Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires Optimum Talent

November 11, 2020 – Acquisitions continue to make news in the recruiting industry, with a number of notable purchases in recent months. Recently, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., one of the world’s largest consulting and risk management companies, acquired Montreal-headquartered Optimum Talent. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Optimum Talent’s Canadian team is composed of more than 260 colleagues in 13 offices nationwide, from Vancouver to Halifax. Internationally, the firm has a strategic partnership with Career Star Group to deliver coaching, career transition and change management solutions.

Optimum Talent is a provider of human resources consulting services with expertise in career management, career transition, coaching, executive search and organizational psychology. It operates in three targeted segments: search solutions, leadership assessment & development, and career transition & outplacement. Ron Dahms, Mike Bacchus and their associates will continue to operate from their current locations under the direction of Melanie Jeannotte, CEO of Gallagher’s benefit and HR consulting division in Canada, and Scott Hamilton, global managing director of Gallagher’s human resources and compensation consulting practice.

“The Optimum Talent team will introduce our Gallagher Better Works organizational well-being strategy to the many clients that they support, expanding our senior management relationships across Canada and creating additional opportunities for capabilities discussions and consulting engagements,” said chairman, CEO and president J. Patrick Gallagher Jr. “We are thrilled to welcome Ron, Mike and their associates countrywide to our growing global team.”

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, IL. The company has operations in 49 countries and offers client-service capabilities in more than 150 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Recent M&A activity

Acquisitions have kept the executive search industry in a state of flux. Here’s a sampling of recent acquisitions taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

 Recruitment firm Harvey Nash has acquired technology focused executive search firm Latitude 36 as part of its strategic expansion in the U.S. Latitude 36, which employs 125 colleagues across seven offices spanning the U.S and India will become part of Harvey Nash’s technology recruitment division. The management team of Latitude 36 will take senior leadership roles with the business and will work closely with Harvey Nash’s U.S. team, as well as the wider firm, to integrate, build and grow the business.

 In an effort to fuel growth across the Northeast and Canada, Brentwood, TN-headquartered recruiting firm Vaco has acquired technology-focused recruiting firm Prodigy Bank of Toronto. The acquisition complements Vaco’s recent expansions in Canada, following its Lannick acquisition in 2017 and expansion into Montreal last year. Prodigy Bank, founded in 2016, joins an organization that delivers talent and solutions across diverse industries and to more than 10,000 clients globally. Prodigy Bank specializes in the E-commerce, technology, digital, software product development and financial services sectors, serving more than 100 clients ranging from the largest enterprises in Canada composed of financial institutions, banks and retailers to small to mid-size companies across various industries.

Russell Reynolds Associates has acquired the cultural analytics business of Workplace Analytics, a provider of data-driven insights and analysis about corporate culture. With this addition, the firm expands its culture assessment portfolio to assist CEOs, boards of directors and CHROs in more accurately identifying deep-rooted issues within a company’s culture and creating environments that drive performance, spur innovation and foster collaboration. As the firm sees it, more data / less risk, hence the acquisition.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

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