UK – Hewitt Associates says its UK arm Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow has named former Barclays executive Jamil Husain as head of its talent and organisation consulting business.

The group provides consulting in the fields of human resources and technology, talent and reward, executive pay and organisational change, Hewitt said.

The role is effectively a new one, a spokesman said, as the role is now “differently configured”. He will take on the responsibilities formerly held by Mark Hoyal, who remains with the company. The unit has 63 people.

Husain will work closely with Hewitt's outsourcing, actuarial and investment specialists to develop integrated offerings for clients, the firm said in a release. Before joining Hewitt, he ran Barclays human resource specialist practice.

"Jamil brings enviable client-facing and strategic skills to Hewitt,” said the firm’s managing director Roger Parkin. “His experience with so many blue-chip companies fully equips him for his role and I am confident that he will add considerable value to our clients.

“He will also play a vital part in ensuring that we continue to provide highly integrated client offerings, while maintaining excellent standards within our specialist areas of expertise."

Husain, who has also worked for clients such as Citibank, HSBC, Vodafone, IBM and Diageo, said: “Taking on the role of practice leader is an exciting opportunity from a personal viewpoint, while it also comes at an exciting time in Hewitt's development. I am very much looking forward to working with the team to build our business."

Hewitt Associates last month said it would cut up to 350 jobs as part of its planned acquisition of Exult – with some losses taking place outside the US.