Originally from New Zealand James began his career in recruitment in 2000. Before becoming an NED in 2013 he had roles across front and back office with responsibilities covering every aspect of an SME recruitment company. His experience includes most professional recruitment markets and he has worked across Asia, Australia, Western Europe, UK and the US.
As a Chairman and NED he is hands on and believes much of the value a good advisor adds is through the relationships with and advice he gives to individual leaders both in terms of their strategic objectives and on ad hoc issues.
“Board meetings have their place but execution is everything in growing a business and it’s in the day to day input on this that I can make the biggest difference to building value.”
James currently advises five recruitment companies as well as others in the food & beverage sector. All his experience is with companies under 500 employees and he specialises in helping to fast track growth as a company transitions from start up to significant multi jurisdiction/sector operations.
“My criteria for working with any organisation is: Is it interesting? And, do I like the people? I work with business for the long term so I’m not interested in just sitting in Board meetings for a couple of years. The enjoyment for me is being part of the journey with people that I like.”
What are your core areas of expertise?
All my experience is with SMEs so I understand the challenges of building an infrastructure for growth, developing management into a senior leadership team and opening up new markets.
What size companies do you consult to?
Currently the smallest has around 30 fee earners and the largest just over 300.
How do you work with businesses?
I start off without a formal engagement or charging a fee for the first few months to confirm that both parties are happy there is a role where I can add value. After that I’m retained, generally for 2 days per month which normally represents board meetings, management days, regular 121s with leadership and ad hoc discussions.