Tribute to former UHR Chair Paul Boustead

UHR members and staff were deeply shocked and saddened at the recent death in a tragic accident of former UHR Chair Paul Boustead. 

Paul was the Chair of UHR from October 2018 to September 2020, having previously served as Vice Chair and UHR NW Chair, and remaining on the Executive as Secretary until moving to found Phoenix OD & HR Consulting.

In his time as Chair, he oversaw the development of our first strategic plan, and navigated the unchartered waters of chairing a membership organisation successfully through the pandemic, with all the challenges that this brought for member HEIs, people professionals and for UHR itself. He served as a member of the employers’ side of the New JNCHES national pay negotiations and was firm but fair, realistic and pragmatic in what he hoped to achieve. He continued to give generously of his time to UHR and higher education organisations, even when no longer on the Executive and employed in the sector, being a regular and popular speaker at UHR events and contributor to sector activities, blogs, webinars and discussions. 

Paul was a highly experienced people professional, recognised as such by the rare accolade of being appointed a Chartered Companion of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CCIPD). With a career that spanned health services and local government as well as higher education, he brought a challenge and range of thought that enabled us to see useful and innovative practice from different employment settings. Having held the Chief People Officer roles at Lancaster from 2014 – 2022, and latterly at Leeds, he was able to contribute even more effectively to a range of people and organisational development projects by stepping out alone, creating Phoenix OD & HR Consulting, through which he worked in many HE providers including Cumbria, the Open University and Queen Mary, University of London, as well as NHS and other sectors. He was an associate consultant with SUMS, and worked with other organisations to provide effective people management interventions, and was an effective leadership coach. His professional career was distinctive in many ways, including commitment to partnership working with trade unions, establishing overseas links and international campuses, development of leadership programmes, and transformation of organisations. He managed to combine his interest in football with a professional involvement in the establishment of UA92, providing an innovative higher education route linked to professional football. 

On a personal level, Paul was well liked and much respected, and over recent days we have been inundated with messages from people within and beyond UHR who worked or volunteered with or alongside Paul, expressing their warmth of affection and gratitude for his leadership, insight, help and collegiality. Extracts from some of those messages are reproduced at the end of this tribute, demonstrating how much his death has affected us all.  

Aside from his professional excellence, he was a warm, highly likeable, amusing and caring person, whose relatively unusual (for higher education senior leaders) career path, through the apprenticeship rather than traditional degree route, gave him the ability to see potential in people, and to experiment with innovative approaches.  Colleague is a word that came up repeatedly when people mention Paul – he was committed to working with, alongside, together, and to forging partnerships and collaborations, whether locally or internationally, within or beyond HE or HR - a timely reminder of the value of collaboration and cooperation when so much of the world is about competition and division. 

As a manager, he was always encouraging, striking just the right balance between giving space for his staff (including the UHR team) to exercise their own judgement and expertise, and being available and supportive when asked for help or ideas, or to call a tricky decision. He was deeply committed to equity, and inclusion, and was also a person of great integrity, prioritising what he believed to be right above what was convenient or career-enhancing.  

He was an example to us all and will be missed terribly, as the quotes below from some of the many messages we’ve received show, painting a picture of a warm, capable, highly professional and competent people leader, who had a real impact and had so much more to give. 

“He was a great HR leader with real warmth and humour. I enjoyed working with him whilst he was at Lancaster (I was on his interview panel as the technical assessor), UHR, Leeds University and more recently as an independent consultant.” Andy Dodman, CHRO Leeds City Council and former UHR Executive member. 

“He was a joy on the ARCP programme: supportive and generous with his inputs (and wearing his wisdom very lightly), and with such a wonderful dry wit… he was so excited to set up his own business, not least because it offered the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and boys.” Rachel Holmes, Facilitator and Coach. 

And this selection of thoughts from HR Directors and Chief People Officers who knew him well. 

“Paul was an exceptional leader within the people profession in HE and beyond. He was generous in his approach to supporting others and he leaves a lasting legacy. We will miss you Paul. “ 

“Paul had only very recently completed a piece of work for us …  and I’d commissioned him frequently over the last 18 months via Phoenix such were his insights and expertise – he was well known, liked and respected across the organisation - he will be very sorely missed.”  

“His contribution to UHR and to our profession was significant indeed.” 

“Such a thoroughly nice man. “ 

“Paul was a fantastic colleague and a lovely man.”  

“Paul was a thoroughly decent man and made a great contribution to HR in both HE and the wider profession.” 

Our condolences and deepest sympathies are with his family and close friends at this difficult time. 

Helen Scott, Executive Director, and Margaret Ayers, UHR Chair, on behalf of the UHR Executive, staff team and many individual members who knew Paul.