Paola Parsons

Paola Parsons joined SVB in 2021 as the Group Head of HR for EMEA and her remit expanded to International (India GDC and China). She currently holds the position of Head of HR for HSBC Innovation Bank in the UK. She is responsible for the HR Strategy including Board and executive remuneration, reward strategy, succession planning, talent management and organisational design. Paola has extensive experience across all aspects of HR, but with particular expertise in employee engagement, transformational change, employee relations and talent management.

Prior to joining SVB she was the Regional Head of HR, Europe and Americas at Standard Chartered Bank where she established the European subsidiary in Germany in preparation for Brexit and set up a new office in Poland as nearshore for the region.

She also spent six years at Experian where she held several senior HR positions including Regional HR Director covering the UK and EMEA. She was responsible for end to end HR as well as Communication and Corporate Responsibility, managing a team of 100 professionals. She managed complex M&A activity (acquisitions and divestments) and set up offshore shared services in Asia and Eastern Europe.  

Paola worked for Barclays Bank for 14 years in a variety of specialist, regional and global HR roles based in Italy, India, US and UK.