MitchelLake announces Michael Solomon (MAICD) as Managing Partner of the firm’s Board & Advisory Practice.

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Through the last two decade, MitchelLake has witnessed Boards and Executive Teams struggle with the challenges brought on by the inevitable digitisation and disruption of all industries, organisations, and markets. 

Much of this is due to the fact that a vast majority of large and mid-cap boards in Australia are lacking in intellectual diversity (gender, cultural, generational, occupational) in addition to digital DNA. This inevitably leads to blind spots in the governance, review, and ratification of strategies and oversight of decisions that have long-term and even existential impacts for organisations, shareholders, customers, and communities.

Never has this balance and capability mix been more important to resolve. According to Gartner, “the response to the pandemic has fast-forwarded digital adoption by five years. One result of this “digitalization at scale and velocity” is massive skill shifts. The shift in skill needs was already a challenge, but more than 58% of workforces report skill transformations since the onset of the (COVID-19) pandemic.”

We strongly believe that providing a wider range of contextual experience and perspectives on Boards is a crucial component to traverse and thrive in rapidly changing markets. 

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce our Managing Director of Australia, Michael Solomon, will be adding the title of Managing Partner to guide and develop our Board & Advisory Practice.

As Board Practice Managing Partner, Solly will be leading MitchelLake’s Board and Advisory practice – partnering Boards and Executive Teams with the intellectual and digital diversity they need to thrive in today’s markets. 

“It’s not very often you get the opportunity to combine everything you’ve learned throughout your career and apply it to a role that focusses on helping others navigate a rapid transition from current to future state. The pace of digitisation is driving a critical need for intellectual currency and resilience, which demands a genuine diversity of perspectives and experience. It’s obvious to me that Boards and Executive Teams have never been more challenged than they are at this moment – that they need to find balance in perspective, digital DNA, and comfort with change at scale. I’m excited to have an opportunity to positively influence the industry as we know it.” 

Statistics from the IDC show that “worldwide spending on the technologies and services that enable the digital transformation (DX) of business practices, products, and organizations is forecast to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023. DX spending is expected to steadily expand throughout the 2019-2023 forecast period, achieving a five-year compound annual growth rate of 17.1%”.

As an experienced Board Member, Advisor, and Chair of both enterprise and emerging company boards, Solly is well-positioned to handle the increasing challenges and opportunities presented by digitisation by sourcing talented and forward-thinking Board Members. He is currently a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Member of Adelaide Football Clubs Women’s Advisory Board, Member of Australian Speakers Association, Chairman of the Michael Long Foundation, and Advisor for cybersecurity firm Enex Carbon.

Furthermore, with experience ranging from leading emerging ventures at News Limited to the digital transformation of the AFL, and advising start-ups and not-for-profit ventures, Solly has the knowledge and network to support any Boards who may be looking for Members or NEDs

MitchelLake Group CEO, Jon Tanner notes, 

“The world is increasingly colliding at the intersection of analog to digital convergence of legacy operations, engagement, and business models. Decisions and governance are more complex than ever before. Michael has a unique perspective and empathy to share, having served on venture and corporate boards and as a chair, director and executive leading transformation and growth across, media, cybersecurity, education, and not-for-profit”. 


If you would like to discuss the composition of your board or explore a 360 discovery (internal and external review) of your digital competence, structure, risks, and opportunities, please reach out at michael.solomon@mitchellake.com.

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Leadership in Times of Crisis Part 3: Handling the Next Quarter: Risks and Top Priorities

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As COVID-19 continues to impact the way businesses and countries operate, many leaders have started to think about what signs will reveal an uptick to the economy and how they will handle any changes in a society that is constantly in a state of flux. We asked our founders and CEOs what they perceived to be the biggest risk to their companies over the next three months, as well as what they are prioritising to counteract this risk. 

