Essenta Names Partner
July 16, 2025 – London-headquartered Essenta Partners has expanded with the addition of James Kenyon as a partner. “James brings with him more than a decade of international consulting and leadership advisory experience, with a strong focus on the private equity sector,” said James Howells, founder and CEO of Essenta. “He has a well-established track record of working with all sizes of pre-deal advisory through to building leadership teams for post-deal value creation, experience that will prove instrumental as we continue to scale our impact across the investment cycle. He will split his time between our London and New York offices, leveraging his global network to deliver value across our key markets.”
Mr. Kenyon most recently served as a partner with Acertitude, a purpose-driven executive search firm and leadership consultancy, specialized in board, C-level, and senior executive search. In this role, he personally advised private equity firms and technology portfolio companies on leadership challenges related to recruiting new global functional leaders who can help them realize their investment’s full potential. Before this, Mr. Kenyon was a consultant with Russell Reynolds Associates. Prior to this, he was a consultant with Redgrave Partners.
“I’m genuinely delighted to be working with James Kenyon once again,” Mr. Howells said. “It’s been a privilege to watch his evolution over the years into a trusted advisor across the private equity life cycle. From pre-deal through to value creation, James brings the insight, commercial sharpness, and global perspective that will empower our clients to hire, lead, develop and grow with greater confidence. Excited for what’s ahead.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining Essenta, one of the most innovative leadership advisory firms in the market,” said Mr. Kenyon. “At Essenta, I will be working with colleagues across the U.S. and Europe, leveraging existing expertise across private capital to help deepen our relationships and broaden our capabilities across all phases of the deal cycle. James and the team have created a truly differentiated platform built on excellence, transparency and ambition, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the future success and international growth of the firm.”
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Essenta is a global executive search and leadership advisory firm that partners with organizations to identify, assess, and recruit senior-level talent across a range of industries. The firm focuses on delivering strategic hiring solutions tailored to clients’ evolving leadership needs. Essenta combines industry-specific knowledge with data-driven insights to support boards, CEOs, and executive teams in making informed decisions about talent acquisition and organizational development.
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Mr. Howells founded Essenta Partners. He leads the business, focusing on global strategy, overseeing and supporting key practice leaders and heads of functions, and approving all hiring decisions. He has more than 26 years’ experience in helping organizations grow by finding them top senior talent. Mr. Howells continually shares this expertise by taking a hands-on approach in developing key client relationships.
Past Promotions
Last year, Essenta promoted David Purcell to senior partner and Tarek Sebiat to partner. Mr. Purcell is responsible for the firm’s B2B industry practice. The practice works across multiple ownership structures including private equity and publicly listed and covers a broad range of situations and geographies. Recent mandates include projects in the critical services, tech-enabled, construction, software, infrastructure, manufacturing and the testing, inspection and certification (TIC) sectors.
Mr. Sebiat specializes in CFO, senior finance and senior commercial executive search, working with a range of growth, capital-backed and listed clients globally. Having recently relocated from London to New York, he’s also forging the firm’s relationships with its North American clients to support expansion in the U.S. Mr. Sebiat is also a member of the firm’s BOLD team – its diversity, equity and inclusion group – leading the discussion around social mobility.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
