MG Search Appoints Non-Executive Director
October 28, 2019 – MG Search, an executive search firm recruiting senior talent for top businesses across the U.K., has appointed Ian McDougall as a non-executive director.
“Now in our second year of business we have expanded our leadership structure to match our ambition which is to build on our position of accelerated growth in Scotland,” said Ken Morrice, founding partner of Scotland-based MG Search. “Ian brings valuable experience within the financial and FMCG sectors and will be the non-executive director lead within the MG Search board.”
Mr. McDougall is a highly experienced financial services professional. He is currently managing director of McDougall Johnstone, a consulting firm that offers business advisory, strategic growth, accounting and taxation advice to a wide range of businesses. He is also finance director and co-founder of Glasgow Distillery Company, and has also acted as a mentor with Entrepreneurial Spark.
Mr. McDougall’s appointment to the board follows a strengthening of the team at MG Search with recent hire Jennifer Gillan as marketing insights manager. Previously, Ms. Gillan was a marketing executive with Primesight in Glasgow. She also gained experience in past roles with JCDecaux, Allianz Global Assistance, and HSBC.
Headquartered in Glasgow, MG Search identifies top talent on behalf of its clients to help further advance business leaders and their organizations. Specializing in senior- and board-level recruitment, MG Search has a dedicated focus on securing sought after chair and non-executive director positions. “MG Search differs from the traditional corporate culture and focuses on client service with a consultative and collaborative approach,” Mr. Morrice said. An ex-Page executive director, Mr. Morrice is joined by experienced headhunters Claire Gillespie and Jane Setter.
Scottish & U.K. Markets
Scotland is rapidly becoming a major market, with an increase in foreign direct investment and a growing digital and life sciences sector. The region has a high proportion of fast growth business in tech sectors such as games development, fintech, digital agencies as well as one of the biggest financial services sectors in Europe outside London.
Executive Search Fallout from Brexit Could Run Wide and Deep
There’s a crisis slowly unfolding at executive search firms across London – especially for those with exposure to the financial services markets. But the reverberations in the world’s 2nd largest search market are also being felt as far away as Chicago and L.A., home to the sector’s two publicly held talent giants.
Scotland has a Western-style open mixed economy closely linked with the rest of the U.K. Traditionally, the Scottish economy has been dominated by heavy industry underpinned by shipbuilding in Glasgow, coal mining and the steel industry. Edinburgh is the financial services center of Scotland, with many large financial services firms centralized here, including Lloyds Banking Group (owners of HBOS), Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life.
Meanwhile, MG Search also covers London and the entire U.K. Based on market exchange rates, the U.K. is today the fifth-largest economy in the world and the second-largest in Europe after Germany. London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden and Islington, and Lambeth and Southwark. London is one of the pre-eminent financial centers of the world as the most important location for international finance. During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the U.K. as a whole decided to leave the European Union, but a majority of London constituencies voted to remain in the EU.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