Keeping employees engaged

An overwhelming consensus told us that the biggest risk to leaders’ businesses, as well as what they would be prioritising, is their people. As Deborah Mason, SVP Global Talent of PageUp states: “People are at the heart of any organisation’s success”. 

With dispersed teams, it can be more challenging to keep employees engaged. Jon Dobell from EY warns that, as a leader, it’s easy to forget or neglect certain people when you’re not seeing them physically every day or week so you must pay extra attention not to do so. Similarly, given the pay cuts and reduced capacity necessitated by COVID-19, Nina Devouge of Essence notes that they risk disengaging talented employees, which in turn will have an impact on business performance. 

“First and foremost, these are tough, tough times for all of us. We must ensure we operate with a heightened focus and degree of empathy during these times, because it will be remembered.”

– Jon Dobell, APAC Innovation Leader, EY

88 percent of leaders listed employee engagement and wellbeing as their top priority

Identifying and rewarding hardworking and high-performing employees is also crucial during times of crisis. Even if an employee’s role is no longer critical due to decreased demand or restructured operations, leaders should consider upskilling them to deliver productivity in a different area. 

“Internal mobility and redeployment plays an important role in avoiding redundancies. If a person’s role is no longer required, their skills are still valuable, and could be harnessed in another part of the business. Consider also how you will support people in their current roles if they need to take on additional capacity.”

– Deborah Mason, SVP Global Talent, PageUp

With this in mind, finding other ways to support and reward employees is crucial if you wish to keep them engaged with your company. Lee Thompson, MD of Nutanix ANZ, suggests an extra emphasis on celebrating successes as means of positive reinforcement to bolster engagement. Addie Wotten of Smiling Mind encourages leaders to provide resources that explicitly target and provide support for employees’ emotional well-being.

“Prioritise providing accessible high-quality resources and programs that can support good mental health, and use this time for people to look after their mental health.”

– Addie Wootten, CEO, Smiling Mind

Clients and customers 

Staying close to clients and customers was the second biggest priority for our leaders. During a time when two-thirds of businesses across all sectors are reporting heavy losses in revenue or cash flow, increasing touch points with existing clients is crucial if businesses are to weather the storm.

This includes showing empathy for clients, listening to them, and adapting services accordingly. Many also stressed the importance of providing insight and thought leadership to clients. For example, HR Software company, PageUp, has been working with their clients to redeploy their workforce and move internal talent to where they can be more effective for the organisation, as well as showing customers how to re-engage and activate specific pipelines of talent as needed to help organisations fill critical skill gaps as they arise now and into the future

57% of leaders have used this time to position their companies as thought leaders

As Brett Savill, CEO of Quantify Technology states, it’s about focussing on your existing clients with the ways in which you can support them. 

“For us, it’s important to delight customers we have, rather than overinvesting if the market is not quite there yet.”

– Brett Savill, CEO, Quantify Technology

Doing so not only bolsters your company’s reputation as a thought leader during times of crisis, but also builds a pipeline of potential business once operations resume. This is especially important considering Forrester predicts that it will take “four years to overtake the levels of growth seen before the pandemic” and that “non-grocery offline sales will see a 20% decline in growth overall”.

“They may not be ready or set-up to engage with us right now, but they will at some point in the future and it’s about being front of mind for when they do.” 

– Jon Dobell, APAC Innovation Leader, EY

Regardless of your approach, whether you are increasing your online presence, providing consistent official communication, or reaching out to clients personally, it’s clear that maintaining a close and helpful relationship with clients and customers alike is key during a crisis. 

Balancing short and long-term strategies

It’s no surprise that many of our clients cite the unpredictable economic climate as one of the biggest risks to their companies. But how do they manage this uncertainty? 

“Our priority is to draw up what the new norm looks like for us and put in place actions to work towards that.”

– Ajay Bhatia, Managing Director, Carsales Australia

David Weinberg, Co-Founder of Vervoe stresses the importance of prioritisation and balancing short-term opportunities with long-term strategy. That is, capitalising on opportunities that didn’t exist before (short-term strategies) whilst maintaining the vision and execution of their long-term strategy and remaining focused on the bigger picture.

