Recruitment of a Chief Operating Officer – AIM-Listed Utility Service, Facilities Management & Construction Group

The Challenge

The Group Chief Executive needed to replace his COO who was retiring. He needed to do it  confidentially and also with an eye to his own succession. The Chief Executive has grown the group from its regional construction roots into a national utilities management and facilities services group. He was determined that this direction of travel should be maintained and that his potential successor should share his vision and values for the company. Culture fit was, therefore, a prime requirement.

The Approach

Odgers undertook a comprehensive search of the UK utilities services and facilities management sector, taking great care to address the cultural fit of the identified candidates. The assignment was conducted confidentially and the identity of the client was only revealed to finalist candidates, following signature of a non-disclosure agreement.

The Result

The appointee had recently stepped down as CEO of a listed facilities management group, having successfully sold the business to a competitor. He joined our client as COO and was promoted to CEO some six months later, when the incumbent CEO stepped up to the Chair.

About Odgers Berndtson

Odgers Berndtson is the UK’s leading executive recruitment firm. It operates internationally across 51 offices, of which 8 are regionally distributed throughout the UK.  Offices are located in London (West End & City), Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Cardiff.  It comprises a broad range of dedicated practices offering specialist executive recruitment skills by sector and by job-function. The Support Services Practice, itself part of the broader Energy, Manufacturing & Infrastructure Practice, provides an executive and senior management recruitment service to a broad range of B2B service companies covering a broad range of activities from contract catering to consulting engineering.

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