Stanton Chase International focused on strategic enhancements to its international search and leadership services at its 46^th Global Partners’ Meetings held in Istanbul, April 4 – 7.  Approximately 70  Stanton Chase Partners from around the world attended the Istanbul meetings.  Numerous business and industry leaders from Turkey and Europe also attended, continuing the Stanton Chase practice of working closely with industry leaders to understand their needs.

“These meetings are an important part of the continuing evolution of Stanton Chase as a leading international search  consultancy,” says George Cross, International Chairman.  “We highlight important areas of service that we want to address and develop.  Our meetings are also important for our Practice Groups, which meet and focus on the service and business issues in their sectors,” he said.

A highlight was the April 4  keynote presentation and panel discussion on the topic of matching strategy with board and c-suite hiring.  Held during a client reception attended by 200 partners, clients and guests from the Istanbul business community, this discussion highlighted the significance of aligning strategies and corporate governance methods in different regions, strategic hiring processes and the approach to C-Suite hiring.

The panel was moderated by Dr. Tommy Weir, Founder and Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Leadership Centre.  Panelists included:

• Ayşegül İldeniz, Intel Regional Director, Middle East, Turkey and Africa,
• Çagrı Alkaya, Stanton Chase Turkey Managing Partner, Stanton Chase International Board Member & Vice Chairman,
• Tayfun Bayazıt, Marsh & Mclennan Chairman, TÜSİAD Vice Chairman, Doğan Holding, Migros and TAV Independent Director,
• Jeffrey Johnson, Boeing Middle East President and Boeing International Vice President.

The panel discussion was followed by break- out sessions in which leaders in each sector discussed implications within their Practice Groups.  Special guests in these discussions included:

• Rachid “Ben” Bengougam, Hilton Worldwide Vice-President HR Europe
• Okyay Öztuğran, Damco Turkey CEO
• Selahattin Hakman, EnerjiSA Group President  (Sabanci & EON JV)
• Steven Young, Bosch Turkey  CEO
• Gülsüm Azeri, Petrol Ofisi (OMV) CEO, Turkish Airlines Board Director
• Güldem Berkman, Novartis Turkey Country President
• Tansu Yeğen, IBM Country Manager (Turkey)
• Selim Elhadef, Ernst & Young Turkey Advisory Leader

Industry Practice Groups are integral to the Stanton Chase service approach and were the focus of all meetings on April 5.  Each group had its own breakout session which addressed client needs and trends in key sectors.

Another highlight was the Business Excellence working session on April 6 which presented several significant strategic initiatives to the Partners.  Each initiative focused on an important area of service and performance.  Topics included assessment, strategies for connecting effectively with clients, and the use of social media tools. Key presentations were delivered by:

• Joanne Sheldon, Relationship Manager at LinkedIn, on recruiter professional services;
• James Meyer, London-based consultant in strategy, innovation and training solutions, on best practices in strategic consulting;
• Dr. Tommy Weir, Founder and Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Leadership Centre, on dimensions of executive assessment.

Partners had time to discover and enjoy Istanbul and learn about the Turkish market. “Istanbul is one of the world’s fastest-growing megacities and business centres, and a treasure of history and culture,” said Cross.  “It was a pleasure to be here, to meet so many Turkish business leaders, and to experience the vitality of this great city,” he said.

The 47^th Stanton Chase International Global Partners’ meeting is scheduled for October 2013 in Moscow, Russia.

About Stanton Chase International

Stanton Chase is ranked within the top 10 global retained executive search firms. With proven expertise in key sectors of the global economy, Stanton Chase has 9 international Specialist Practice Groups that operate as international teams.

Stanton Chase is owned by its partners who take individual responsibility for delivering outstanding quality for each assignment.  Stanton Chase is a member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants. For all information about us, please visit www.stantonchase.com.

Since joining Stanton Chase International in 2009 till now, the Prague office has been active in market segments such as Technology, Professional Services, Industry, Life Science and Healthcare. With new colleagues we have extended our expertise into Consumer Products and Services, Logistics and Transportation practice groups.