“It is easy to get caught up in what is happening and overcorrect because of some news that has come out, or what certain customers are doing. Therefore, it’s important to stay focussed on the bigger picture – on where you see your business and delivering the dream and the vision even amongst all this turmoil.”

– David Weinberg, Co-Founder, Vervoe

That said, Mark Wells, CEO of Cogent also recognises the uncertainty of how long business operations and economics will be impacted by the pandemic, as well as the economic, social, mental health uncertainties that come hand-in-hand with this. Therefore, while many companies will be forward-planning, it is still important for all businesses to maintain a simultaneous focus on breaking even for the rest of the calendar year.


Read the full series online:

Part 1: Keeping Customers Engaged

Part 2: Hiring Decisions and Retaining Employees

Part 3: Handling the Next Quarter: Risks and Top Priorities

Part 4: Key Words of Advice from Tech Business Leaders

Conclusion: Learnings and Insights

Download the eBook:

Leadership in Times of Crisis eBook

 

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Leadership in Times of Crisis Part 2: Hiring Decisions and Retaining Employees

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As a result of the economic downturn that came with the implementation of quarantine and social distancing procedures during the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have been forced to make difficult decisions with regards to their staff. As companies suffer from reduced sales, many underwent significant restructures, both to the ways in which they work and to their organisational structures.

In April 2020, the International Labour Organization predicted that the virus would impact 6.7% of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020 – equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. They further stated that “more than four out of five people (81 per cent) in the global workforce of 3.3 billion are currently affected by full or partial workplace closures.”

Reducing hours

Although this news sounds dire, our research shows that the majority of business leaders such as Eric Wilson, CEO and Founder of Xinja, are working to reduce the impact on employees. In fact, most companies are actively avoiding redundancies. choosing instead to ask employees to reduce their hours (and subsequent pay) by an average of 20%.

“We are extremely determined to keep our team together, redundancies are the last thing we will consider.”

– David Weinberg, Co-Founder, Vervoe

74% of business leaders chose to reduce hours

For many companies, this involves asking employees to reduce their hours (and subsequent pay) by an average of 20%. And, although this has been optional, the vast majority have found that employees have been accepting of this approach, understanding it is necessary for the long-term success of the business.

“We have offered all employees to take a 20% pay cut and to work 80% part-time accordingly. The management team took a 20% pay cut while still working 100% of the time. This scheme has been accepted by 70% of the employees and has helped in avoiding redundancies so far.”

– Peter Urmson, CEO, Spotzer

Discretionary spending

Many companies used this as an opportunity to reduce their cost base in other areas whether it be discretionary marketing and recruiting, subscriptions, or third party services.

44% of leaders reduced discretionary spending

At the same time, businesses have actively been applying for grants and subsidies now being offered by both state and federal governments. In short, the primary objective of all business leaders has been to reduce non-essential spending in every area, so they may retain as many people as possible.

“It’s all about cost. We’ve cancelled all big-ticket events, deferred hiring, and taken pay cuts. We don’t want individuals to feel the pain.”

– Lee Thompson, Managing Director ANZ, Nutanix

Investing in talent

Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, although many companies have been forced to downscale their operations, others are continuing to hire for business-critical roles. While some are delaying hiring across the board, others are choosing to recruit talent in key areas and roles that are critical for the success of the team.

19% of business leaders have actively continued to invest in talent

If companies can hire sustainably at the moment, or bring forward some hiring, now is a good time to be in the market for talent.

“When there are times of economic downturn the first thing companies do is say they are going to freeze hiring. But on the flip side, the first thing you have to do on the other side is hire. I am suspecting that we are going to see companies soon who are planning on hiring a lot at once to recoup after all this is over.”

