Gay Haines

Founder

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In 2016, Gay was surprised, flattered and delighted to be included in The Sunday Times/Debrett’s 500 Most Influential People in the UK – something she could never have imagined when she first started her life in advertising.

For 13 years, Gay had the privilege of working at some of the best agencies in London: Y&R, CDP and JWT.

In 1993, in need of a change, she bought out the founding partners of Kendall Tarrant. Her ambition from day one was to try and take the business of headhunting onto a different plane. Kendall Tarrant grew quickly and in 1996 she floated the company on the London stock market in order to raise the money to build a global business that could partner agencies around the world. Over the next few years, they opened offices in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia. Kendall Tarrant became the pre-eminent global headhunting firm in the communications sector.

In 2006, Gay took the decision to set up a different kind of offering: one that concentrated solely on senior briefs and candidates around the world. Grace Blue was born in September 2006, and from the beginning was blessed with the support of many of the most talented and respected communications practitioners, both as clients and candidates.

Gay is also Chairman of Liberty Blue, a company launched to look after the younger people in the industry – those perceived to be future leaders.