Richard studied at Kingston University in Accountancy and Finance and initially worked in a Chartered Accountancy practice before moving into financial recruitment.

He has over 25 years’ professional recruitment experience, operating and managing businesses recruiting at the most senior level across Commerce and Industry, Sales and Marketing, IT, HR and Finance. Richard has previously held Managing Director and Director roles within UK-based international recruitment companies.

Having covered the African market since 2007, he brings specialist experience in the Telecoms, FMCG and Energy sectors. He has been personally involved in multiple Executive level searches over the last ten years including placing a full CXO team for a leading telecoms provider in Chad, Group CFO for a FTSE250 FMCG company in Nigeria, Group CFO for a Mining Services company in Ghana, COO for an Oil Services Company in Nigeria as well as several CEO/MD/ Country Manager roles.

Graham Palfery-Smith has been involved in the recruitment industry for over 35 years. He is an accomplished and highly experienced strategic senior manager who has run a wide range of specialist recruitment businesses internationally, including HW Group, Robert Walters, Faro and FiveTen Group. Presently he is working with a small portfolio of businesses in, or allied to, the recruitment sector in the UK, Europe, US and Far East, as a Non-Executive Director or Board Adviser, helping them achieve strategic success.

A highly effective communicator and a team creator, Graham is considered a superior motivator with exceptional leadership skills. He brings an energetic, enthusiastic and passionate approach, international contacts and an excellent market intelligence network.

Having studied Law at Liverpool University, Jon qualified as a chartered accountant with Grant Thornton in 1999. He moved from public practice into commerce progressing his career within industry within various sectors including marketing, media, film and sport. Whilst at Tiger Aspect Television he oversaw the finances for films such as Billy Elliot and Kevin and Perry Go Large, and as Finance Director at Ska Films oversaw the financial production of the film Layer Cake. Jon was also responsible for running the takeover of the Football League club Peterborough United in 2006 for one of his high net worth clients.

Utilising his experience Jon is now Finance Director for Executives in Africa as well as for a portfolio of organisations providing a balance of financial rigor and commerciality to the Finance function.

James has a background of over 16 years’ experience working for specialist consultancies in the UK where he recruited professionals from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria into a range of roles within UK-based organisations.

Since joining Executives in Africa, James has developed specialist sector experience in the Agribusiness, Industrial, Transport & Logistics, Development Finance, Oil & Gas and Construction sectors, working on a range of senior searches across General Management, Sales & Marketing, Human Resources and Finance as well as delivering on some highly technical and specialist positions. These include a Head of Logistics and Distribution Africa based in Morocco for a multinational industrial company, Head of Marine & Aviation for a multinational downstream Oil & Gas company based in South Africa, a GM for a commercial real estate business in East Africa, a GM for a multinational shipping company in Nigeria; and Country Managers for a multinational industrial company in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, DRC, Ethiopia, Benin and Angola.

Tim started his career with a leading finance recruiter in the UK assisting Finance professionals fulfilling recruitment assignments of both an interim and permanent nature for both listed companies and small businesses in the south of England.

Since Joining Executives in Africa, Tim has delivered on over 30 senior Search Assignments including mandates to find CEOs, CFOs/FDs, COOs, Technical Managers and General Managers in diverse industries including Renewable Energy, Agriculture, Mining, Logistics and Manufacturing and has visited clients in Nigeria and South Africa.  Recruiting in Africa is of particular personal interest to Tim as he has family on the continent.  Recently Tim has delivered on mandates for a CEO in Ethiopia for a drinks business, a GM in Nigeria for a food business, a Regional Head of Africa for a premium drinks brand, and a Country Manager within Solar based in Uganda.

Gary studied law at the University of Zimbabwe, then spent the first 2 years of his working career working for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Justice where he rose to the position of Registrar of the Supreme Court.  After this, Gary was appointed as Head of Contracts at Old Mutual Zimbabwe where he successfully migrated the entire Zimbabwe contracts creation and maintenance portfolio from South Africa to Zimbabwe.

Gary was headhunted to join ICL Limited in Zimbabwe and within two years was headhunted by NCR Corporation.  He went on, through rapid promotions, to hold a Marketing Management post at NCR’s Middle East/Africa Headquarters in Cyprus and then on to be the Managing Director and Chairman of NCR East Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

After returning to Zimbabwe in 1998, Gary and his wife, Barbara, set up their own recruitment company, which they jointly ran successfully for 17 years recruiting a range of positions based in multiple African countries as well as the Middle East.  Gary recently immigrated to the UK to join the Executives in Africa team bringing with him a wealth of Pan-African experience.

William has been part of the EiA team since 2012, initially joining on a year-long work placement as part of his Business Management degree with the University of Surrey. Since graduation, William has continued his career with EiA, rising quickly through the business, working as a Researcher and an Assistant Consultant before becoming a Search Consultant.