– David Weinberg, Co-Founder, Vervoe


Read the full series online:

Part 1: Keeping Customers Engaged

Part 2: Hiring Decisions and Retaining Employees

Part 3: Handling the Next Quarter: Risks and Top Priorities

Part 4: Key Words of Advice from Tech Business Leaders

Conclusion: Learnings and Insights

Download the eBook:

Leadership in Times of Crisis eBook

 

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MitchelLake welcomes Angela Borbe as Senior Research & Delivery Consultant

MitchelLake is thrilled to announce the appointment of Angela Borbe as a Senior Research & Delivery Consultant, Australia. Angela will be working closely with clients looking to scale their business in the technology space in addition to engaging talent alongside the client’s recruitment and leadership team.

Angela has been in the recruitment industry for over seven years, working across various markets including Japan and ANZ. With over five years’ experience focussing in the Tokyo market covering the tech start-up space, Angela has worked closely with companies seeking Japanese bilinguals from Staff to C-suite within functions in Sales and Technical Leadership.

Her success stories include scaling a marketing automation firm in Tokyo (which is now considered one of the most successful start-ups in the Japan market), as well as placing a technical leadership role in a software company going through a challenging cloud transformation.


You can now connect with Angela at angela.borbe@mitchellake.com.

Leadership in Times of Crisis Part 1: Keeping Customers Engaged

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It is often said that the customer is king – so what are the key focus areas businesses can control to ensure you treat your customers in the best way possible during this time? How do you keep them engaged and offer them the flexibility they need, when they need it the most? As a result of COVID-19, many business leaders had to rethink the ways in which they engage with customers. In Part 1 of our Leadership in Times of Crisis series, our digital leaders provide their insights and strategies on how they have kept customers and clients engaged.

Increased communication

“We are touching base with our customers every week. We don’t usually have the time to do this but we are doing it during this time. In addition, we’re now running a 24/7 model with true customer advisors to help, cranking this up to cover our customer base globally”

– Rob Scott, CEO, Cygilant

With most businesses being forced to close their physical locations, cancel face-to-face meetings, downsize staff and move to virtual communications, it is clear that COVID-19 has challenged our approach to customer care. Whilst some businesses are experiencing a challenging time with customers choosing to focus their sights on areas they deem more important, other businesses have thrived during this time.

“It’s now our 8th week working from home, and we moved quickly to reach out to customers anticipating change. We started to see a significant increase in our app usage, with lots of enquiries coming through and a 137% increase in usage. We had our biggest ever record of 181,000 downloads across April.”

– Addie Wootten, CEO, Smiling Mind

Regardless of whether your customer and client transactions have waxed or waned, deep insights from over 20 tech leaders have shown that, without a doubt, regardless of the difficulties posed by quarantines and operational challenges, staying close to your customers is of utmost importance. 

88% of leaders have increased communication

“Our strategy was to actively engage with our clients, not only to let them know that we’re here and operating, but to provide them with alternatives, for example changing tact to different product lines or services that they can use. I have personally been making calls to our major clients.”

– Elizabeth Compton, CEO, Language Loop

This means a range of things to different businesses, but one of the key underlying messages we received from business leaders is to increase the level of communication with your customer base.

Position yourself with empathy and generosity

As important (if not more) as cranking up communication with your customers, was the message that generosity towards them comes a long way. Although business might be quiet at the moment, it’s important to position yourself as an invaluable resource to your clients and customers, showing empathy and compassion during a difficult time.

“These are unique times, a time to be very generous with your customers – it’s important to reach out and ask if they need anything. Offer to help customers with their projects – even if they can’t pay.”

– Rodd Cunico, Group CEO, CIRRUS Holdco

This could be in the form of being a sounding board, offering pro bono work, or through providing them with the education and resources they can truly benefit from whilst navigating the current climate. For example, Doug Morris, CEO of Sharesight, placed an elevated focus on engaging with customers, launching a twice-weekly webinar series. Others have introduced similar programs, all aimed at providing value to their clients and customers.

