Appointments update:
We are delighted to announce a number of significant appointments across the business to further enhance our delivery capability.

Simon Nolan and Ben Gilbert join as Directors whilst our team of Research and Delivery Consultants has been strengthened by the appointments of Luke Walker and Alana Grugan in the UK and Marie-Thérèse Meurer and Felicitas Mayer in Germany.

Simon Nolan leads our Retail & Consumer Practice and brings with him over 16 years’ experience in Consumer Goods, Direct to Consumer and Retail channels. His search expertise covers senior level and main board appointments in the UK and overseas. The first six years of Simon’s career ranged from Graduate Trainee at McVities to middle management at Aldi before moving to recruitment. His in-depth sector knowledge from manufacturer (branded and own label) to retailer and ecommerce leaves him well placed to expertly advise and support our clients.

Ben Gilbert is approaching 20 years’ search experience across the Industrial sector. Having commenced his career at an independent boutique consultancy in the UK, Ben went on to grow Page Group’s Engineering division in Australia. After five successful years, he joined a leading search firm in the UK where he was responsible for growing their Industrial Practice. Ben has an in-depth knowledge of the Industrial landscape and has completed C-Suite and senior executive mandates for some of the world’s largest industrial manufacturers, PE-backed and privately-owned companies.

Directorbank’s Simon Thomas comments: “Despite ongoing economic turbulence, Directorbank has continued to deliver strong performance across the UK and Germany. This is testament to our wonderful team whose expertise, hard-work and dedication has been first class. Our new team members will help us to further enhance our delivery capability and reach whilst strengthening our reputation as a leading search firm for high growth private equity-backed, listed and private businesses across the mid-market.”

Dorothea Kronenberghs, our Executive Director Europe based in Frankfurt, Germany concludes: “I am delighted with the appointments. In Frankfurt, Marie and Felicitas are a huge asset to our team and with their support and experience we are able to provide a stronger, faster service to our DACH network of PE investors and other mid-market clients.”

Our review of 2022 – activity and highlights.
As the New Year is upon us, we’d like to take this opportunity to share some of our highlights from the past 12 months.

Throughout 2022 we achieved excellent search outcomes for our clients, working predominantly at Main Board level with established and high growth entrepreneurial businesses backed by Private Equity. Our German operation continued to perform well, contributing 40% to our overall business.

Trading volumes are now back to their pre-pandemic levels and we have noticed a distinct shift in client requirements. The most substantial change has been the sharp rise in demand for high quality CFOs as companies position for greater M&A activity albeit set against a very challenging economic environment. We have also seen a material increase in Executive Board appointments, most obviously Chief Operating Officers and Sales & Marketing Directors. We noted a clear reduction in the number of Chair appointments which can be explained by the decrease in Private Equity deal activity over the year.

Looking forward to 2023, we anticipate an increase in PE deal activity and a strong demand for Board level candidates across our core markets. 

Our team looks forward to supporting the growth ambitions of our clients in the year ahead.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW A SUMMARY OF OUR ACTIVITY AND HIGHLIGHTS:

Review of 2022_Directorbank

JOIN OUR TEAM – Junior Researcher role, Germany:
To further strengthen our team in Germany, we are looking to hire a Junior Researcher to support our consultants and directors on specific mandates. The position will be based at our Frankfurt Office.

To view the full job description including key accountabilities, core competencies and personal attributes, please click here: https://bit.ly/3yR2hnH

Application details are highlighted on the job description. 

Event news: Directorbank’s Simon Thomas hosted another excellent drinks and dinner evening last night, this time at the fantastic Kerridge’s Bar & Grill for his London-based clients.

Simon comments:

“An absolute pleasure to host yesterday’s dinner at Kerridge’s. This is the second of my ‘family and friends’ dinners to celebrate the successful work we have undertaken with our clients and candidates over the past couple of years. A very enjoyable, relaxed evening with great people, conversation and food. My thanks go to all those who joined me. To those who could not make this one, I will be hosting another in the autumn.”