Atkinson Macleod Executive Search Opens In Scotland

March 31, 2017 – Search industry veterans Ian Macleod and Paul Atkinson have joined forces to form Atkinson Macleod Executive Search. The firm will focus on board and senior executive level searches for the private and public sectors.
While the firm is opening its doors during a period of economic and political uncertainty across the U.K., Mr. Macleod said he is confident that the new business has good prospects for success. “There’s work out there. I would not describe the market as buoyant but there’s people moving on all the time. There’s always going to be appointments, you just have to make sure you are speaking to enough people.”
Brexit, he said, might have an impact on the market but not enough to cause any large concern. “The impression I get is that a lot of companies are reasonably confident they will still have good markets to go at,” he said. Initially, Atkinson Macleod will target work in Scotland but it is expected to branch out into the English market in coming months.
Mr. Macleod spent 16 years running the Scottish arm of Odgers Berndtson after serving for 10 years with the Norman Broadbent. Mr. Atkinson founded of Head Resources in 2001 after developing two other executive search firms.
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Scotland has a Western-style open mixed economy closely linked with the rest of the U.K. Traditionally, the Scottish economy has been dominated by heavy industry underpinned by shipbuilding in Glasgow, coal mining and the steel industry. Edinburgh is the financial services center of Scotland, with many large financial services firms centralized here, including Lloyds Banking Group (owners of HBOS); Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life.
U.K. Firms See Growth Opportunities In the U.S.
As the fallout deepens in the post-Brexit world, the U.S. is looking more attractive to search firms headquartered in the U.K. that find they can just as easily expand their global search platforms to America.
Here’s a look at just a few of the recent moves made by search firms to the American shores, taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media newswire archives:
- Carmichael Fisher this week expanded into the U.S. with the opening of a new office in Los Angeles. The new location is led by Justin Hobday, supported locally by two regional directors, new hire Kimberley Rice and Ciara Kelleher, who transfers from the fIrm’s EMEA headquarters in London;
- La Fosse Associates opened its first U.S. office based in Santa Monica, the hub of Los Angeles’ thriving tech and digital sector, where it is already engaged in a number of assignments for organizations ranging from early stage start-ups to global concern. Tom Vaughan heads-up the new location and is responsible for establishing and expanding the firm’s West Coast presence. With almost a decade of executive search experience, he helped scale La Fosse from a team of 12 to 150 in just six years;
- SRi (Sports Recruitment International) just expanded to the U.S. with the appointment of Steven Moser as a consultant. Mr. Moser becomes the first SRi appointment to be permanently based stateside, expanding the firm’s global reach that already includes bases in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland and the U.K. He is based in Phoenix;
- U.K.-headquartered Expand Executive Search recently launched its first U.S. office, establishing a presence in New York City. Executive search consultant Ollie Shipp heads the new location, relocating from the U.K.;
- London-headquartered executive recruiting firm eg.1 opened is first office in the U.S., establishing a location in New York City. The firm is led by Victoria Gumbley. She has assumed the title of vice president of North America, relocating from London to New York;
- London-based executive search firm Erevena opened its first U.S. office, establishing a location in San Francisco. The office is being led by partner Terry Shaw and principal consultant Max Levy, who relocated from London. Further additions the office are expected in coming months.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media