AIMS International Expands to Norway
May 15, 2017 – AIMS International has added Norway-headquartered search firm RUUD Executive. The firm is led by managing partner Tor-Egil Ruud, who has over 17 years of experience in recruitment, executive search, and leadership services from several national and international market-leading companies. He has conducted over 250 national and international assignments.
“This partnership is very important for us: We are now able to serve and help our clients in Norway to grow worldwide,” said Mr. Ruud, who has been client manager for several top 50 companies in Norway and abroad.
“In my opinion, our new AIMS partner in Norway is a top choice because they are fully aligned in their dedication to their clients and their pride in delivering high quality executive search and leadership assessment solutions in the Norwegian market,” said Pierangelo Favero, president of AIMS. “RUUD Executive now, as AIMS International Norway, will fit perfectly into AIMS International’s philosophy of providing excellence and first class client services. We consider ourselves fortunate to be able to welcome such a professional partner to the AIMS International family.”
Today, Norway ranks as the second wealthiest country in the world in monetary value, with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. The Norwegian economy is an example of a mixed economy, a prosperous capitalist welfare state and social democracy country featuring a combination of free market activity and large state ownership in certain key sectors. It has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, such as the strategic petroleum (Statoil), hydroelectric energy production (Statkraft), aluminum production (Norsk Hydro), the largest Norwegian bank (DNB), and telecommunication provider (Telenor). Through these companies the government controls approximately 30 percent of the stock values at the Oslo Stock Exchange.
With over 80 offices worldwide, AIMS International provides clients with customized, global executive search and talent management services in 50 countries. It currently has active global practice groups working in the automotive, financial & professional services, FMCG & luxury goods, industrial, IT & telecoms and life sciences industries, as well as in talent management and board advisory services.
Continued Growth
AIMS recently entered the Chicago market with the addition of executive search firm Alder Bowman. The firm is led by president and managing director David Williger, who has achieved a demonstrable record of leading executive search and talent acquisition engagements across all functional disciplines.
“Chicago is a very important location for AIMS International and this addition to our organization greatly enhances our ability to serve globally based clients with operations in the U.S. Midwest,” said Bernardo Entschev, global VP and EVP Americas at AIMS. “Considering the high concentration of companies here with global operations, I believe we now have a competitive advantage to enable them to meet their global talent acquisition objectives.”
In addition, AIMS recently appointed South Africa partner Leonie Pentz to lead its energy practice. Ms. Pentz is an executive search professional with 20-plus years’ experience in the recruitment industry and extensive exposure to the utilities, downstream and renewable energy segments in the SADC region.
“We are constantly sharing knowledge about recent industry trends and business development actions across our nine global practice teams,” said Pierangelo Favero, AIMS International’s president. “This enables AIMS consultants to constantly deliver exceptional results for clients all over the world.”
As an outgrowth of its expansion plans, AIMS also recently expanded into Albania where it has been implementing all of the human capital advisory services of Dynamics Partners, which has been providing executive search and HR consulting services in Albania and Kosovo for the last 10 years. The firm has a portfolio of roughly 500 completed search assignments.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media