Human Resources Practice

Savannah is a global leader in the placement and career development of the most senior HR leaders (business partners and centre of expertise specialists). Savannah has a proven track record working with across multinationals, mid-cap and emerging companies, both in and outside the UK. In addition to sourcing and assessing key HR executives, we also support and advise the next generation of up-and-coming leaders. Savannah cares deeply about candidate expertise and look after those we meet.

CHRO/CPO/Group HRD, HR Business partners

The most effective HR Business Partners combine both deep HR generalist knowledge with strategic and commercial thinking. This must be complimented further with the ability to coach and mentor the business through change.

Global Rewards

Spanning all aspects of compensation, benefits, pensions and mobility, this function has evolved beyond providing purely technical expertise. Ability to bring gravitas and strategic thinking to complex Remco discussions are business critical.

Talent Management

The development and retention of a business’ most critical asset – their top performers. Identifying and unlocking potential through to systems and programmes which drive performance and align it to culture and business objectives.

Learning and Development

Careful design of how to develop capabilities, skills and competencies to create a sustainable, successful organisation.

Talent Acquisition

Not just recruitment but long term thinking about talent needs, how to identify future leaders and build EVP, as well as ensuring systems and processes deliver first class candidate experience.

OD / OE

Whether focused on organisational development, design, or effectiveness, this is the change and transformation engine.

M&A

From due diligence to integration, hard edge OD to cultural evolution, HR has a critical role to play in successful M&A activity.

HR Analytics

Understanding and analysing data in the right way enables valuable insights and ultimately more evidence-based decision making. Often connected to HR shared services and HRIS.

Employee Relations

Successful businesses know how to manage relationships to build lasting employee satisfaction and develop productive relations with unions. The right communications are crucial.

Savannah has successfully delivered roles across the breadth of the HR function and across multi-markets – we know what good looks like. We understand that the right HR leadership will improve not just the effectiveness of your top team but also support strategic and cultural transformation to ensure your business stays leading edge.

200+ senior search and interim mandates in the past five years
81% repeat business
Fortune 500, FTSE 100, 250, Public Sector and PE backed businesses.
More than half of our HR placements are diversity candidates

Very responsive, found quality people for us and quickly understood our culture to find people that are a strong fit. Even if there have been challenges they have always found a way to solve the problems and create solutions. The partnership and collaboration has been a positive for us.

Sebastien Froidefond, Chief Human Resources Officer

Lisa always delivers and has a fantastic grasp of the marketplace. Thoughtful and considered in their approach, a unique way of building relationships, and always thinking outside of the box with any placement. I understand why Lisa has such a wide global network of contacts and is respected by those that meet her.

Paul Pomroy, CEO UK

Against a challenging brief, their subject matter expertise and advice was invaluable. We were delighted that they produced a shortlist of high calibre candidates very quickly and we moved to offer at great speed and with a superb outcome. They knew the market, are well networked and their partnership and responsiveness was above expectations.

Julie O’Donoghue, Global HR Business Lead

A prominent voice in the executive search industry, Lisa Gerhardt has nearly 20 years experience. She leads the Human Resources practice. Lisa specialises in senior HR appointments, bringing deep expertise in cross-border recruitment and an extensive network to meet the complex talent requirements of multinational organisations.

With over 20 years’ experience in senior HR roles, Uma Cresswell has deep expertise in recruitment and is adept in aligning talent and business strategies. Her global perspective, gained from working with C-suite and HR executives worldwide, makes her highly effective in cross-border searches. Uma has expertise in several industries and is a member of the Financial Services Practice.

Andrew Watts focuses on senior interim appointments in the HR, OD and Change functions for business transformation assignments. Within this speciality, he has conducted numerous searches, giving clients the benefit of flexible, highly qualified short-term leaders for senior change roles in the UK and internationally.

Katie Chevis draws on deep subject matter expertise gained from a decade of experience in the HR function. She has been integral to recruiting Group HR Directors in particular and works with specialist centres of expertise across multiple industries. Katie has also advised countless individuals on professional development and career mapping.

Our consultants have on average more than 15 years of search experience within each of their specialised areas, bringing unparalleled levels of expertise, credibility and trust among clients and candidates alike.

Today’s people leaders must bring not just HR technical expertise but also commercial acumen and strategic thinking. The most successful HR leaders know how to coach, mentor and partner the board and their business colleagues. These skills are combined with data savviness, the ability to leverage technology and deep expertise in how to operationalise a vision.

Whether we are appointing a generalist or centre of expertise specialist, the Savannah team know how to assess technical expertise as well as strategic vision, and ultimately how effective a particular candidate will be in both challenging and supporting a business to meet its objectives.

Your personal, specialist team, supports and searches globally wherever you have a need. Partners always conduct the work at Savannah rather than just overseeing it.

We knew there would not be many people in the market with the skill set we wanted so we needed a global approach. The added complexity of the search was the accelerated pace we asked them to work at, which they did successfully without compromising on quality.

Maira Kokkinou, VP Talent Acquisition

First class support, and the first people we call when we need senior HR people.

Simon Brocket, Global HRD

We have worked together on a number of executive level roles that have been extremely hard to fill due to their high specialist. They focused on a global search in all of these cases and significantly improved the bench strength of these leadership teams by finding us world-class leaders to join our organisation.

Ollie Roberts, VP People

Thinking Beyond means focusing on how talent achieves your strategic objectives.
That’s the idea, and the mission, behind everything we do.

We regularly hold events for the senior HR community on a range of topics as well as networking lunches. If you are a senior HR leader and would like to be invited to our events in the future then please get in touch.

Major global search firms run thousands of searches a year, and as a result aren’t always able to approach who they want due to extensive client off-limit restrictions. Savannah combines the quality, agility and dedication of a boutique firm with the specialism and global capability of a larger search firm.

We focus exclusively on the most senior roles within our specialist areas, providing deep insights into your competitive landscape, and only approach who we consider to be in the top ten percent of global talent.

We are one of the only firms to have a truly integrated search and interim offering, able to provide short term tactical and long term strategic hiring solutions. This provides clients access to the human capital resources they need right now, whatever maturity stage your business is in.

Executive Assessment & Development

Overcoming The Challenges Facing HR Leadership

Executive Search

Have You Adapted To The Changing HR Interim Model?

Human Resources

From HRD to CEO: How New HR Career Paths Are Emerging

Board & CEO

Human Resources Practice

Functional Expertise