Yvon Drouet is the deputy general manager and CFO of Synergie, the sixth-largest staffing firm in France. Drouet oversees group finance and investments and plays a key role in Synergie’s international expansion. He is also a member of Synergie’s executive board. Since 2018, Synergie has developed its IT support services, after acquiring DCS Easyware in 2018 in France and Tigloo in 2019 in Spain. Synergie reported 2019 revenue of €2.64 billion.
As CEO of PageGroup, Steven Ingham oversees a £1.28 billion global business with a headcount of almost 7,000 employees across 36 countries. Ingham has witnessed PageGroup’s people-first culture being strengthened by successfully adapting to volatile market and cultural changes as well as delivering a threefold increase in turnover and profits. He has continued to reshape what PageGroup is as a business and the opportunities it can create. Since becoming a wheelchair user after a near-fatal skiing accident in March 2019, Ingham increased focus on unlocking hidden talent, enabling employers to nurture diverse workforces built on an inclusive, winning mindset.
Mark Maesen is CEO of Belgium-based Actief Group, a €600 million staffing company active in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. Maesen in 2020 became CEO of Actief Interim, the group’s brand in Belgium, bringing leadership experience as former CEO of Sara Lee. In 2015, he became CEO of Actief Group. The company has continued to expand and make acquisitions and now employs more than 20,000 temporary workers on a daily basis. Maesen is also closely involved with the Private Art Support Foundation, which collects, preserves and discloses works of art by Belgian artists.
Sergio Picarelli is The Adecco Group’s regional head of North America, UK and Ireland Professional Staffing and is responsible for global oversight of Lee Hecht Harrison, General Assembly, Badenoch+Clark, Spring Professional and Pontoon. He has been a member of its executive committee since 2009. Picarelli first joined Adecco in 1993, holding several leadership positions before becoming country manager of Adecco Italy and Switzerland from 2005 to 2009 (Switzerland until the end of 2008). He was the group’s chief sales officer from 2009 to September 2015, when he became regional head of Italy, Eastern Europe and Middle East and North Africa.
Nick Dunett is CEO of Resource Solutions. As part of the Robert Walters Group, Resource Solutions has a global footprint across 31 countries and sources and recruits for clients in more than 60 countries. He was managing director of Robert Walters Germany and Switzerland and COO of Resource Solutions before becoming CEO in 2020. To support organisations in dealing with demand-surge during the Covid-19 crisis, Dunett and his team this year launched a new service called Rapidsource, which has helped the NHS fill 600,000 shifts, process more than 50,000 expressions of interest, get 17,500-plus healthcare professionals to work and support 45 new NHS trusts.
Nicola McQueen was appointed as CEO of NHS Professionals, the largest temporary staff supplier to the National Health Service, in September 2019. She initially joined NHS Professionals as interim COO in January 2019. She is passionate about workforce business issues, having spent the past 20 years supporting and creating effective staffing strategies across both the private and public sectors. McQueen is also CEO of Doctors Direct, the locum service of NHS Professionals. Most recently, she has led NHS Professionals through the coronavirus pandemic, successfully attracting tens of thousands of healthcare professionals into the NHS.
Alain Dehaze is CEO of The Adecco Group, a role he has held since September 2015. Adecco ranks No. 2 on SIA’s list of Largest Global Staffing Firms. He became chair of the Global Apprenticeship Network in 2016. He has been a member of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work since 2017. Dehaze is also a steward of the World Economic Forum system initiative on education, gender and work and is co-chair of the Governors for the World Economic Forum’s Professional Services Industry Community. Furthermore, Dehaze was VP of the board of the World Employment Confederation Europe and a WEC board member from 2010 to 2015.
Henry Schirmer joined Randstad as CFO and member of its executive board in 2018. He is responsible for global finance and accounting, business control, M&A, tax, treasury, business risk and audit, investor relations and legal. In 2019, Randstad achieved record-high free cash flow, providing the opportunity to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce its debt position. Together with a cost optimisation program, this improved its incremental conversion ratio resulting in an EBITA of 4.9% in the last quarter. Schirmer is also a member of the board of directors of General American Investors and the non-profit organisation Results for Development.
Dave Chaplin is the CEO and founder of contracting authority ContractorCalculator and tax compliance firm IR35 Shield. Chaplin was an IT contractor for several years before founding ContractorCalculator, a multifaceted resource hub for the contingent workforce, which he launched in 1999. IR35 Shield, founded in 2017, enables firms, agencies and contractors to remain compliant with the IR35 and off-payroll legislation. Chaplin is also the author of Contractors’ Handbook Third Edition and, more recently, IR35 & Off-Payroll – explained. He assists with IR35 tax tribunals, has consulted on many occasions for HMRC and advises senior politicians and government bodies on freelance tax matters.
Gary Goldsmith is a long-time recruitment industry investor, non-executive director and advisor to various companies in the UK recruitment industry. Goldsmith spent more than 13 years with SThree, launching and helping to grow its contract business. Goldsmith was also the former COO at InterQuest from 2012 to 2013. Throughout his career, Goldsmith has served as a non-executive director, mentor and “growth coach” for various recruitment firms across niches ranging from IT and travel recruitment to cybersecurity recruitment and secretarial and administrative recruitment. In 2015, Goldsmith co-founded the Recruitment Directors Lunch Club, a fast-growing network for aspiring recruitment business leaders.
