JUDGES
The rigour of our judging process, and the authority, credibility and expertise of our judges make Recruiter’s Awards well worth entering and winning. Through our Awards, we support and cheer on recruitment professionals, and those who supply them, in driving standards ever higher in what is arguably the UK’s most dynamic and exciting sector.
From previous Recruiter Award winners to leading experts in all aspects of ‘best practice’ and innovation in recruitment and resourcing. Experts in the recruitment M&A arena and finance also play critical roles in our judging process, to closely examine the financial soundness of recruitment businesses considered for Recruiter Awards.
Join our ‘celebration of innovation’, along with our judges and myself,
and showcase your achievements.
DeeDee Doke
Editor
Recruiter/recruiter.co.uk
Chair of Recruiter Awards judges
2024 Judges
Nicholas Barton
Nicholas Barton is a Founder, CEO, and Investor with 30 years of recruitment experience. Since 2007, he has built The Barton Partnership into a world-class specialist executive recruitment firm, expanding across multiple locations and service lines while maintaining a niche and specialist focus. He now leads a team of over 100 professionals across offices in London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney. His investment endeavours extend into recruitment sector innovation, notably with Search Chain, a FinTech recruitment firm, and HireARA, an AI-powered recruitment tech automation tool. Nicholas was shortlisted as Entrepreneur of the Year at the Recruiter Awards for three consecutive years and sits on the board of BritishAmericanBusiness, the leading transatlantic business organisation dedicated to helping companies build their business on both sides of the Atlantic.
Nicholas Barton
Founder & CEO, The Barton Partnership
Chris Biggs
Now into my 12th year at the Bank, my current Relationship Director role affords me the privilege of managing the overall relationship between NatWest Group and a portfolio of our Business Services / B2B Corporate Banking customers. This covers a variety of sectors but, by number of clients, Recruitment & Talent Solutions is the most substantive sector represented - and it is one in which I take a keen interest. It is therefore an honour to have been invited back this year to judge The Recruiter Awards for 2024, and I wish all applicants the best of luck for the process to follow! For more details on NatWest, please refer to our website: https://www.natwest.com/corporates.html LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-biggs-a43a9371/
Chris Biggs
Relationship Director (Corporate Banking), NatWest
Paul Chamberlain
Paul is Head of the firm’s Employment team and brings with him nearly 30 years’ employment law experience. He has a particular interest (and nationally-recognised expertise) in the law relating to the recruitment industry, advising and providing training on employment status issues, the Agency Workers’ Regulations, GLAA matters, the Working Time Regulations and industry-specific regulatory compliance matters. He has long-standing associations with TEAM (The Employment Agents’ Movement), REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation), ALP (Association of Labour Providers) and FCSA (Freelancers and Contractor Services Association).
Paul Chamberlain
Partner & Head of Employment, JMW Solicitors LLP
Katrina Collier
Katrina Collier is on a mission to end collaboration chaos that occurs between recruiters and hiring managers and leads to clunky recruitment processes and a poor candidate experience. She is one of 2 people globally delivering design-thinking workshops specifically for talent acquisition; workshops that swiftly help companies fix the real issues preventing successful hiring in as little as one day. She is also Author of The Robot-Proof Recruiter, a Mentor, and a global keynote speaker. Katrina is an Ambassador for Hope for Justice charity, and you’ll find her on LinkedIn and on Instagram & Twitter @KatrinaMCollier. katrinacollier.com
Katrina Collier
Author, Facilitator & Speaker, Katrina Collier Limited
Matt Collingwood
Matt has 27 years of experience in the IT recruitment sector. Having dedicated 17 years to the UK's largest IT recruitment firm, he ventured beyond corporate world in 2014 to establish his own agency. As the Managing Director of VIQU, a multi award winning IT recruitment and consultancy, Matt oversees operations across offices in Birmingham and Southampton, driving excellence and innovation. Beyond his professional endeavours, Matt ardently champions the recruitment profession. He co-founded the Recruitment Canaries, a collaborative network of Midlands-based agencies committed to fostering best practices and upholding industry standards and ethics. In his leisure, Matt generously volunteers as a board trustee for various charitable organisations, further exemplifying his commitment to community welfare.
