Joseph Blass, CEO – Ezekia

Joseph started his career as an economist in the public sector. He then worked for a global family business managing a varied portfolio of investments in manufacturing, real estate and financial services.

Prior to founding Ezekia (www.ezekia.com), Joseph was an executive, managing both privately held and publicly listed Telecom and IT Companies. He founded Ezekia in 2015 and, together with his team, has built Ezekia into the leading CRM and Assignment Management tool for executive search firms. Recently the company has released Hylark (www.hylark.com) which is an uber-customizable life management software.

Ed Chamberlain, CEO – Altus Partners

Ed is the founder of Altus Partners and has built an enviable track-record, over many years within Private Equity search. He has placed from Partner to Analyst level with a range of high-profile funds to emerging managers. His guiding principals of honesty and integrity have enabled him to build long-standing, trusted relationships with key figures in the Private Equity industry.

Ed graduated with a BA Hons in Architecture before starting his career in Search in 2002. He was a founding member of Investigo (a Virgin fast-track business), which grew from a team of 4 to, over 250 people, before its sale. He helped establish another search firm in 2006 – One Search – before identifying a gap in the market and setting up Altus Partners in 2009. Ed has also gone on to co-found sister company C&C Search, where he is Chair to the board.

Jim Chaplin, Head of Acquisitions & Strategy – Elevate

Jim started his recruitment career in legal search before moving to SRI in 2010 where as CEO, he was responsible for building a leading executive search firm servicing the sports, media & entertainment industries. A global firm, SRI grew from its origins as the first ever sports specialist recruitment company based in London, into a truly international business that operated in 10 countries and worked with household names from across a range of industry sectors to assist them with their senior level recruitment. The business grew organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions in new territories and sectors.

In January 2024, Jim led the sale of SRI to Elevate Sports Ventures, a full-service sports marketing firm specializing in brand consulting, sales strategy, data-driven insights, and talent solutions. Elevate is owned by the San Francisco 49ers Enterprises and sports private equity funds Arctos, HBSE & Velocity Sports Capital. Post acquisition, Jim has been leading acquisitions and strategy for Elevate outside of the US as the company look to expand their global operations.

Amanda Fajak, Global Culture Practice Lead – ZRG Culture Practice

Amanda is CEO of Walking the Talk, ZRG Consulting and is a leading expert on the topic of culture, with over 30 years’ experience advising on culture transformation and creating the workplace of the future. Amanda consults to start up organizations through to some of the oldest companies in the world on how they build their culture as a strategic asset. Continually challenging the status quo through applied research into the future of work and innovative product design, she shares her expertise through CEO advisory and keynote speeches.

Amanda’s professional career spans Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. She has a wide range of experience in enterprise-wide projects across a variety of industries inclusive of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, technology and financial services.

Amanda has a Master’s Degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of London and has been published in the British Journal of Social Psychology on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. She was a contributor to the World Book of Values as well as being involved in developing the Australian National Diploma in change management and has operated as an advisor to the UK government on culture. She was voted as one of the 50 most influential women in New York, 2023.

Zsolt Feher, Vice President of Business Development – Hogan Assessments

With 25 years of experience in the consulting industry, Zsolt has delivered numerous workshops on leadership, company and project management, public speaking, and HR development. Zsolt drives the growth of Hogan’s direct marketing and thought leadership campaigns across the globe, and he is also responsible for strategic planning and growth in Hogan’s global
business channel.

Working with key global partners, distributors, and multinational consulting companies to integrate Hogan’s solutions into current business offerings, Zsolt also explores new alliance relationships in unrepresented geographies.

Zsolt is a Hogan certified trainer, coach, and leadership advisory specialist. He is also an expert in client assessment systems consulting, business development, and marketing and supply channel optimization. He has authored over 100 articles and publications and is a frequent presenter specializing in leadership and organizational management.

Larry Hartmann, CEO – ZRG

Larry Hartmann is the CEO of ZRG, one of the fastest growing mid-sized global executive search firms in the industry. He is a results-driven leader with a broad business background in executive search as well as in industry. As CEO, Larry is responsible for driving overall growth, client engagement and profitability of the firm. A key focus for Larry is engaging and recruiting top talent to join the firm as well as selectively pursuing additional acquisitions that fit the ZRG culture. Larry also leads the charge in continuing to innovate and enhance the firm’s data driven value proposition.

