenging circumstances. It has been an absolute honour to support them.
“Each person has played a pivotal role in my time here, and everyone have been such an inspiration.
“My priority for the final weeks in this role is to support Paula, to look at sustainability for the Leadership Network and to ensure that leaders continue to receive the high-quality opportunities that we have put on for them year on year.
“I am deeply grateful to have had this opportunity to have got to know such incredible people and to have experienced working alongside such an incredible team.”
A word from Two Ridings
For the Two Ridings’ team, Harriet’s news has definitely been bittersweet.
On the one hand, we are really sad that she is leaving and will miss her hugely. On the other hand, we share her excitement about her next venture. We admire her choice to deepen her commitment to flower farming, and can’t wait to see her beautiful business grow and flourish in ways that benefit people and our planet.
We want to acknowledge the enormous input Harriet has made to the HEY Confident Futures programme, and to Two Ridings more generally. Celia reflected:
“Harriet’s vision of generous, confident, connected leaders across Hull and the East Riding, and her ability to translate this vision into a practical programme and a burgeoning network, have been crucial to its success.
“Harriet brings a rare combination of strategic imagination, operational excellence and genuine passion for and empathy with the people and communities of our region.
She has been, and is, a wonderful leader.”
You remain in good hands
While Harriet will be sorely missed, she leaves a strong team, a vibrant programme and a dynamic network, which will carry the work forward.
We are delighted that Paula Bielby has agreed to step into a Programme Manager role for the leadership network from 1 April 2025, and that Harriet will continue to be involved in some aspects of the work on a consultancy basis.
We are also grateful to our pool of brilliant facilitators for their ongoing commitment to our programme delivery, and to our Steering Collective for their guidance and insight.
Our Chief Executive, Celia McKeon, will also be playing a more hands-on role in programme strategy and oversight. We will finalise additional staffing arrangements over the coming days and weeks, and keep people informed about these.
An exciting year ahead
And we also look ahead with excitement to what the HEY Confident Futures programme has in store for the rest of the year: our next New To Leadership cohort, the coaching programme, our training and learning sessions, the leadership café, and more.
We will complete a period of reflective work with our learning partner, and share the findings of their evaluation with you in due course. And we will be planning ahead for the next phase of the programme in 2026.
So lots to look forward to!
In the meantime, we will be making the most of our final weeks with Harriet and celebrating all she has achieved.