Matt Collingwood
Managing Director VIQU Limited
Lysha Holmes
Lysha’s professional life began in Marketing and Sales, for a manufacturer in Lancashire, a property company in Manchester and latterly for Britvic Soft Drinks in the Midlands. She then stumbled upon an advert for a recruitment role and the rest is history…. Lysha began her recruitment career in 1998 in the West Midlands for a national recruitment agency, fast becoming the top biller for her 3 consecutive years there, with the focus on placing perm white collar roles into niche engineering such as automotive and aerospace industries. Moving back to her home city of manchester, Lysha headed up a boutique branch for a media and sales consultancy, whose head office was in london. It was after a year of launching their creative and advertising division that Lysha accidentally ended up running the R2R desk after one of her team left. And it is within the R2R world that Lysha has inhanbited since 2002. Following the birth of her eldest daughter in 2004, Lysha required flexibility and had a burning desire to change the face of R2R and recruitment QUI Recruitment was launched on a shoestring, with the focus on placing experienced recruiters across the NW. The acronym is Quality, Urgency and Integrity- Lysha’s core values. And it also means WHO in french 🙂 Since 2005, Lysha has earned a reputation for being a candid, covert and expert within the R2R market; championing best practise and ethics at all times. With a team also focusing on London and the West yorkshire area, Lysha continues to partner the best recruitment talent in the NW. In 2020, Lysha launched her podcast aimed at leaders and recruiters alike; with a global audience that now tunes in to her weekly shows, with over 200 episodes and live shows too. Follow The Recruiters Recruitment Podcast. Aside from recruitment, Lysha is an advocate for wellbeing; she is a Champion for Mental Health In Recruitment, as Associate to The DEI educator Inclusion Crowd and is an outspoken ambassador for sober life having made this life choice back in 2017. Lysha is a solo parent to two daughters (19 and 16) and has been vocal and instrumental in partnering working parents since Qui’s inception in 2005.
Lysha Holmes
Owner, Qui Recruitment
Belinda Johnson
After eight years with Vedior and Randstad (its acquirer), latterly as their UK-centric Research Director, Belinda founded employment research consultancy, Worklab, in 2012. The company specialises in producing custom research for a wide variety of organisations, including domestic and multinational employers, recruitment intermediaries (HROs, RPOs, MSP and specialist recruitment businesses), HR and recruitment technology providers, private equity firms, government and trade bodies. Outputs include operational research (global market / talent / competitor mapping, board packs, investor due diligence packs, etc.) and the generation of bespoke marketing content (white papers, interviews, blogs, etc.) [email protected] www.work-lab.co.uk
Belinda Johnson
Director, WorkLab
Dean Kelly
Dean Kelly is a seasoned multipreneur and investor who has successfully built, grown and exited several businesses, selling his first company almost two decades ago at 30 years to then become the youngest CEO on the U.K. stock market. As the founder of Kellstar Dean is still an active hands-on entrepreneur with his portfolio agencies, SaaS platform and consultancy. He is also the founder of one of the world's largest networks of recruitment CEOs that have a combined turnover in excess of $3bn.
