Eton Bridge Launches Board Practice

April 13, 2016 – Executive search and interim management firm Eton Bridge Partners has launched a new board of directors practice. It will complement the firm’s existing interim and executive search verticals within finance, human resources and business transformation.

The practice will be led by partners Louise Chaplin and Jean-Pierre Green and will support listed, privately owned and private equity-backed organizations in the U.K. and internationally.

Ms. Chaplin has worked across a wide variety of business sectors, functions and geographies and has a broad and diverse client base. She is focused on delivery of key talent across board positions in listed, PE/VC and SME environments.

Mr. Green specializes in executive search mandates for business transformation and board level positions. Clients include entrepreneurial SMEs through to large multinational organizations going through people, process and systems change.

He works in partnership with clients to identify, assess and appoint group and operating board members, including the full range of C-suite roles — CEO, CFO, COO, CIO — and supporting leadership teams to develop their divisional and operating board functions.

Eton Bridge Partners is a specialist in executive search and interim management, with a focus on three distinct practices areas: business transformation, finance and human resources. The firm works with clients in London as well as assisting divisions and subsidiaries of businesses across the U.K., Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Director recruiting has grown markedly more challenging in recent years. According to Egon Zehnder, the heightened expectations now placed on boards have elevated both the professional standards and personal commitment required of all directors.

At the same time, many boards find that the supply of independent-minded ‘board experienced’ directors – especially those who can add vital forms of specialized skills and expertise – is limited, as such candidates are both widely sought after and sometimes hesitant to take on the intensive responsibilities of board service today.

In response, a number of executive search firms have strengthened their board practices in recent months:

• Heidrick & Struggles named Bonnie Gwin and Jeff Sanders as co-managing partners of the firm’s global CEO & board practice groups. Ms. Gwin, based in New York, has been named by the NACD Directorship to its Directorship 100 list of most influential boardroom recruiters every year since 2010. Mr. Sanders, who joined Heidrick, has led the firm’s North American CEO practice for the past eight years;

• Russell Reynolds Associates added Anthony Goodman in Boston as a member of its board effectiveness practice. Mr. Goodman was previously a partner at Tapestry Networks for more than 12 years. While at Tapestry, he created and led many corporate governance networks, including those for Fortune 500 lead directors and audit committee chairs;

• Caldwell Partners added Jay Millen as a leader of the firm’s CEO & board practice. He joins the firm from DHR International, where he served as a vice chairman and head of the firm’s board and CEO practice group;

• Allegis Partners recently launched a new board recruitment practice. Based in Chicago, Sara Hays co-leads the group as a managing director along with Paul Williams, who has been a partner with the firm’s sister company Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA) for the past 10 years. The firm’s board search practice partners with boards to recruit director candidates that align with the company’s culture and strategic direction.

Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media