Chief executive John Baker (pictured) of HR recruitment consultancy Macmillan Davies Hodes is stepping down after eight years with the business.

According to a statement released today from MDH, Baker plans to move to Australia to join leading HR recruitment business The Next Step, one of MDH’s partners in the Global HR Network.

Baker said it had been “an honour and privilege” to lead MDH. “However, I now feel I want to challenge myself in a different international market, while also giving my family the opportunity to experience life in another country.”

MDH will remain as a division of the Bernard Hodes Group UK, whose chief executive, Helen Rosethorn, will assume control of the business at this time, the statement said.