Dean Kelly
Founder, Kellstar
Ian Knowlson
Ian Knowlson, Recruitment Industry NED, Growth-Coach and Business-Mentor, utilises his 39+ years’ experience establishing and growing businesses in the recruitment sector, assisting clients create, develop and deliver hi-growth strategies and visions for their companies. Ian has become an “Employment Futurist” with his insights into how the employment and recruitment sectors are changing. Recently named by Onalytica, in their Top10 Global-Influencers on the #Future-of-Work and #Talent-Recruitment, he is regularly asked to speak about the impact of technology changes on the employment-sector at conferences. An NLP-Master-Practitioner Ian’s passion is helping individuals/businesses achieve their true potential and he consults, coaches, and educates recruitment businesses on leadership, business development, MSP/RPO and relationship selling. Ian lives in Cheshire and is married with four children all of whom are Millennials and 'digital-natives'. He’s a keen golfer gardener, a Liverpool supporter. X - @ianknowlson Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianknowlson/ Instagram - IAN_KNOWLSON
Ian Knowlson
Director, Knowlson Associates Ltd - Trading as Talence
Tom Lakin
Tom leads the Advisory Practice at Robert Walters Group, advising clients on all aspects of the Future of Work with a particular specialism in Diverse Hiring, ESG and Quality of Hire.
Tom Lakin
Global Practice Director, Robert Walters Group
Thomas Leister
Thomas Leister supports German and foreign companies in all matters relating to individual and collective employment law. He has a particular focus on developing strategic concepts for companies in the recruitment industry. In particular, Thomas advises on workforce solutions (PEO, EOR, agile work, etc.), employee leasing, independent contractors, HR compliance and cross-border projects for contingent workforce management (MSP, RPO).
Thomas Leister
Partner, Osborne Clarke
Stephanie Lunn
Stephanie Lunn is Guinness World Records’ Global People & Culture Director. She is responsible for a wide variety of people-focussed programmes across the company’s six international offices including Global Engagement programmes, learning & development, succession planning, diversity and inclusion strategies and coaching initiatives. Prior to joining GWR in 2018, Stephanie held senior HR positions in a variety of media organisations including Yahoo!, Havas, Omnicom, and Moving Picture Company. Away from the office Stephanie supports the arts, loves travel including spending time with her teams and learning about the different cultures in Dubai, Tokyo, Beijing and New York. twitter.com/GWR youtube.com/guinnessworldrecords facebook.com/GuinnessWorldRecords instagram.com/guinnessworldrecords snapchat.com/add/gwr tiktok.com/@guinnessworldrecords
Stephanie Lunn
Global People and Culture Director, Guinness World Records
Sarah Manning
Sarah is an experienced global Talent Acquisition leader with a keen interest in social mobility, neurodiversity and professional development. She has more than 15 years' experience within the Professional Services sector, including as a UK Board Director of a NASDAQ listed multi-disciplinary recruitment business.
Sarah Manning
Simon Marsden
Simon is a Director at Gambit Corporate Finance LLP, an independent corporate finance lead advisory firm providing services to private and public companies throughout the UK and internationally. Simon co-leads Gambit’s Human Capital team and works with business owners and management teams to create and realise shareholder value through fundraisings, acquisitions and delivering exits. Simon has over 25 years’ M&A market experience and has advised on a significant number of transactions across acquisitions, disposals, management buy-outs, fundraisings and restructurings. His recent Human Capital M&A experience includes the sale of Astutis to Wilmington plc, the acquisition of BMSL Group for Indigo Group, the MBO of Outsource UK and the sale of MPCT to Learning Curve Group.
Simon Marsden
Director, Gambit Corporate Finance
Ricky Martin
Biochemist, Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry with now 20 years experience as a Life Science recruitment leader. Ricky is the founder of Hyper Recruitment Solutions (HRS) who are a multi award winning Life Sciences recruitment consultant set up in 2012 off the back of a successful investment campaign on BBC's The Apprentice. www.hyperec.com twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram @rickymartin247
Ricky Martin
CEO, Hyper Recruitment Solutions
Wendy McDougall
Wendy McDougall, CEO of Firefish Software, is a seasoned expert in recruitment technology with over two decades in the industry. Starting as a recruiter, she founded Firefish Software to merge recruitment with innovative Data Driven Intelligence. Renowned for her forward-thinking approach, especially in AI applications in recruitment, Wendy has transformed Firefish into a key player in the recruitment CRM space.