All companies increased online offerings

“We will do an expert series for our customers – bringing in experts like Harvard Professors to come in and talk about topics like negotiations within our industry.”

– Ajay Bhatia, Managing Director, Carsales Australia

Meanwhile, here at The MitchelLake Group, our Founder & CEO Jon Tanner put his hand up to help the network on a pro-bono basis a few weeks ago, which led to some hugely positive outcomes for the community: from connecting great candidates with our vast network for potential job opportunities, to introducing experts from our network to businesses that need specific guidance or expertise.

Financial flexibility

As previously mentioned, businesses will be seeing varying amounts of customer activity depending on their offering and, as such, some customers will be in better financial condition than others during this time. For those that have been badly hit, providing financial flexibility can make all the difference. 

“The conversation does not start with money. It needs to start in place of empathy.”

– Ben Palmer, Co-Founder, Genos

The business leaders we interviewed have adapted their offering to match this need in a number of ways. While some have offered staggered payment options, others have provided discounts to customers, while more still are completely foregoing their usual feels.

72% of businesses have offered reduced or flexible payment options

For example, as an executive search firm, The MitchelLake Group have provided clients with reduced and flexible project fees. In addition, clients are given the opportunity to undertake a market mapping exercise for a reduced fixed fee, if they are not comfortable embarking on a comprehensive executive search process but still have the need to find the right candidate for a business-critical role. 

Meanwhile, Nutanix ANZ, led by Managing Director Lee Thompson, are working closely with their distributors and partners to extend financing partnerships and provide flexible payment terms. Taking things a step further, they have also expanded into new service offerings to support the companies they work with.

“We have introduced our own financing company to help companies move from capital expenditure to operational expenditure.”

– Lee Thompson, Managing Director ANZ, Nutanix


Read the full series online:

Part 1: Keeping Customers Engaged

Part 2: Hiring Decisions and Retaining Employees

Part 3: Handling the Next Quarter: Risks and Top Priorities

Part 4: Key Words of Advice from Tech Business Leaders

Conclusion: Learnings and Insights

Download the eBook:

Leadership in Times of Crisis eBook

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Leadership in Times of Crisis

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]At the start of 2020, announcements of COVID-19 filled the news feeds of individuals all around the world. As companies and countries began (and continue) to introduce social distancing and quarantine measures, social and economic life has been impacted on an unprecedented and global level. 

World GDP forecasts have dropped from 2.9% in 2019 to 2.4% in 2020 while stock markets have plummeted, with NASDAQ falling 24.54%, DOW JONES 35.6%, FTSE100 34.33% and ASX200 falling by 32.05% at the time of writing. Meanwhile, employees have been impacted with a predicted cut of 6.7% of working hours globally in the second quarter of this year – the equivalent of 195 million jobs worldwide.

Global employment statsStatistics provided by the ILO

The impact on the economy (both globally and locally) is clearly one of the largest byproducts of COVID-19 – but it’s important to recognise that the pandemic has and will continue to impact businesses in other ways. Many companies are now realising the ease of working remotely and investing heavily in technologies that enable social distancing, while practices that rely on in-person interaction and travel will need to reshape the ways in which they operate.

Here at The MitchelLake Group, we decided to tap into our networks and gain the insights of some of the industry’s top minds. Speaking to over 20 technology leaders across three continents, we asked them how their companies have been navigating the current COVID-19 crisis, how they have changed the ways in which they engage with their customers and employees, and what impact the pandemic has had on their internal company operations.

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing a series of articles which look at how digital leaders from companies including EY, LanguageLoop, Covidence, Vervoe, Sharesight, Smiling Mind and more have handled the crisis in four key areas:[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1/5″][vc_single_image image=”21155″ qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][vc_column width=”4/5″][vc_column_text]

Customer engagement

How have our technology leaders approached communicating with customers and clients during this time? In what ways are they being engaged, and what kind of flexibility is being offered?

