Directorbank reaches ’20 Year’ milestone!

This month, in honour of its 20^th anniversary, Directorbank held a celebratory event at London’s iconic ‘The Ivy’ restaurant for its network of clients and candidates. A second event takes place in Leeds later this year.

During the welcome address, Directorbank’s Simon Thomas reflected on the business’s journey to date …

“In 1998 Directorbank launched from a small office in central Leeds. The business fast-earned a reputation for adeptly sourcing board-level talent for the booming private equity market, at the pre-deal and portfolio stages of the investment cycle. Its client base grew quickly, particularly across the mid-market, and its innovative subscription offering gained traction granting its PE clients immediate access to Directorbank’s expert network of proven industry leaders across all key sectors.

During the recession years the business realigned, opening up its executive search offering to privately-owned and listed SMEs wanting to augment their boards with experienced, entrepreneurial directors. The business also expanded its role focus from the core positions of Chairman, NED, CEO and CFO to include critical directorships in Operations, Sales & Marketing, IT and HR.

Fast forward to current day and the business has completed over 2,000 appointments. Its client network has steadily grown, as has its market-leading candidate network, and notably its Germany operation – lead by Dorothea Kronenberghs – has gone from strength to strength.

Importantly, the firm has built a skilled team of consultants, researchers and support staff – a family of employees, most of whom have been with the business for a considerable length of time. In April 2017 this position was strengthened further when Directorbank’s Management Team completed an MBO taking 100% equity ownership from Nova Capital.”

Commenting on the future direction of the business, Board Director James Searby said:

“Our focus is to continue to support our clients – both old friends and new acquaintances – with comprehensive searches which unearth the best talent throughout Europe. We will continue to enrich our candidate network through expert research and personal networks, ensuring we can react quickly and effectively for our clients. We will also continue to expand the Directorbank team, bringing in fresh talent who will keep the Directors on their toes for years to come!”

From left to right: Board Directors: George Heppenstall, James Searby,
Dorothea Kronenberghs, Graham Jones and Simon Thomas.

Well done to Directorbank’s George Heppenstall for completing ‘IRONMAN 70.3 NICE, FRANCE’ last weekend in support of Macmillan Cancer Support, our chosen charity for the year.

Whilst many of us were sipping coffee and perusing the Sunday papers, George was setting out on a gruelling course, the final element of a tough 6-month training regime.

George began with a running beach start – think David Hasselhoff in Baywatch! – and a 1.9km swim in the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. This was followed by a 90km bike course through villages and mountains with some aggressive climbing. The final section was a 21km run including a flat and fast course along the Promenade des Anglais. He completed the event in just over 7 hours. A very impressive achievement!

If anyone in our network is feeling generous and wishes to give George some well-deserved sponsorship towards Macmillan Cancer Support, please visit his JustGiving page.

Any contributions would be greatly appreciated. As many of you will know, Macmillan provides specialist health care, information and financial support to those affected by cancer. A number of Directorbank colleagues have been directly affected by cancer in recent years and have found Macmillan to be a vital support.

Directorbank places CEO at Sullivan Street Partners-backed Tivoli Group.

Tivoli is one of the UK’s leading landscaping and grounds maintenance providers servicing over 400 contracts across more than 600 customers including the Ministry of Defence, local authorities and blue-chip corporates. Read the full case study here.

“Given James’s search expertise and sound business understanding, he and his team were able to deliver quickly and efficiently against the brief. We are delighted with Chris’s appointment and we look forward to working with him to make Tivoli a market leading independent grounds maintenance business.”

Richard Sanders
Sullivan Street Partners