Prior to joining ZRG in 2002, Larry was a founder of Rockford Industries, a NASDAQ traded commercial lending business that supported the medical device market. While at Rockford, the firm went from a pure start up, to an Inc. 500 recognized growth firm through IPO and ultimate sale to American Express. This experience provided a unique view of growing a business, raising capital and hiring talent, through virtually all business stages. After the sale, Larry was an EVP with American Express for three years.

Additionally, Larry also has broad board of director experience. In addition to public company experience as a board member, he has also served on boards in both Private Equity and Venture backed businesses. Larry has also served on the Equipment Finance Industry Foundation board for six years. Currently, Larry is a member of the Kean University Business School Board and leads a non-profit board, Crossroads Job Network, which creates jobs for the community of Paterson, NJ.

Clint Johnson, President & CEO – CenterPeak

As President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterPeak, Clint leads the Board of Directors and is renowned as one of the foremost law firm partner recruiters in the world. His extensive track record includes placing hundreds of partners and facilitating the opening of over 30 new offices for elite law firms.

Clint established Johnson Downie in 2007, transforming it into a dominant force in the Texas legal market with an unmatched lateral partner placement record. His ambition to consolidate the nation’s top legal recruiters under a single banner drove the transformative merger of Johnson Downie and Lippman Jungers, ultimately culminating in the creation of CenterPeak.

Clint has a passion for developing elite teams. His work in developing a collaborative professional services model has resulted in an environment of teamwork with market-changing results. Clint prides himself in the relationships he builds with clients, helping the world’s strongest law firms…..get stronger. He has been recognized repeatedly in Lawdragon’s Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy & Consulting.

Mark Jungers, Chief Strategy Officer – CenterPeak

Mark started representing law firm partners in 2001 and has placed hundreds of partners over the last two decades. He has expertise in law firm office openings, having spearheaded 10 domestic or international openings for AmLaw 100 Law firms.

Before co-founding Lippman Jungers LLC in 2011, Mark was Managing Partner of Major, Lindsey & Africa’s (MLA) Milwaukee Office and the Partner Practice Group Leader for MLA’s Midwest Offices (Chicago & Milwaukee). As part of his national practice, he also led project teams of recruiters in Dallas, Charlotte, and Miami.

Law firm clients rely on Mark in multiple markets as a strategic partner to assist in merger consultation and market expansion. Such clients include Latham & Watkins, Paul Weiss, Quinn Emanuel, and Sidley Austin. The American Lawyer frequently highlights Mark’s placements as “Star Laterals” of the year, and he has made notable partner and group placements in cities across the country. Mark also has expertise representing prominent former US government officials including: six former United States Attorneys, four State Solicitors General, as well as others from the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Treasury, and Internal Revenue Service.

Mark is widely quoted as an expert on partner recruiting and law firm growth in national publications including: The Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The Legal Intelligencer, The Chicago Law Bulletin, The Chicago Tribune, The Legal Intelligencer and on-line at Law.com and Law360.com. He has also spoken on lateral partner compensation for the Hildebrandt Institute and named one of Lawdragon’s global 100 leaders in legal strategy & consulting for many years.

Mark earned a B.A. – Honors with Distinction from the University of Wisconsin and a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law. After spending time at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Mark practiced commercial litigation. Mark lives between Los Angeles and Milwaukee and splits most of his recruiting focus between New York and Chicago.

Kevin D. McVeigh, Managing Director – UBS Securities, LLC.

Kevin D. McVeigh is a Managing Director in Equity Research based in New York covering Business Process Management and IT Services. Mr. McVeigh joined UBS from Credit Suisse where he had been since 2018. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he was at Deutsche Bank where he was Head of US Business and Information Services.

Over the last 20+ years in research he has been recognized by Institutional Investor with accolades such as Best Up and Coming Analyst in 2009, several honorable mentions, and top five and seven ranked Business Services analyst in 2017-23. He also ranked 2nd in stock picking by StarMine in 2015 and 2017. Mr. McVeigh has covered the sector for over two decades at several investment firms including Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns.

