Albert Ellis is the CEO of Harvey Nash Group, a London-based IT staffing and services firm. Originally appointed CFO in 2000, he became CEO in 2005. The company has since expanded its footprint globally with revenue of £784.3 million. Under his leadership, Harvey Nash became the first recruitment consultancy in the world to gain accreditation under Ernst and Young’s National Equality Standard, and its pioneering work in establishing diversity networks in four continents has been recognised by the UK government. Before Harvey Nash, Ellis worked in the accounting and auditing profession after qualifying as a chartered accountant. He is also a foundation member of Cambridge University’s Rustat Conference, a non-executive director at Asia House and external advisor to London City University’s Cass Business School’s Information Leadership Network.
2018
Bettina Schaller, a board member of the World Employment Confederation, was appointed president of the WEC Europe in December 2017. She also runs the public affairs activities of The Adecco Group, encompassing regulatory and policy issues and the group’s memberships in employers’ associations at the global and European scale. Schaller is also a member of the B20 Employment and Education Task Force; sits on the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Employment, Labour and Social Affairs committee; supports the Global Forum on Migration and Development’s “responsible recruitment” efforts; and acts as company focal point for the Global Apprenticeship Network and the World Economic Forum.
Frits Goldschmeding founded Uitzendbureau Amstelveen in 1960, and in 1964 renamed it Randstad, which is now the second-largest staffing firm in the world. Goldschmeding took Randstad public in 1990, and in 2008, merged it with the Dutch group Vedior. CEO until 1998 and a member of the supervisory board from 1999 until 2011, Goldschmeding remains the largest shareholder. He has a doctorate from the VU University Amsterdam and was professor at the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Nyenrode Business University. He is founder and supervisory board member of the Goldschmeding Foundation, which supports projects that respond to social issues in the field of people, work and economy.
Currently managing director of Manpower France, Jean-François Denoy has held various positions with ManpowerGroup, including roles with operational management responsibilities and in HR. As HR director, he led training, career management and HR development from 2006 to 2010. Denoy was appointed HR and services managing director of Manpower France in 2010 and managing director in 2012. He holds master’s degrees in administrative and strategic management and human resources.
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.
Étienne Colella is chairman of PIXID Group, a VMS provider headquartered in France. The firm, which he founded in 2004, offers an SaaS application compliant with the European regulation for providing and using temporary staff. In 2015, private equity fund Keensight Capital took a majority stake in the company to help it become a leading player in the European market. PIXID bought The Internet Corp. (UK) in 2017 and Carerix (Netherlands) in 2018 to strengthen its value proposition by adding a sourcing component and expanding its operations in Europe. Previously, Colella spent 14 years in the IT industry in various senior positions. Colella graduated from ESSEC Business School in Paris.
Johnathan Johnson is CEO of Fircroft, which was founded by his father, John Johnson. He joined in 1997 as a consultant and was promoted to operations director for the international oil and gas sector in 2001. Since taking the helm in 2005, he has overseen the global expansion of the company, taking advantage of the globalisation in the oil and gas industry. As CEO, Johnson has made sure that the company’s service offering has developed to meet the needs of its growing client base.
Since 2007, Maurizio Uboldi has been responsible for the M&A strategy and international expansion of Gi Group, one of the world’s leading HR companies providing a full range of services for the development of the labour market. Gi Group reported turnover of €2 billion in 2017. Founded in Italy in 1998, Gi Group operates in more than 40 countries worldwide, either directly or through strategic partnerships. Uboldi has extensive experience in, and knowledge of, global staffing and labour markets. Uboldi is a graduate of Bocconi University in Milan.
Tig Gilliam has been CEO of NES Global Talent, a specialist provider of engineering talent solutions, since 2014. He joined the board in 2013. Prior to NES Global Talent, Gilliam was operating partner for AEA Investors, a private equity firm. From 2007 to 2012, he was regional head and executive committee member of The Adecco Group North America. Earlier in his career, he was a partner at PwC Consulting and IBM Global Business Services, leading the global supply chain management practice. Gilliam is also chairman of New York-based Work Market Inc., a freelance management system used by businesses to manage their independent contractors.
Stefan Kölbl is chairman of German firm Dekra SE, which includes Dekra Personnel, the temporary work and training and education division of the company that posted revenue of €650.1 million in 2017. Kölbl joined Dekra in 2000 after working as a management consultant. He became chairman in 2010. Kölbl was appointed managing director of the economically ailing Dekra Akademie in 2003. Within two years, he turned Dekra Akademie into one of the leading training providers in Germany. He was then assigned to Dekra’s automotive services unit in 2006, which has expanded internationally under his direction. He has also served as a member of advisory board at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg and Baden-Württembergische Bank AG.