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Hiring practices

What levers are business leaders pulling before making hard decisions around redundancies? What strategies are being implemented before making this final decision? Are businesses still hiring?

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Strategy and operations

What are the biggest risk areas facing your company over the next three months? And, in light of this, what are your top three priorities moving forward? How has your business transformed to meet the changing needs of your customers, clients and employees?

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Key words of advice

Having implemented a range of operational and marketing strategies, what are some top pieces of advice you should share with other tech business leaders to survive and thrive during this period of crisis?

Tech leaders share their most valuable insights and advice.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Read the full series online:

Part 1: Keeping Customers Engaged

Part 2: Hiring Decisions and Retaining Employees

Part 3: Handling the Next Quarter: Risks and Top Priorities

Part 4: Key Words of Advice from Tech Business Leaders

Conclusion: Learnings and Insights

Download the eBook:

Leadership in Times of Crisis eBook

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MitchelLake appoints Priyanka Haribhai as Partner of Executive Search

The MitchelLake Group is proud to announce the appointment of Priyanka Haribhai as Partner, Executive Search in Melbourne. 

Priyanka brings over seven years of executive search experience across the UK and Australia, running end-to-end extensive global searches, as well as a focus on executive search within consumer-facing industries including retail, leisure and FMCG during her time at The MBS Group in London.

“I’m thrilled to have transitioned into this role. I look forward to continuing to partner with our world-class clients across the tech and digital ecosystem, helping them find exceptional talent to transform their businesses.”

Formerly an Associate Partner, over the last 18 months within MitchelLake, Priyanka has successfully worked on a range of leadership (C-suite and Board) appointments across well-funded tech scale-ups and tech businesses going through a transformation, as well as CDO/CIO searches for blue-chip enterprises with a requirement to bring global talent to Australia. She has played a key role in recent placements of the CEO/CFO/iNED of Catapult Sports, CEO of Fergus, and CDO of Mirvac, among others.

“There was no doubt in my and Jon Tanner’s mind, after having seen Priyanka’s work, as well as direct client feedback, that this promotion was the logical and well-deserved next step.”

– Michael Solomon, Managing Director, Australia

Priyanka’s new role will see her responsible for driving new business and managing the relationships with The MitchelLake Group’s clients as well as leading our executive search assignments.

Currently based in Melbourne, Priyanka has also lived and worked in Hong Kong, London and Moscow, and speaks fluent Russian. In her spare time, she is actively involved in the YPO Next Gen network in Melbourne and teaches fitness classes, having qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2016.


If your company requires expert search skills to guide you through your digital transformation, get in touch with Priyanka at priyanka.haribhai@mitchellake.com

MitchelLake welcomes Richard Farmer as Partner in Singapore

The MitchelLake team is happy to announce the appointment of Richard Farmer as Partner for all ML operations in Singapore.

Richard started his career in retail and media sales before embarking on a career in recruitment, and possesses over 20 years’ experience within executive search. Richard has held strategic leadership roles within successful specialist boutiques and MNC businesses enabling him to work and live in the UK, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Richard is also a passionate entrepreneur who founded and managed a boutique management consulting business – Connector Talent Solutions. Throughout his career, he has been motivated to build true business relationships and partnerships to achieve the goals and vision of both the company and individuals.

Richard is now a Partner for Executive Search operations in Singapore. Here, his primary focus is strategically placing critical leadership roles across SEA within digital, transformation and strategy. At MitchelLake, he will work within the ecosystem of venture growth, innovation and new-to-market hypergrowth businesses across technology, payments, consulting, private equity, fintech and insurtech to grow the Singapore business.

Richard is a highly skilled headhunter, executive coach and consultant. He brings key advisory skills combined with strategic thinking and global experience to all his projects, clients and candidates. We are delighted to welcome Richard to the team and can’t wait to see the Singapore business grow through his leadership and experience!

You can now connect with Richard and give him a warm welcome at richard.farmer@mitchellake.com.