London, United Kingdom, January 2026 — Oakley Capital, one of Europe’s leading private equity investors, has appointed Kerry Heaton as its new Chief People Officer (CPO), strengthening its leadership bench as the firm continues to scale its pan-European investment platform and portfolio talent ecosystem.
Kerry Heaton brings a rare blend of private equity and global banking HR leadership, with deep expertise in executive talent, organisational transformation, and future-of-work strategy. In her new role, she will lead Oakley Capital’s people strategy across its European offices and portfolio, shaping leadership capability, talent architecture, and culture as Oakley expands across Technology, Business Services, Digital Consumer and Education sectors.
Most recently, Kerry Heaton served for nearly four years as Chief People Officer at Hg, where she led firm-wide people strategy for one of Europe’s most active software and services investors, building leadership pipelines, portfolio talent platforms, and scalable HR operating models across multiple geographies.
Prior to Hg, she spent over fifteen years at HSBC in senior global leadership roles including Global Head of Executive Talent, Global Head of Learning & Talent Development (Commercial Banking), and multiple transformation and organisation design leadership positions, where she drove large-scale people, culture and performance transformations across the bank’s global footprint.
Alongside her corporate roles, Kerry actively contributes to shaping UK employment policy and the future of work. She serves as a Parliamentary Steering Committee Member – Modernising Employment with the MODE APPG, and is a Founding Member of Nexus, a community of Chief People Officers advising government bodies and developing the next generation of people leaders in the UK.
She began her career in consulting with RSA and Sibson Consulting, building deep foundations in organisation design, reward and performance strategy, and HR transformation.
About Oakley Capital
Founded over two decades ago, Oakley Capital is a leading pan-European private equity firm backing founder-led businesses with enterprise values from €100 million to over €1 billion. With more than 200 professionals across London, Munich, Milan, Madrid and Luxembourg, Oakley invests across Technology, Business Services, Digital Consumer and Education sectors and manages over €15 billion in assets. The firm is known for its origination capabilities, complex carve-out expertise and long-term founder partnerships.
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