William has successfully executed Searches on a large variety of roles including General Management, Technical, Finance, HR, Sales and Marketing business leaders. He has also had experience across a broad range of industries and sectors including FMCG, Premium Brands, Telecommunications, Agribusiness, Financial Services, Media, and Renewable Energy, especially Solar.

Nicki graduated from University of Central Lancashire University in 1996 with an HND in Business Management and Marketing, initially working in Advertising before her career within Recruitment began in the Commercial sector. For the last 15 years she has been specialising in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Financial Services and General Insurance but most recently she has focused on the niche mobile space within the Tech industry, headhunting candidates worldwide on behalf of her clients in the UK and Ireland market.

 Mandates that Nicki has previously completed include the Tech Team Lead for a leading Marketing Sales and CRM company based in Dublin; Architect and Senior Software Developer with Artificial Intelligence an innovative m-Health organisation whose product is based in Rwanda; Tech Lead for a social network where the search was Moscow based and; placing the entire team of Android Developers at an Insurance Connected Car organisation.

Nicki has unwavering work ethic, passion for her business, and overall approachable demeanor which makes her an extraordinary ambassador for both client and candidate.  She is a consummate professional Consultant with a thorough and expert knowledge of the recruitment market.  She has travelled in North Africa several times to Morocco and Egypt and since joining Executives in Africa has worked on mandates in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Togo.

Emma was born in Zimbabwe and spent most of her life in Southern Africa, moving over to the UK for university. She studied Politics and International relations at the University of Kent. Emma has work experience in the customer service and hospitality industries, which has given her strong people skills, critical in working as an integral part of the Research and Consulting teams.

Her strong ties to Africa combined with her passion for the continent, gives her a real insight into some of the operational challenges faced on the ground by individuals and corporates looking to build careers and businesses respectively. This unique insight makes her very excited to be a part of the research team at Executives in Africa.

Reece spent the first four years of his career working in the retail and customer services sectors. Here he developed the ability to communicate with people confidently at all levels which has enabled him to transition easily to speaking to potential candidates for search mandates. He has a background in the sporting world and has a competitive edge which makes him an excellent team player as well as striving to deliver excellence in all he does.

Reece initially joined Executives in Africa as an intern. After impressing many of the Consulting team during this time with the thoroughness of his work, he was offered a permanent full time position as a Researcher in the company. He has quickly established himself as a critical and valued member of the Research Team, providing complete and accurate information on the searches he has supported.

Barbara was born in Zambia and educated at St. John’s Diocesan School for Girls in South Africa. After matriculating she went on to study an ITEC Diploma and then set up her own beauty therapy business in Harare, Zimbabwe mainly catering for the diplomatic community in Zimbabwe. With her husband, Gary, taking up various expatriate positions, she lived in Cyprus and Kenya for the next 5 years, during which time Barbara travelled extensively throughout Africa, Europe and the USA.

On returning to Zimbabwe in 1999 Barbara helped Gary set up their own Pan-African recruitment company, one of the top 5 Zimbabwe recruitment companies. Barbara migrated all the Recruitment systems onto a world-leading, state-of-the-art multimedia cloud-based recruitment system. She has enjoyed a 17 year career recruiting into multiple African countries as well as the Middle East market.

Barbara and Gary recently immigrated to the UK to join the Executives in Africa team.

Carla was born in Luanda, Angola, so she is bilingual in Portuguese and English. She graduated from a college in Portugal and obtained an MA in the UK. She has 10 years business experience in the textile manufacturing sector with specific expertise in sourcing, developing and buying fabrics for Marks & Spencer in Europe and Asia.

As a result of working with manufacturing teams from many countries, she brings good understanding to the processes required to raise technical, environmental and safety standards in developing markets to ensure success in international auditable accreditation. With management experience involving regular site visits to Europe, Asia and Morocco, she understands the importance of finding the right person to complement a team in an international environment.

Carla graduated from the University of Scranton (Pennsylvania, USA) with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education in 1997. After spending a short time in private banking with Brown Brothers Harriman on Wall Street, New York she moved to the UK where she taught French and Spanish for 9 years at secondary level.

Portuguese by birth, Carla joined Executives in Africa in 2012 to support Consultants specialising in Portuguese-speaking C-Level mandates, assessing Candidates’ language skills in order to deliver to Clients the very best available individuals who best match the target profile. Now a permanent member of the team as a Quality Assurance Manager, she is a critical member of our delivery team ensuring excellence on every Search.

Wilhelmina has a HND in Business and Finance from Portsmouth University. She has 8 years’ experience in the Financial Services, Investment Banking and Retail sectors before joining Executives in Africa as Quality Assurance Manager.

Previously, she worked as Personal Assistant for C level Managers within large and small organisations which has helped her to gain a clear understanding of company organisational structure, human resources and recruitment processes. She has strong administrative skills and attention to detail, which will help her ensure that the EiA team are able to continue to deliver the best quality standards to Candidates and Clients alike.