Horton International UK Expands Global Healthcare Arm
September 14, 2020 – Horton International UK has expanded with the addition of Mark Johnson as senior partner of its Oxford-based global healthcare arm. His appointment reflects the company’s ambition to grow its services to support specialized biotechs access specialized talent.
“Mark has an impeccable reputation within the biotechnology space, with particular emphasis on helping cell and gene companies access top talent,” said Dafydd Wright, managing partner. “Both his industry and consultancy experience bring a unique perspective to our clients and he is an excellent addition to the team.”
With a background in manufacturing/quality and development for the vaccine industry, Mr. Johnson’s expertise in executive search is for the pharmaceutical, life sciences and healthcare industries, from board level to middle management. For the past four years, he has focused on building high performing leadership/ technical teams for cell and gene therapy companies.
Most recently, he was a partner with global life sciences recruitment firm The RSA Group and has spent years focused upon building high-performance leadership and technical teams for fast growing biotechnology and cell and gene therapy companies, gaining a skill-set and level of expertise in these fields.
“I’m delighted to be joining what I know to be an incredibly dynamic and experienced team,” said Mr. Johnson. “I believe there is a gap in the executive search market for us to partner with the advanced therapies sector, and this constitutes an exciting opportunity for Horton International to lead the way in this respect.”
Global Search Firm
Recently named within the prestigious Hunt Scanlon Media’s Global 40 Executive Search Companies, Horton International is a global retained executive search firm with more than 40 offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm works in close tandem with clients’ internal staffing organizations and line managers. Horton offers solutions to recruiting and resourcing challenges for a diverse range of organizations, from small, privately held start-ups to leading global corporations.
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“Many companies took advantage of the recent easy, good times to build their businesses,” said Gary Woollacott, managing partner at Horton International. “Now that their sectors have shrunk back, those companies are exposed. The rest of us might also be feeling the pinch, but business goes on.” He recalled client meetings during the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis: “I have 10 people, now I see that only four are any good. I need to retrench six and hire two more; can you help?” Well, yes we can.
In June, Horton added Mr. Wright as managing partner of its global healthcare arm. Beginning his career as a research scientist for the biotechnology and brewing industries, Mr. Wright brings more than 18 years’ experience of international life sciences resourcing to the role, including 12 years in both consultant and management roles for a global, executive-level interim management service.
“Despite these challenging times, Horton International’s portfolio grows as we continue to identify highly-qualified candidates for specific senior-level positions,” said Mr. Wright. “Our retained search service is justly renowned for the quality and performance of our candidates and this is testament to the drive, commitment and quality of our hiring and talent advisory teams.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
