Recruiter's Awards for Excellence, supported Rby Thomas International, enter a new era in 2008, and an expert panel of professionals with in-depth knowledge of recruitment industry issues is set to help ring in the new developments when they adjudicate this most prestigious set of honours.
"A number of the 2008 judges are new to our Awards, but we also have some returning judges who have graciously agreed to rejoin us this year. We're simply delighted to have each and every one of these busy professionals on board," says Recruiter editor, DeeDee Doke.
The 21 judges represent "massive depth and breadth" of knowledge and expertise, says Martin Reed, chairman and chief executive officer of headline sponsor Thomas International. "It's very flattering that professionals of this standing and calibre are willing to commit their time to the Awards."
The Awards will be presented on 28 April 2008 at a gala evening celebration to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
The 2008 judges are:
Caroline Bellenger is human resources director for the Macdonald Hotels Group, where she is responsible for all areas of employee resourcing, staff retention, training and development, as well as customer service and maintaining core service and quality standards. She began her career at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London where she received her management training. Her career has included general manager and regional managing director roles.
Christopher Clark is a director with BDO Stoy Hayward's Corporate Finance Team, which focuses on advising on private equity transactions, corporate finance strategy and merger/acquisitions projects. In the past 10 years, he has advised numerous recruitment companies on maximising value through acquisitions, fund raisings, flotations and disposals.
Sue Dodd is the joint owner and director of independent consultancy Agile Intelligence. After graduating in economics at the University of Nottingham, she worked as an investment analyst specialising in the food and drinks sector for companies including Kitcat & Aitken, Credit Suisse Buckmaster & Moore and Merrill Lynch. Agile Intelligence provides business, market and competitive intelligence for a number of businesses, including recruitment companies.
Deborah Fernon joined the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) this year as organisation and resourcing adviser in the Institute's research and policy team. Her research interests include resourcing, employer branding and how technology is affecting HR and people management. She previously worked on brand Sydney and brand Australia while working at the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tourism Australia.
Carl Gilleard is chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, which has a membership of 700 businesses. Previously, he worked as executive director for METRA Services, a national recruitment consultancy charged with improving the recruitment and retention of graduates into local government. He was also joint regional director of the West Midlands Employers Organisation.
Mark Heineman is HR director at Centaur Media, Recruiter's parent company. His 25 years of HR experience includes roles at BAA, where he led the HR function at Heathrow Airport, Tesco, and leading market research firms Taylor Nelson Sofres and Research International.
Martin Holden
, a partner with UK top 20 accountancy firm Saffery Champness since 2003, heads up the organisation's Professional and Consultancy Services Group. The firm acts for over 600 providers of professional and consultancy services with a particular focus on recruitment businesses, from executive search to temporary placements.
Steve Huxham operates his own retained search and selection business, HUX Executive Recruitment. He also acts as an external adviser on HR and business strategy issues to a number of small and medium-sized enterprises both within the recruitment sector and beyond. He is chairman of the Recruitment Society.
David James
is director of Henley Management College's School of Growth, Innovation and Enterprise. Before joining as an academic, he worked as account director and business development director at a number of international business-to-business advertising agencies. Brand is a particular area of focus for James, in particular brand alliances and the role of brand personality in leverage strategies.
Steven Kirkpatrick is managing director of Adecco Staffing in the UK and Ireland. In this role, he is responsible for Adecco's 300-strong UK and Ireland branches. He began his career with Adecco in 1999 as a consultant in the Belfast office. His progression has included such positions as country manager in Ireland, and chief operating officer for the UK and Ireland. Before moving into recruitment, he worked in field sales in the media sector.
Martin Krajewski is chief executive of the Blomfield Group, which includes companies such as Firth Ross Martin, Origin HR, Joslin Rowe Associates, Joslin Rowe Temporaries and JR Selection. He was the recipient of Recruiter's Gary Clark Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Recruitment Profession 2007. His 30-year career in recruitment began with Drake International, where he started as a consultant.
Charles Macleod is director of UK resourcing and people engagement at PricewaterhouseCoopers. A Cambridge University graduate, he spent 10 years in the recruitment consulting industry in London, Brussels and Amsterdam. Since joining PwC in 1994, he has led teams focused on student and experienced recruitment, international mobility and contractor management.
Sally Milne
is head of resourcing and diversity at ITV. Working across the ITV Group, she is responsible for delivering diversity and recruitment strategies both on and off-screen. Her career has included previous roles at Whitbread, Pret a Manger and JD Wetherspoon.
Iain Newman
is a partner and head of the Corporate Group for law firm Nabarro. He is listed in the Legal 500 and Chambers directories as a leading corporate finance lawyer. In the recruitment sector, his significant achievements include acting for Investec Investment Banking in relation to the flotation of Robert Walters and for Oriel Securities on the Official List flotation of SThree.
Anthony (Tony) Reeves is co-chairman, alongside John Bowmer, of Berkeley Scott Group since its acquisition last March. He is also the chairman of PayStream accountancy services. His business career has spanned significant roles in recruitment companies including the Alfred Marks Bureau, Adia and the Delphi Group, which was acquired by Adecco in1999. He became chairman of recruitment website HotRecruit in 2001, and sold hotgroup to Trinity Mirror Group in October 2005 for more than £50m.
Ingrid Richardson, head of HR for the British Horseracing Authority, leads a team of HR professionals providing in-house HR services to the Authority as well as providing outsourced HR services to other industry stakeholders. Recently, Richardson has been involved in the merging of the sport's regulatory and governance functions into one Authority.
Linda Schooley is director of group services at London law firm Mishcon de Reya. Before joining the firm in 1997, she worked in both general management and HR roles for organisations in the financial services, information, architecture, communications and publishing industries. Her work included running numerous senior recruitment assignments for clients.
David Silver is a founder member of Baird's mergers and acquisitions team in Europe, with extensive experience in advising private equity clients, corporates and entrepreneurs in the US and Europe. He leads Baird's Business Services practice in Europe. Baird has advised on numerous deals in the recruitment sector, mostly recently the sale of Glotel to Spring and the acquisition of JobsinTime in Germany by temporary work agency orizon, which is owned by PPM.
John Thorpe is head of Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR). He is also responsible for domestic policy regarding employment agencies and related issues. He took up the post in August 2005. A career civil servant, he has also worked at ACAS and the former Department of Energy.
Shaun Tyson is Emeritus Professor in HR management at the Cranfield School of Management. He holds a PhD from London School of Economics and is a fellow of the CIPD. He has written 19 books on HR management and has published extensively on HR strategy and policies. He currently chairs the Law Society's remuneration committee.
Denise Walker began her recruitment career as a trainee consultant with Reed Employment. She has since set up and run her own commercial recruitment business Tulip Recruitment Group, and set up and run the REC's Recruitment Industry Taskforce Enterprise (RITE). She now runs her own management consultancy business, Absolutely Business, in which she has to date worked with 80 recruitment businesses to help them reach their potential.
