Since November 2020, Maria Antoniou has held the position of Group HR Director of Morgan Advanced Materials. Morgan is a global FTSE 250 company that manufactures carbon and ceramic products across many industries and a large number of markets.

Until May 2020 was Senior Vice President HR & Executive HR (Chief Human Resources Officer) for E.ON based in Germany.  Maria joined E.ON in 2008 as the UK HR Director and in 2013 was appointed to the position of CHRO. E.ON is one of the largest European operators of energy grids and provider of customer solutions focused entirely on the new energy world and employs over 80,000 people and operates in over 12 different European countries

Maria led the HR function as E.ON transformed from a traditional vertically integrated utility to a customer focussed provider of energy solutions. This involved a major spin-off of a third of the business and the acquisition of Innogy – E.ON’s biggest competitor in Germany. The transformation required a major cultural shift to ensure the organisation was digitally enabled, customer focused, agile and with a clear purpose.

Prior to joining E.ON, Maria spent two years working in the public sector as Group HR Director for Transport for London and 20 years with Ford Motor Company in a generalist HR career including 5 years as CHRO for Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin. At JLR Maria was instrumental in developing a people strategy that brought together three very different cultures whilst modernising working practices and improving the cost effectiveness and quality output of the brands. Whilst at JLR Maria led a successful restructuring programme that resulted in the closure of a major manufacturing site and started the transformation of Solihull, Land Rover’s biggest site.

Throughout her career Maria has worked in highly unionised environments both in the UK and internationally.

Maria is a non-executive Director at NATS – the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and member of the Nomination Committee as well as Chair of NATS Employee Share Trust. Maria is also Chair of TfL’s Pension Fund that has over £11bn of assets under management.