Nanda is responsible for the international practice at Essenta focusing on the consumer industry, as well heading our Purpose agenda. A Dutch national, she has lived and worked in eight countries and has an innate global view on executive talent and a successful track record of sourcing across borders. Nanda has worked in the international consumer markets for 10+ years and she works with clients looking for transformative and holistic solutions and businesses who see talent as a strategic advantage. She is used to working with geographically and culturally diverse teams and she is driven by creating highly diverse senior leaderships teams, underpinned with cognitive diversity dynamics. Nanda has a contemporary and innovative approach to executive search and the Essenta Insights Podcast is one of her impactful initiatives. Outside work, Nanda loves to explore new countries, cultures and cuisines and enjoys yoga, meditation and reading.

Passionate about building lasting relationships and helping clients to hire exceptional talent, James has over 25 years of experience leading executive recruitment businesses. In 2016, James co-founded Essenta, having previously led the MBO and subsequent growth, of a London based search boutique. He has extensive experience hiring C-Suite leaders across consumer, technology and business services organisations with differing and complex ownership structures.

Father to three amazing children, James loves all sports and is actively involved in golf, tennis, cricket, football, the gym and watching Liverpool FC and England Rugby. When he actually gets the chance, James spends downtime socialising with great friends, savouring a good glass of wine and watching movies.

Charlie has 25 years of experience in executive search and talent acquisition, in consultancies and on the client-side.  He co-founded Essenta with James Howells and has a strong track record and particular expertise in business services, consulting and technology sectors.  He heads up Essenta’s Business-to-Business practice as well as leading the sales and commercial practice, which specialises in the appointment of sales and go-to-market leaders.  With particularly strong commercial networks, he has proven success in delivering transformation and growth outcomes into technology-enabled business services companies.  Charlie is proud to have cycled ‘End 2 End’ twice (a few years ago now!), raising awareness and money for rare cancers.  He still loves to cycle in the Chilterns (or on his Peloton if the weather’s poor). With four kids, spare time is scarce, but he loves to ski and play golf, goes to the odd indie rock concert and supports England Rugby and Cricket.

Seb is part of the senior leadership team at Essenta managing our business to  consumer practice areas. He is accountable for all our consumer and consumer  technologies verticals, leading the integration of our technology  expertise into product and service led clients. With a specific focus on  direct-to-consumer, Seb has helped create value in both multinationals and private  equity portfolio brands. Prior to joining Essenta, Seb spent nine years building the international business of a reputable and high growth search firm. Through this  he has established diverse executive networks across USA, EMEA & APAC  encouraging clients to view the search process through a global lens.

Paula has over 15 years’ experience in connecting venture capital, growth, mid-market and large cap funds to fundraising, investing and portfolio talent. She understands the importance of rigorous search process alongside providing compelling representation in the market and superior quality of assessment. A champion of diversity, she supports her clients in their strategic thinking about how to secure and retain the best people, including accessing new talent pools. Despite having two young children and a healthy appreciation for food and wine, she has managed to complete two half marathons, which she believes pretty much makes a whole. Her other loves are theatre, art and interior design.

David focuses on the business and industrial services market. His client list spans private equity portfolio companies and larger PLCs, encompassing all functions, most commonly CEO, Chair, CFO and divisional leadership. David is passionate about building long term and significant partnerships with his clients, delivering a bespoke process to suit their needs, in the time frame they require. Outside of the office David cycles regularly, is a keen rugby player and (when he has the time) enjoys experimenting with new and delicious recipes in the kitchen.

Jon is a Partner within the Consumer and Technology practice. As the first partner hire into the business in 2017 Jon has been integral to building the Essenta Digital & Technology proposition. With over 20 years’ experience of hiring Digital & Technology leaders for some of the world’s most recognisable consumer brands. Jon has completed over 200 successful searches through a focus on customer experience, leveraging his global network and developing a robust assessment methodology. With a background in elite sport Jon has a long-standing interest on how successful teams are built and how great, or bad, leadership can impact teams or organisations. Prior to joining Essenta Jon worked for a global executive search firm, building their EMEA Consumer technology and digital practice. Out of the office Jon is always looking for ways to channel his competitive nature, taking on various challenges such as racing across South America, White Collar Boxing and more recently Crossfit.

