Sharon Blyfield

Sharon Marcia Blyfield OBE is a British marketing executive and human resources expert. She has championed early career development at The Coca-Cola Company. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2022.

Sharon Blyfield

Sharon Blyfield speaking at WorldSkills UK in 2019
Born
Sharon Marcia Blyfield

December 1966 (age 56)[1]
EducationBurlington Danes Academy
Hammersmith and West London College
Employer(s)The Coca-Cola Company
Cadbury

Early life and education

Blyfield is from Shepards Bush, West London.[2] She has two brothers. She attended Burlington Danes Academy[3] a voluntary aided school, and was determined to get a job that would mean her mother did not have to worry about money.[2] She completed a BTEC Extended Diploma in business and finance whilst studying at Hammersmith and West London College. After completing her course, she was offered a job in financial administration.[2][4][5]

Career

Blyfield worked in advertising, holding positions at Cadbury and The Coca-Cola Company. At the time, Coca-Cola was expanding into the UK economy, and Blyfield was involved with scaling up their advertising programmes. She eventually shifted to human resources, with a particular focus on the development of early career employees.

Under Blyfield's leadership, Coca-Cola expanded their apprenticeship scheme to include engineering, sales and administration.[2] To improve access to the scheme; she modified the GCSE requirements, and removed the requirement for a CV.[2] She has developed mentorship and training programmes to support apprentices throughout their careers.[6]

Blyfield has campaigned to make apprenticeships more commonplace in the UK.[7] She has also spoken about the need to increase the salaries of apprentices.[2][8] In 2023, Blyfield was appointed Director of the Board of Youth Employment UK.[9]

Awards and honours

Blyfield was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours.[10][11]

References

  1. "Sharon Marcia BLYFIELD". gov.uk. London: Companies House.
  2. "Sharon Blyfield, head of early careers, Coca-Cola". feweek.co.uk. 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  3. Pender, Sophie (2023). "What School Did You Go To? Episode 4 Sharon Blyfield OBE: Coca-Cola". spotify.com.
  4. Sharon Blyfield on Twitter
  5. Sharon Blyfield on LinkedIn
  6. "Sharon Blyfield OBE". aelp.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  7. "How apprenticeships can help disadvantaged learners | Tes Magazine". tes.com. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  8. "Levelling-up through further education and skills in the West Midlands – Skills World Live Productions". skillsworldlive.com. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  9. Rawlings, Laura-Jane (2023-03-10). "Youth Employment UK welcomes new Non Executive Directors & Celebrates Sharon Blyfield OBE becoming Vice-Chairperson". youthemployment.org.uk. Youth Employment UK. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  10. "New Year's Honours: All our Wiltshire winners of OBE, MBE and BEM". gazetteandherald.co.uk. The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  11. "ETF congratulates those recognised in 2022 New Year honours". et-foundation.co.uk. The Education and Training Foundation. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
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