James Caan made his fortune through the global, multi-million pound success of his companies Alexander Mann and Humana International. In 2004, he founded private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw, which has more than 20 recruitment companies in its portfolio. He is best known for being on the hit BBC show Dragons’ Den, and more recently, The Business Class on CNBC. Caan chairs the U.K. government’sStart Up Loans scheme, which provides funding and mentoring to budding entrepreneurs.
Natalia Shuman is senior VP and general manager, EMEA and APAC regions, Kelly Services Inc. Shuman also serves as COO of Kelly’s joint venture, TS Kelly Workforce Solutions, in North Asia. She joined Kelly in 1997 and was responsible for successfully launching Kelly’s recruitment business in the Moscow market and later moved to New York to launch Kelly’s Wall Street office. Since 2008, Shuman has been managing global account teams and developing global programmes for Kelly. Over the last two years, she has also served as vice president of Global Solutions.
François Pinte is general secretary of the French group Synergie, the fifth-largest staffing firm in France. Pinteholds a number of positions at key institutions: president of the French staffing industry social fund FASTT; president of the audit committee of Prism’emploi, the French national staffing association; and elected member of the council of the Pays de Loire region.
Oliver Watson is an executive board director for the PageGroup. He is responsible for all Michael Page, Page Executive and Page Personnel operations in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Middle East and South Africa. Prior to this he was regional managing director for Michael Page UK. Watson joined the company as a consultant in London in 1995.
Chris Hartman is president of Allegis Global Solutions (AGS). He has more than 20 years’ experience with the Allegis Group family, and is responsible for growing the AGS footprint throughout the globe. In his previous role as global development officer for Allegis Group, Hartman was responsible for executing and establishing dominant offerings outside of North America. Before moving over to his global roles, he was a founding member and president of Allegis Group Services. Under his direction, AGS grew into one of the largest MSP and RPO providers.
Philip Gracco is the co-founder and CEO of Accent Jobs, a Belgian staffing group. He negotiated the entry of the private equity firm Gimv into the group’s capital in 2006 (which exited in 2012), an investment that boosted Accent’s growth and profitability.
Adrian Gunn is CEO of Matchtech Group plc. He was appointed to the board in 2004 as business development director. Gunn became CEO shortly after the group floatedon AIM. He joined Matchtech as a recruitment consultant in 1988. Gunn is a fellow of the Institute of Recruitment Professionals and is a member of the CBI’s Employment and Skills Board.
Alistair Cox is chief executive of Hays, which had revenue of £3,697 million in its last financial year. He has been CEO since 2007. Prior to Hays, he was chief executive at Xansa plc from 2002. Cox is also a non-executive director of 3i Group plc. He is a chartered engineer and has an MBA from the Stanford Business School in California.
Andrew Hogarth is CEO of Staffline, which had revenue of £416 million in its latest financial year. He has been with the company since 2002. ISIS funded the buy in/management buyout of the firm in 2000 and introduced Hogarth as finance director. Hogarth helped float the firm on AIM in 2004 and has been chief executive since 2003. He is a certified neuro-linguistic programming coach.
Wessel van Alphen is founder (1986) and owner of the Dutch company IT-Staffing, one of the largest IT specialist firms in the European staffing market. Following the launch in 1978 of his first company providing the services of self-employed IT specialists to clients, van Alphen was involved in the creation of numerous other businesses, ranging from staffing brands to Internet radios. He passed the daily management of the company to his son, Wessel van Alphen Jr., in December 2013.
