Alistair Cox is chief executive of Hays, the global recruitment agency, and has held that position since 2007. He began his career at British Aerospace, subsequently moving to Schlumberger in 1982 where he held a number of roles in field engineering, management and research science based in Europe and the USA. After earning his MBA in 1991, he was a manager at McKinsey & Co. before joining Blue Circle Industries plc (now known as Lafarge), initially as group strategy director and then as regional director for Asia. Returning to the UK in 2002, Cox was appointed CEO of Xansa plc, the IT outsourcing organisation, before joining Hays in 2007. He was also a board member of 3i Group plc from 2009 to 2015 and currently serves on the board of food delivery service Just Eat.