Wendy McDougall
CEO, Firefish Software
Annabel Nichols
A Global Talent Acquisition Director with experience across Technology and Professional Services, Annabel has led award winning teams at both Accenture and Avanade. Currently at Avanade, Annabel is the Global TA Transformation Lead, playing a key role in the introduction of Academy 'Hiring for Potential', delivering 40+% female hiring and winning awards from Candidate Experience to Diversity. Annabel lives near Cambridge with her husband and three teenage boys. https://www.avanade.com/en-gb
Annabel Nichols
Global TA Transformation Lead, Avanade
Tara Ricks
NED and Board Advisor to the recruitment industry - extensive experience and expertise in growth strategies; M&A; people & culture; international expansion; corporate governance.
Tara Ricks
Director, Consulting Eve
Keith Rosser
20 years in recruitment dedicated to making UK hiring faster, fairer, and safer. Worked with UK Home Office to implement digital RTW which, by 2030, will see 25m people getting work quickly and remotely. Founded Reed Screening (www.reedscreening.com) for the Reed Group in 2010, now one of the UK’s leading employee screening businesses. Launched JobsAware (www.jobsaware.co.uk) to over 6m people on BBC Breakfast; the first platform providing free help to work seekers and flexible workers. Recently launched the UK’s first guide on Hiring Fraud with the Prime Minister’s office. Regular speaker in Parliament and Officer of the Modernising Employment APPG. Received a Home Office Commendation Award in 2016, recognised as a Community Leader at Buckingham Palace in 2018 for services to recruitment, received the Individual Contribution to APSCo Award in 2021 and the Recruiter Individual Impact Award in 2023. Made an Honorary Fellow at Lancaster University for services to industry.
Keith Rosser
Director, Reed / Better Hiring Institute / JobsAware
Shan Saba
Shan sits on the Leadership Team of Brightwork with responsibility for client relationships and business growth within the Scottish Market. He also founded and leads the Scottish Government initiative Scotland Against Modern Slavery, and is a trustee of the Refugee Sanctuary Scotland. He has recently been leading the Diversity and Inclusion forum within the manufacturing industry in Scotland and regularly contributes to BBC Scotland on a variety of topics
Shan Saba
Director, Brightwork
Annukka Tervo
I'm a professional Work Psychologist and Certified Coach inspired by utilising psychological knowledge in the business context. I have worked over 15 years in a global leadership acquisition and advisory company Mercuri Urval/MU. https://www.linkedin.com/in/annukkatervo
Annukka Tervo
Partner & Chief Psychologist, Mercuri Urval/MU
Kent Thompson
Kent Thompson joined the recruitment industry after leaving the military in 1986, where he served as a tank mechanic in the REME. He started his recruitment life as a temporary HGV driver for HMS, a National PLC recruitment agency and soon became a Temporary Consultant for that agency. He joined the Pertemps 'family' in 1991 and opened the first wholly owned Southern Branch in Reading, he led the expansion and growth of the Region to 15 Branches and in 1998 became the Southern Operations Director. In 2000, Kent became joint Managing Director for Pertemps Recruitment Partnership. Kent, who still holds a current LGV licence, has a special interest in promoting the Branch Network, links with the MOD and the Driver Training Divisions of the Company and as such was instrumental in the creation of the Driver Branding for Pertemps. Kent is also a Director of a number of PNG Companies.
Kent Thompson
Managing Director, Pertemps
Duncan Wyeth
Having started my career in accounting, I moved into IT sales and consulting, specifically accounting and ERP software, in the mid 80’s. Since then I’ve been advising senior executives on how they can leverage technology to increase productivity, efficiency and insight and, as a result, enable their organizations to thrive. for almost 40 years. I’ve seen the role of the Financial Managers and executives transform over this time. Financial Managers are now key advisors to the executive team who need to not only lead their own team but also inspire people across the organization. I am passionate about the use of technology to advance business performance and drive efficiencies in all areas. With the advances in integration and automation technologies including AI, the applications marketplace is growing and changing at an alarming pace. My aim is to help organisations use these technologies to their best advantage. https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-wyeth-600006b/
