My story
For 10 years, I had my own retail business that I set up with very little money; I exited this in 1999. My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, was in recruitment and suggested that someone with an inquisitive and entrepreneurial mindset would work well in the recruitment industry. That was 20 years ago and I’ve slowly worked my way up the industry, remaining inquisitive as to how people and businesses operate. Previously, I worked at an interim management firm and Boyden.
My focus
I head up the Interim business for Savannah and spend the vast majority of my time in the private equity and venture capital markets. That said, I’ve also been spending a good amount of my time in the PLC space. I focus on businesses that need to change for a variety of reasons, but usually market dynamics. I generate relationships for the broader business but personally focus on placing CEOs and MDs into interesting and challenging environments – typically post-deal scenarios that aren’t on track.
Because I’ve spent such a long time in the industry, I’ve developed a strong gut feel for people who can do the job and the environments in which they’ll thrive. People frequently say to me that the job isn’t rocket science, but I’d argue that figuring people out can be more complicated than it may seem. The identification of people is easy, but knowing that they’ll work out and deliver in the right environment while pricing the job effectively is where the value is. Every Savannah interim we send into the field has our validation behind them with an understanding of what success looks like at every milepost.
My motivation
Anyone who knows me will say that I’m fairly competitive, whether this is sports focused, in my personal life or work-related. With the team here, I want to build a business that has the best executive interim offering in the market with the most interesting work. Savannah offers us the ability to do this on a genuinely international basis, given the integrated approach we have. I love what I do and hope this continues for many years to come.
Outside of work, my motivation comes from my family, my wife and our four amazing children.
The best part of my job is meeting wonderful people and hearing about the fantastic journeys they have been on, or the journeys that businesses are about to embark on. I love meeting people and understanding just how they managed to do what they did to get to where they are. As a result, I understand what good and great look like. I also love working with our team – we take our work seriously but we still have fun. We all bring something to the table, so every day is a school day, as we’re always learning.
Why I like working at Savannah
I’m lucky to work with an amazing team of people who share similar goals and values, who are all pulling in the same direction. We have a fantastic culture with a truly diverse group of people. We have the opportunity to shape the business for the future market; we can be nimble and entrepreneurial and take all that is great about the British interim market to the rest of the world.