1. Kingston Business School
Faculty of Business and Law
T +44 (0) 20 8417 5144
F +44 (0) 20 8417 7026
www.kingston.ac.uk
KHBS011
Business School
Kingston Hill Campus
Kingston Hill
Kingston upon Thames
KT2 7LB
Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development (CIPD)
151 The Broadway
London SW19 1JQ, UK
18 February 2016
Reference Letter for Mrs Vera Mashkova
Mrs Vera Mashkova studied at Kingston Business School, Kingston University, and Russian
Academy of National Economy between 2013-15 academic years as part time student on the
CIPD accredited Masters in International HRM programme. At the time Vera applied to our
programme, she had already been an HR professional for over 15 years and held the position of
HR Director for Russia and CIS at Hewlett-Packard (HP). It was clear at the selection interview
that Vera had a breadth of practical experience ranging from recruitment and talent development
to employee relations and implementation of HR strategy across a number of sectors (IT,
Automative, Pharmacy and Oil & Gas). Vera gained her knowledge and experience in various
areas of HR largely ‘on the job’ (her first degree was in Banking and Finance) and believed that
in order to further progress in her HR she needed a formal academic qualification in HR
management. Given her experience, Vera could have applied for CIPD professional membership
via ‘experience assessment’ route, but she was adamant that she needed academic knowledge
to systematize her practical experience and that this would further help her look at strategic
issues, problems and opportunities from a different perspective. This proves to show that Vera is
a person, who clearly considers her professional and personal development as an essential part
of her life and career.
In her cohort of 25 students, Vera was the most senior and experienced HR professional, but
she never emphasized this fact. On the contrary, she was always open and ready to learn from
her less experienced peers during group-work, case studies and in-class discussions. She also
contributed a great deal to these group activities by sharing her practical experiences and
providing real-life examples. For example, in one of the modules she shared her experience of
launching Employee Engagement strategy and programme at HP, embracing a variety of aspects
including wellness, development of HP Culture (“HP Way Now”) and communication. She engaged
extremely well with all modules of the Master’s programme and her written assessed
assignments were always very thorough and well written. Her management research report
explored the role of performance management process in strategy implementation, while her
Master’s dissertation focused on effectiveness of HR. These two major pieces of work clearly
showed that Vera embraced the ‘Theory into Practice’ ethos of the programme and was able to
critique and apply relevant theories, models and existing research to her own national and
organizational contexts. By doing so she clearly demonstrated strong critical and strategic
thinking. Her assignments always had strong internal logic and all her arguments and points
were well supported by either existing research or examples from her own work experience.

2. It must be said that studying part time on this very demanding programme, while working full-
time in senior HR position in a multinational and having family commitments, is not an easy feat.
However, Vera proved to be extremely well organized and very resourceful. This clearly
demonstrates her passion for and commitment to the HR profession. She did not make her life
any easier by moving to a different employer in the second year of her studies and becoming a
Country HR Manager Russia and CIS at ABB.
Since successfully completing the programme in 2015, Vera has been involved in the
programme in many ways and has been a great asset to our Kingston-Moscow partnership. She
acts as a facilitator and mentor for our current HR students. Together with her colleagues at ABB
she writes real life cases based on her company for our class activities. The cases are
introduced to students on the first day of a four-day module and they present their analysis and
recommendations to Vera and her HR team on the last day of the module. Vera always goes out
of her way to help and mentor students and even sacrifices her weekends to provide students
with extra face-to-face support while they are working on the case by answering their questions
and queries and providing guidance. The feedback from students is very positive and they find
the cases and activities organised by Vera extremely useful. They love it.
Vera is a strong advocate of HR function and profession as well as the programme she attended.
She started her own blog (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-mashkova-06717048), where she
shares her thoughts and views about the present and future of strategic HR in Russia and
elsewhere and does it in a very accessible, engaging and eloquent way. She does it with a great
sense of humour as well as pride in her profession. In this blog she also talks about her personal
transformations as a result of studying on the Master’s programme. This shows that Vera is a
very reflective practitioner as well as learner. She is very well respected and known in the
Russian HR community and is often invited to comment on national HR policies in Russia
(http://www.themoscowtimes.com/conferences/rus/archive/event/479097.html). Her professionalism, integrity
and commitment to HR allowed Vera to develop strong networks. This has benefited our
programme greatly as through Vera we are able to invite influential HR practitioners to speak at
various events we put together for our students. Vera herself is an active contributor to such
events and is often asked to speak to our prospective students at Open Days and other events.
It is a great privilege to have Vera as our alumna and we do not have any hesitation in
supporting Vera’s application for Chartered Fellow of CIPD. She would be a great addition to the
CIPD Chartered Fellow community.
Sincerely yours,
Dr Georgy Petrov, Co-director of MSc International HRM programme
Kingston Business School, Kingston University, London.
Ms. Natalia Smourova, Co-director of MSc International HRM programme
Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow.