Allen Austin Continues Global Expansion
June 21, 2017 – With assignments increasingly rolling in from around the globe, executive recruiters are developing new practices, hiring recruiters and opening new locations. The latest: Executive search firm Allen Austin has a new hub in Istanbul, and has added offices in Turkey, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
Serkan Yagcioglu joins the firm as vice president of international operations and will lead all global business from Istanbul with the primary goal of expanding Allen Austin’s operations outside the U.S. His focus will be on growing the firm’s partnership model, executive recruitment method and leadership development strategy in Asia Pacific (mainly in China, Singapore and India), Latin America, Germany, France, Netherlands and Eastern Europe. Previously, Mr. Yagcioglu served in various roles with global healthcare company GSK.
Growth Strategy
“I am very excited to be a part of this growth strategy,” said Mr. Yagcioglu. “It is definitely the right time for Allen Austin to access the global markets and I strongly believe that Allen Austin’s foresight process for retained search as well as total performance leadership solutions will serve the unmet needs of our clients outside the U.S. market.”
With over 10 years of experience, Zoran Marinkovic also joins Allen Austin as partner for the Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai. He has conducted searches in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and South Africa focusing on industries such as industrial gas, oil & gas, supply chain and consumer goods. Previously, Mr. Marinkovic served as head of the Middle East at Cripps Sears.
“It is a fantastic challenge to launch Allen Austin in the Middle East & Africa and a great opportunity for companies in our region to have another top-notch global executive search and leadership advisory firm,” said Mr. Marinkovic. “We are planning to open new offices with new partners in key countries and increase our expertise within a specific area so we have a comprehensive understanding of the needs of our clients.”
Also, Celina Ayala joins the firm as partner for Spain and Portugal, based in Ibiza, Spain. With a track record of identifying and aligning leaders for both publicly traded and venture capital / private equity-backed organizations, Ms. Ayala previously served as vice president of renewable energy and cleantech at Enlow & Associates Executive Search.
“I am thrilled to be part of the partners at Allen Austin, serving Spain and Portugal,” said Ms. Ayala. “In business and relationships, we put our best foot forward, knowing that good leadership takes skilled practice.”
Rob Andrews, founder and CEO of Allen Austin, said the new team members serve to make a strong organization stronger. “We are very excited about the entrance of Serkan and our new partners in to the firm, and our collective vision for delivering global retained search and leadership advisory solutions in a consistent and reliable manner,” he said. “Consistency of approach, process and execution is difficult to find, according to many of our global clients. For over 20 years, we’ve endeavored to innovate, research, test and refine breakthrough architectures in areas of hiring practices and leadership.”
Mr. Yagcioglu recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media and discussed Allen Austin’s expansion and what the new markets bring to the firm as well as future growth plans.
———————————————————————
Serkan, explain why Turkey, Spain and the United Arab Emirates are top areas for Allen Austin for expansion.
Allen Austin’s global strategy is driven by our commitment to deliver superior processes, reliability and predictable results to multinational clients. The greatest regional growth within the search / management consulting profession in 2016 was in Europe and Africa, with Asia Pacific and the Middle East experiencing slight declines. Our focus on Asia Pacific (Australia, China / Hong Kong, Singapore), Middle East (UAE and Istanbul), South Africa, India, Latin America (Brazil) and Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe) is based on our practice development priorities.
How has your previous experience prepared you for your new role at Allen Austin?
I have 20+ years of senior leadership experience in many parts of the world and have had general management responsibility for major multinational corporations. Having hired many retained search firms, I’ve analyzed the executive search and leadership advisory profession. My experience and research led me to choose Allen Austin, which I strongly believe has a unique and powerful retained executive search process, trademarked Foresight, and proprietary leadership advisory solutions, Total Performance Leadership, which enable us to support the unmet needs of the multinational market.
How will you help grow the firm’s partnership model, executive recruitment method and leadership development strategy?
The particulars of our partnership model are proprietary and confidential. Suffice it to say that it does not resemble any of the current models in the marketplace. I can say that our commitment is to deliver our Foresight search process and Total Performance Leadership solutions consistently, reliably and predictably across all regions of the world.
“Having hired many retained search firms, I’ve analyzed the executive search and leadership advisory profession. My experience and research led me to choose Allen Austin, which I strongly believe has a unique and powerful retained executive search process and proprietary leadership advisory solutions.”
What sectors will these new locations serve?
Our practice priorities are industrial, energy, private equity, life sciences (pharma, medical device and healthcare) consumer, technology, media and telecom, and non-profit.
Does Allen Austin look to add consultants in these new locations?
We are looking to add only the highest level consultants to our international team. That is to say, true consultants who are committed to the practice of retained search as a specialized form of management consulting, rather than order-taking transactional recruiters. We are also looking for consultants who understand the power of Allen Austin’s Total Performance Leadership architecture and solutions.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Chase Barbe, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