With the advent of Pavel Oplt as a Partner we have strengthen our position in the Consumer Products and Services area. Pavel has spent most of his professional career in managerial roles within the FMCG and telecommunication industries.

Jan Martin, a Partner, is bringing many years of experience from the Logistics, Transportation and Industry market sectors. Jan, prior to joining Stanton Chase, had been working as a Group HR Manager at the logistic giant C.S. Cargo.

For Hanka Vojíková her Consultant role is in fact a return back to Stanton Chase Prague, after a 1 year pause, which she dedicated to her family. Hanka will establish on her long term experience with clients from the Technology and Professional Services areas.

Jana Zvelebilová was promoted to a Consultant role after working for 1 year as a Researcher. Jana, due to her background, will be responsible for clients from the Life Science and Healthcare.

For Lucie Kafková a Consultant role at Stanton Chase will actually be a return home to Prague. Lucie spent most of her professional career within the real estate business in Kuwait. She will be conducting searches primarily in the Professional Services and Industry sectors.

Please welcome our reinforcements and wish them good luck!

Since arriving in Asia, Mr. Adams has been closely involved with the establishment, management and profitable sale of three successful entrepreneurial businesses operating inAsiaacross borders.

His experience relative to these enterprises ranged from the development of business plans, marketing and sales strategies, and leadership competencies. Mr. Adams single-handedly hired, managed, developed and motivated staff to achieve the real business goals of these ventures in order that they could be built from scratch into solid and viable ventures subsequently sold at a profit.

Leveraging his experience, Mr. Adams has been very successful in serving senior-level leaders as an Executive Coach using both English and Mandarin.

At Stanton Chase Greater China, Mr. Adams is responsible for building the Financial Services Industry Practice as well as heading up the region’s Diversity and Inclusion Program.  Mr. Adams is a member of the LGBT community and is well versed in how strong D&I initiatives can strengthen the bench strength of every business team.

Robin’s extensive experience working and living in Asia, as well as 30+ years working in the finance sector enable him to understand completely the needs and challenges of organizations looking for motivated, experienced and skilled leaders.  Mr. Adams is very well connected with Heads of Finance throughout Greater China as well as professionals in all areas of the banking and financial services sectors.

The announcement was made by Juan D. Morales, managing director of the Miami office for this worldwide retained executive search firm. Stanton Chase (www.stantonchase.com) currently has 71 offices in 45 countries.

“It is a distinct pleasure to announce that Don will be joining forces with Stanton Chase,” said Morales. “His experience as a senior-level executive with highly branded corporations and his high-level consulting experience give him a unique perspective on the search process and what major corporations are seeking in today’s leaders.”

McKenna was the senior human resources officer for The Home Depot. In this capacity, he lead talent acquisition, organizational design, and training initiatives that directly led to this company’s rise as one of the premier retailers in the United States. During his time with The Home Depot, the company grew by more than 40 percent annually from $500 million with 1,000 employees to $10 billion with more than 75,000 employees.

Prior to The Home Depot, McKenna served as the senior human resources officer for two divisions of ITT’s automotive group of companies involved in manufacturing and consumer products distribution. ITT is a Fortune 50 conglomerate generating over $425 billion in sales.

Most recently, he was president of McKenna Management Consulting, Inc., which specialized in recruiting, organizational design, and corporate development in the health care, construction, and consumer products industries. He has been instrumental in facilitating management transitions during mergers and acquisitions.

McKenna is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied civil engineering on a merit scholarship. He holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Point Park University in Pittsburgh.

His private banking experience includes living and working in Geneva and prior to Stanton Chase was with a specialist financial services executive search firm in Zurich. He has worked on International searches for early stage ventures, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, small private banks and major financial Institutions.

Earlier in his search career he worked across a variety of sectors with Highland Partners (now Heidrick and Struggles) and was Head of Research at Jamieson Scott and Prowess.

Prior to Executive Search he spent two years with SG Warburg Securities (now UBS) working in Fixed Income, Equity Trading and Equity Research.

