IMAGEHOLDERS

Company background

Based in Dorset, imageHOLDERS designs and manufactures digital, self-service kiosks for a range of industry sectors including hospitality, retail, automotive, leisure and healthcare.
 
With a highly differentiated proposition and market-leading products, the business has seen rapid growth and strong profitability over the past year and was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.
 
Company founders – Adrian and Pete Thompson – recently gained support and investment from ScaleUp Capital to help them deliver the next phase of ambitious growth.

The brief

To capitalise on significant market opportunity, imageHOLDERS plans to build out its senior team, infrastructure and systems, as well as professionalise its approach across key functional areas.
 
Directorbank was approached to recruit two critical roles – the CEO and CFO – to help unlock the potential of the business and steer the transformation required.
 
The CEO had to be execution-focused with a commercial and strategic mindset, capable of building strong teams, processes and systems, and delivering scale at pace. A proven leader, he/she would have experience of operating within a relevant high-growth environment.
 
Responsible for optimising financial processes, performance and insight, the CFO role required a strategic, operational, growth-oriented finance expert with experience of working with Private Equity and a demonstrable track record of creating value for shareholders.

Search process 

Directorbank was retained to run a full search process as well as using their entrepreneurial, PE-savvy network to ensure no stone was left unturned. A full mapping exercise of both the industry and adjacent businesses was undertaken, before approaching the most suitable candidates for the respective roles. 

After a full interview process, a shortlist of eight candidates was delivered to the Client for each role. Psychometric testing was also undertaken, alongside a thorough referencing process. 

Following several stages of interviewing and presentations by imageHOLDERS, Dirk Hendrickx was hired as CEO and Darren May as CFO.

Result

Entrepreneurial and ambitious, Dirk is a proven leader in delivering improvement and results in manufacturing, supply chain and tech environments. He also brings strong expertise in sales and marketing as well as significant international experience. Previously he was CEO of Bridgeman Images and MD of Conservation By Design.
 
Darren is a hugely experienced finance professional with a strategic hands-on approach and a demonstrated history of working in similar fast-paced PE environments. His most recent roles were CFO of VivoPlex and FD of Cambridge Sleep Sciences.