Duty, and responsibility to help people

10.01.2011: IRC congratulates Chairman of UK member firm for his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

“Getting business people to spare a minute or two thinking about younger people in business and in education - that’s probably the single thing I’m most proud of achieving during my work with West Midlands.”

Richard Boot, chairman of Active Executive Recruitment and IRC Board Member has, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, been appointed by HM The Queen an Officer of the most excellent Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours List. The citation is ‘for services to business in the West Midlands’. The citation is ‘for services to business in the West Midlands’. The ceremony is planned for May 2011.

In his early career at KPMG, Richard was influenced by “a fantastic senior partner, a man called John Adcock, who was an inspiration to me – he looked after me, I learned so much from him. I always thought – if I could get a few people to offer the kind of support I had...”

The opportunity came through his work as regional chairman of the Institute of Directors (IOD) for two terms, an IOD National Council member for more than 14 years, and the IOD’s representative on the Regional Economic Council co-chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Business Secretary.

Richard explains: “I think, albeit not perfectly, what we managed to do was to get business people with some experience to realise there’s a bit of a duty and role to help, not only younger members of the institute, but, more particularly, people coming up through the education system, particularly university, to give them work experience and some exposure to business. We set up a mentoring scheme to try and get people in business to ‘adopt’ a graduate or a younger member to give them a helping hand. Ultimately, some 400 graduates got work experience through this scheme.”

Active Executive Recruitment is part of the Active Human Capital Group, which Richard helped set up in 2005. From this executive recruitment background, he sees global opportunity and change. “You’ve got to have deep industry specialisms, and be very focused – I’m quite convinced that being a broad generalist won’t work in the future. You need deep knowledge of sectors, and the people and the issues, and, progressively (and why we joined IRC), you must be able to deal with issues on a global basis. The world is getting smaller in that sense, and you have to be able to deal with that. It’s a big market and it’s a big place for us still, but I think all these things are going to get seriously challenged by new techniques, and the Internet.

However, he adds: I’m still excited by it. I enjoy business and I think there’s always a door open. And, he adds, “I’m really looking forward to a fantastic day in May!”

About Richard Boot OBE

Richard Boot, Chairman of Active Executive Recruitment has, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, been appointed by HM The Queen an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours List.  The citation is 'for services to business in the West Midlands'. Richard is a major shareholder of Active Human Capital Group, which as a founding director he helped set up in 2005.  Since that time the business has established itself as a leading player in the recruitment of senior executives and provider of Board level advisory services. Richard was a Senior Partner with KPMG for 20 years and helped lead the growth of the UK Management Consulting practice including the National Manufacturing team.  He then moved to a similar role with KPMG's Corporate Finance business. He was Regional Chairman of the Institute of Directors for two terms and a National Council member of the IOD for over 14 years.  In his IOD role he worked with local members and the wider business community to help promote the West Midlands Region and to represent those interests with both National and Regional Government.  He was the IOD's representative on the Regional Economic Council co-chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Business Secretary.

About Active Executive Recruitment
Active Executive Recruitment is the brand for all our executive recruitment in private and public sectors. Active Human Capital remains as our group name. We feel that Active Executive Recruitment articulates the nature of our core activities. We specialise in recruiting excellent candidates at Board and Executive level. We are experienced in private and public sectors, and have a track record of placing outstanding candidates who can make the difference to client organisations in today’s competitive markets. We recruit for permanent and interim positions, including non-executive roles. Every assignment is tailor-made, so we deliver the best candidate for the role and ensure our clients get cost-effective solutions every time.

About IRC Global Executive Search Partners
IRC Global Executive Search Partners is a market leader in the global executive search industry with a track record of over 20,000 completed assignments for 1,000+ clients in almost every conceivable industry segment and function. Our clients range from large multinationals to middle market companies that enjoy the advantage of working with leading local firms around the globe, providing them access to expert local market knowledge, the agility and commitment of owner operated firms and the global reach of a strong alliance. With a growing roster of leading executive search firms across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia, IRC Global Executive Search Partners has more than 250 accomplished executive search professionals. Ranked among the world’s 15 largest retained search firms, IRC Global Executive Search Partners has been providing consistent and high-performance executive search solutions to its clients for the past fifteen years.

Contact Information:
IRC Global Executive Search Partners
Sylvia MacArthur
sylvia.macarthur@ircsearchpartners.com
1 416 920 0092
www.ircsearchpartners.com