Prior to Bear Stearns, he was an audit manager at Deloitte. Mr. McVeigh received his Bachelor’s (with honors) in Accountancy from Villanova University and is a CPA in New York.

Paul Nolan, Executive Chair – Excel Search & Advisory

Paul Nolan is the founder of Nolan Partners, the biggest firm in the world dedicated to Executive search in Sport and Sport related industries.

Following a career in HR, spanning 2 decades, 3 different industries and culminating in the role of HRD at The English FA/Wembley stadium, Paul launched Nolan Partners to address a gap in the market in the UK to provide executive search services for senior leadership positions in the sports industry.

Having had great success in the UK market building significant market share, the business faced the challenge of how to scale and landed on a strategy of geographical expansion into North America in 2016. Applying the same principles that had enabled its success in the UK, Nolan Partners quickly gained a significant share of the market and with offices in New York and Dallas has now become the market leader in the executive search space in sports in North America.

Having now worked with 37 different sports in 31 countries, in addition to sport related businesses in the media and entertainment industries around the world, the business has firmly established itself as the global leader in its field.

In 2022, with the global success of the business clear to both competitors and potential investors, the shareholders of Nolan Partners, having built significant capital value, agreed to an acquisition by Excel Sports Management in New York.

Key to the transaction and vital to value creation was the strong and consistent financial performance over a 17 year period, a strong brand and global footprint, strong leadership team with recognised successors beyond the founder and a clear pattern of decreasing dependence for revenue on Paul Nolan over a long period of time.

The business has recently rebranded to Excel Search and Advisory and Paul Nolan serves as Executive Chairman.

Drew Seaman, Managing Director – Hunt Scanlon Ventures

Drew Seaman is a Managing Director at Hunt Scanlon Ventures. He is responsible for co-managing the firm’s investment portfolio of executive search, talent acquisition, private equity, and investment firms. In addition to sourcing new opportunities and managing the firm’s current investments, Drew leads the technical aspects of client engagements, including valuation and financial analysis and the preparation of investment marketing materials.

Drew began his career in wealth management before joining BMO Capital Markets as an Investment Banking Associate in the Financial Institutions Group. Drew assisted with transaction execution and prepared comprehensive valuation and financial analyses for clients in the specialty finance, asset and wealth management, and insurance sectors.

Drew earned a B.A. in Economics from DePauw University, where he was quarterback on the varsity football team. He earned his M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Emilie Seyfang, Solutions Partner Consultant – Hogan Assessments

Emilie is a solutions partners consultant at Hogan Assessments. She is passionate about helping her clients leverage personality insights in talent selection and development to empower individuals and organizations to reach their maximum potential.

Before joining Hogan, Emilie served in a variety of roles across different industries, focusing primarily on human capital issues within organizations. In her work, she has partnered with senior executives on business transformation initiatives, coaching them on their role in ensuring employee adoption and leading their teams through transformation. Emilie has partnered with clients to evaluate their culture and provide actionable recommendations to create culture change in rapidly growing organizations. She has also worked with organizations to improve talent selection and promotional processes.

Darren Sookramanien, Group CFO – Kernel

As Kernel’s group CFO, Darren excels with his leadership qualities, sector expertise, and financial and operational business smarts.

Darren brings with him years of experience in scaling and growing businesses with a focus on the Private Equity environment. He is on a mission to grow Kernel to new heights.

He dedicated his early career to working in two publicly listed companies. Additionally, he also worked with a US and UK joint venture.

Before joining us, he spent 12 years being a successful member of a highly innovative leadership team at ICS. There, he masterfully created value through three Private Equity investment cycles.

During this time, Darren managed to build a high-performing Finance operations function. This allowed him to support wider strategic growth, business planning, and strong working capital management. In turn, this allowed him to create a framework for robust and effective decision-making.

In his career, Darren successfully supported business growth both in the UK and internationally. This included working on integrating acquisitions within the recruitment industry as well as several change and transformation projects.