Andrew graduated from Royal Holloway, London University, with a BA in Economics and Social Studies.

Athena Tavoulari

Athena is with Stanton Chase for almost twelve years now. She has joined Stanton Chase Dubai in January 2011 and since she landed in Dubai she has shown a remarkable performance in the development of technology, life sciences & healthcare, as well as Consumer Products & Services practice groups, resulting in an overachievement at the level of +28%. She has also managed to achieve an 80% + closing rate in all of her projects and a significant amount of repeat business, achieving excellent results in terms of client satisfaction and building up strong trusting relationships with her clients.

For more info on Athena’s background, please read below:

Athena is one of the long-standing members of Stanton Chase that joined the Athens office in June 2000, initially as a Researcher and after one year she was promoted to a Consultant role.

During her tenure in Stanton Chase Athens and until 2005 she focused on Consumer Products & Services and on Technology practice groups. Especially for Technology, she practically started the business from scratch and achieved outstanding results (overachievement of revenue targets more than 120%).

In 2005-2009, Athena moved to Hay Group, leading the executive search business for Greece and SEE Europe. She and her team have contributed significantly in the further development of the Athens office of Hay Group, achieving an impressive gross margin and revenues’ increase more than 900%.

In 2009, she decided to return to Stanton Chase, initially undertaking the role of Regional Manager for SEE (Athens, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia) and some months after the role of the Managing Director of Stanton Chase Romania. During her tenure in Romania, the Bucharest office revenues increased at the level of +37% vs. 2009 in a period that the Romanian market was still suffering from the crisis.

Stanton Chase Bucharest was probably the only Executive Search company in the country that had such a significant revenue increase in 2010, with an average fee increase of +24% vs. 2009 and in a period when there is a high “sensitivity” of fees in the Romanian market.

Finally, there was an impressive improvement of office KPIs, especially concerning Placement (Closing) Rate and Client Satisfaction; 94% Closing Rate and 97% Client Satisfaction through Stanton Chase Bucharest client satisfaction survey.

He has gained over 15 years experience delivering executive search assignments within the professional services and technology sectors for clients across EMEA and the United States.

For the last 10 years, he has focussed primarily on professional services with significant experience in management consulting and advisory services where his clients include large global corporate and UK based firms.

He has also managed corporate appointments in life sciences & healthcare, technology, financial services and manufacturing sectors for FTSE and Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining Stanton Chase, he was a Director of a niche professional services executive search practice in London and has previously worked in Germany and the Netherlands for a specialist technology search firm.

• Professional Services
• Technology

Prior to that she worked as a Learning & Development Manager at Kamenitza for six years, where she delivered a variety of identifying, learning and talent management projects.

She began her career in human capital management at“McDonald’sBulgaria”. She has also assumed expert and managerial roles in a Bulgarian production and trading company and then at “Office 1 Superstores International” chain of stores.

Irina graduated from Sofia University with a bachelor’s degree in Russian Philology.

Before taking this role, he worked as recruited specialists as an Account Manager for the IT and Telecommunication market at Kommlink Group.

Prior to moving into executive search, Metodi worked as a Financial Consultant for ING Life Insurance and as an Intern for the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Metodi graduated from the University of Basel, Switzerland with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business, specialization in Economics and Finance.

Furthermore, he was actively engaged in the largest students’ organization AIESEC, working on a voluntary basis as Local Committee President in Basel.

Earlier this year the team celebrated Stanton Chase’s fifth anniversary in the country with a lively but stylish cocktail attended by 120 guests from all Practice Groups covered by the Bulgarian office of Stanton Chase, including companies such as Abbott, Assarel Medet, Aurubis, Berlin Chemie, Doverie Brico, Emporiki Bank, Enemona, EU Pharmacia, HP, Konica Minolta, KPMG, Medica, Microsoft, Mobiltel, Nokia, Overgas, Piraeus Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Robert Bosch, S&T, Tishman International, UniCredit BulBank and many others.