The new UK country manager for search firm SpenglerFox is an alumnus of TV's The Apprentice.

Ben Leary told Recruiter that his experience on the business-focused TV programme starring Sir Alan Sugar has "only helped" him progress in his career. "I've had a good 18 months to recover," he jokes.

Leary has 14 years of experience of global search experience in the satellite, broadcast and telecoms industries. For the past four years, he ran Column Associates, which he founded in 2002. His mission at SpenglerFox is to grow the UK office as a hub for the company's European, Middle East and Asia operations. "I've been brought in to expand the business," Leary says. "The next 12 to 18 months are going to be very busy - and exciting. We're on the cusp of something very big."

He will report to Mark Soden, director for Western Europe. SpenglerFox is part of the Grafton Group, which was founded in Ireland in 1982.