Johnson Names Practice Head
November 15, 2016 – Sydney-based executive search firm Johnson has appointed Gregory Dohnt as partner and leader of its industrial & infrastructure and chief financial officer practices.
Mr. Dohnt brings over two decades of experience with listed executive search firms, both in Australia and internationally. He has expertise in capital intensive sectors such as utilities, property, manufacturing and infrastructure. He has placed chairmen, non-executive directors, CEOs and the full range of key functional leadership roles into client organizations.
Mr. Dohnt is recognized as one of Australia’s leading CFO search professionals, having placed many hundred of CFOs and finance leaders throughout his career. Over the years, he has also placed a number of leading CIOs and digital leaders and their teams with prominent ASX listed organizations. With this background, he will augment Johnson’s digital & technology officer practice.
“I’m incredibly excited by Gregory’s appointment. He will assist us in building a market leading industrial and infrastructure practice and his CFO search credentials will build on our already strong CFO practice,” said founder and managing partner Jason Johnson. “Gregory is one of the country’s top executive search consultants, and he has an exceptional track record of assisting ASX-listed and foreign multinational companies to connect with the premier leadership they need to transform their organizations, outperform the competition and to achieve their business goals.”
Recruiting Industry Media Center Spotlight: Financial Services
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Finance Recruiting Gaining Momentum
Many executive recruiters say the list of skills required of CFOs, even the most seasoned finance chiefs, is long and growing: operational skills, leadership presence, long-term vision, industry expertise, investor relations savviness, and a global outlook are among them.
At the same time, the dynamics of the CFO market have changed significantly over the last few years, driven by several trends, including a rising number of CFOs taking early exits, the relative paucity of younger sitting CFOs, and many public companies expressing a strong preference for seasoned CFO candidates, according to a report by Deloitte.
A number of executive search firms have expanded their financial services practices in recent months. Here is a look at just a few taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media newswire archives:
- Harvey Nash added Heather Grayson as director of its financial services practice in Asia. She was a partner for boutique search firm Reed Hamilton, where she led the firm’s real estate practice in Hong Kong;
- Signium appointed Pedro Herraiz as global head of financial services. Mr. Herraiz, who joined Signium in 2006, has more than 14 years of experience in multinational companies in the financial and professional services sectors;
- Pedersen & Partners named Frank Behrendt as a principal and head of its financial services practice group in Africa. Mr. Behrendt is an emerging markets specialist and has originated and executed senior level searches for banks and financial institutions across Asia Pacific while based in Singapore, and Pan-Africa from London and Johannesburg;
- Boyden added John Burr, a partner at Boyden U.K., as the new leader of its global financial services practice. He specializes in both the traditional and FinTech subsectors of financial services across buy-side, sell-side and consulting, with a background in capital markets and investment banking. His track record is global, covering the C-suite in technology, finance, risk, and operations, including client coverage and product management;
- Heidrick & Struggles appointed Jenni Hibbert in London to lead its financial services practice in the U.K.and David Boehmer as global managing partner of its financial services practice. During the last 11 years, Ms. Hibbert has served as a lead partner in Heidrick’s insurance practice working across Europe & Africa to execute CEO and non-executive director searches across all corporate disciplines, both functional and technical, including actuarial, underwriting and risk. Mr. Boehmer has been integral to strengthening and growing the firm’s financial service practice in the Americas and Europe;
- Spencer Stuart named Peter C. Roberts as a consultant in its financial services practice. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Mr. Roberts spent more than 20 years with global real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, where most recently he served as the firm’s chief strategy officer;
- Executive search firm RM Nephew and Associates added Denise C. Amari as partner and head of the firm’s financial officers practice. She draws on a strong background in executive recruiting as well as extensive business operations experience;
- Odgers Berndtson launched a dedicated financial services practice in Australia as the firm continues to expand its operations in the Asia Pacific region. The new practice is led by former CTPartners’ recruiters Lynn Muirhead and Jules Orpin;
- Futurestep added Jessica Taylor to its EMEA financial services practice group to support increased demand for talent in the region. In her role as financial services senior consultant, she is responsible for delivering talent for organizations across a number of sectors, including core infrastructure, governmental, institutional investors, renewables and banking.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
