Randstad Appoints Chief Operating Officer
October 15, 2024 – Randstad has named Jesus Echevarria, chief client and talent officer, as chief operating officer. He succeeds Chris Heutink starting on January 1. The supervisory board and Mr. Heutink have jointly agreed that he will officially step down from the executive board at the annual general meeting in March 2025 and Mr. Echevarria nomination as an executive board member will be voted upon on the same date. Mr. Heutink will continue as a strategic advisor to Randstad for 12 months to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities to Mr. Echevarria before departing at the end of 2025.
“For more than 20 years Jesus has demonstrated an exceptional focus on operational excellence and always puts talent and client needs first,” said Sander van‘t Noordende, CEO. “He is an exemplary role model of Randstad’s values and more than that is passionate about the growth of our people. I’m convinced that through his leadership we will accelerate the implementation of our partner for talent strategy.”
“I would like to sincerely thank Chris for more than three decades of distinguished service to Randstad,” said Mr. van‘t Noordende. “Throughout his impressive career, he has demonstrated his endless determination to deliver results and dedication to ensuring a people-first approach which has been instrumental in Randstad’s journey to become a leading global talent company. I wish him a lot of success in his future endeavors.”
Mr. Echevarria joined Randstad in 2002, and most recently served as CEO of Randstad Iberia and Latin America, where he developed and grew our services portfolio, consistently increased local market share and profitability, whilst reinforcing local market leadership. Before joining Randstad, he was managing director at a technical services company.
“I am thrilled to undertake this new role because Randstad is leading our industry by putting talent at the center of everything we do,” said Mr. Echevarria. “Talent has increasing expectations and clients want a partner to help them realize their business strategy. Only Randstad can deliver on both talent and client needs with excellence, at scale and speed.”
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Randstad operates in 39 markets and has approximately 40,000 employees. In 2023, the company supported 2 million talent to find work and generated a revenue of €25.4 billion.
Recent Acquisition
In May, Randstad announced that Randstad Digital has acquired Torc, a next-generation AI-powered talent marketplace platform with more than 25,000 digital talent enrolled worldwide, with a specific current emphasis on LATAM, the U.S., and India. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. This acquisition allows Randstad Digital to further accelerate clients’ access to digital talent, including global delivery centers, to meet its digital ambitions across cloud, data, digital engineering, and customer experience capabilities.
Related: Randstad Announces Senior Leadership Changes
“The Torc acquisition strengthens Randstad’s partner for talent strategy in our digital specialization,” said Mr. Noordende. “Digital transformation needs access to specialized talent at scale and speed globally. Torc, with its enterprise-grade AI-powered talent marketplace, will redefine the talent experience, and speed of delivery, and strengthen Randstad Digital’s capabilities in enabling our client’s digital transformation.”
“As enterprises redefine the digital business model, the demand for specialized skills in AI, cloud, data, and CX, continues to increase,” said Venu Lambu, CEO of Randstad Digital. “The acquisition of Torc is a direct response to this evolution and client needs. It expands our access to a diverse range of talent skill sets and a robust developer community from assessment to productivity. We are extremely excited to welcome an industry thought leader in open talent platforms, Michael Morris, Torc CEO and co-founder, and his team to Randstad Digital.”
Randstad launched Randstad Digital last year to specialize in meeting the technology talent needs of multinational companies across a wide range of industries. The service was designed to help companies accelerate and enable enterprise-level transformations at scale, by providing access to premier talent, services, and solutions across four specialized domains: customer experience, cloud & infrastructure, data & analytics and digital & product engineering.
Related: Randstad Acquires Finite Group in Australia and New Zealand
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