Oliver works as a Principal within our Private Equity practice, working with funds who are looking to make board leadership changes within their portfolio companies. He began his career in finance and accounting recruitment working in Birmingham, London and then Sydney, where he managed the Qualified Finance Commerce and Industry team, with a personal focus on Senior Finance hires across all sectors. Prior to joining Essenta, he worked for a boutique executive search firm focused on the Management Consultancy, Professional Services and Technology sectors. Outside of the office, Oliver attempts to stay fit and active, but only so that he can continue to try all the new Burger restaurants popping up around London and have an excuse to buy more trainers.

Tarek is a Principal focusing on CFO hires into Technology and Consumer businesses. He has a track record of success across publicly and privately owned organisations, as well as private equity and venture capital portfolio companies. He specialises in identifying talent that can move successfully across these ownership structures.

Following a soccer scholarship in the U.S, Tarek began his career in a high growth boutique search firm focusing on Finance transformation. Building on this knowledge, he joined a boutique Consumer search firm where he focussed on Finance and Commercial Operations.

Tarek is an avid sports fan and (unfortunately) is a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder. When he is not playing or watching sport, you will find him exploring some of London’s wonderful eateries.

Hugo is the primary point of contact for Essenta’s CFO Practice and has amassed 20+ years of experience delivering senior finance mandates across a variety of sectors, capital structures and geographies. The majority of his career was spent building the CFO offering for the UK’s largest independently owned Executive Search boutique, during which time he became a trusted and valued partner to both his client and candidate network. In his spare time Hugo will be often seen ferrying his young family around West Sussex, applying some grit and graft to his latest DIY project (often with limited success), or (given half the chance) relaxing in the garden with a cold glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the next great American novel close to hand.

Annemarie is part of the Essenta LLC leadership team. Essenta LLC provides executive search services to a range of businesses across the USA .

Annemarie has spent 15 years providing consulting and executive search advisory services to American and European businesses and government agencies. 

An American, Annemarie has lived in several countries and spent ten years in London with a specific focus on private equity investments in the consumer and technology industries. Working predominantly in e-commerce, payments, and betting & gaming she found a passion for working with leadership teams that merge technology with all things ‘fun and beautiful’!

Outside of work, Annemarie is married to a CTO – so she rarely escapes her day job. When she does, she spends it with her three young children outside, in the pool, or on the tennis court.

Alex joined Essenta as Head of Research, having worked within Executive Search for over a decade. He has refined his research and delivery capabilities within tier one global and boutique firms, and as a generalist, Alex has completed mandates across all functional areas, for business of various sizes and ownership structures, globally.

As Head of Research, Alex is responsible for ensuring Essenta delivers to the highest standard, with a sincere commitment to providing the most suitable and beneficial outcome for both our clients and candidates.

Alex is a graduate of Durham University and splits his time between London and Devon. A keen sportsman, he spends much of his time away from the office outdoors.

Chika has spent the last 12 years establishing herself as a trusted diverse talent advisor. She has notable experience consulting for Magic Circle law firms in the UK, as well as international consumer brands. Chika has supported the implementation of several diversity programmes, including a female return-to-work programme (after 2-15 years career break), as well as diversity audits, conducting focus groups, and helping clients to set their diversity strategy. When not at work Chika can be found in a museum, or watching nature documentaries.

Ellie has a number of years of specialist Executive Search expertise within the technology sector, spanning both consumer and B2B businesses across EMEA and the US. While the majority of her career has focused on VC-backed high growth start-ups, she has also worked with some of the darlings of the tech unicorn club on strategic and transformational hires spanning the entire leadership team. Her strength lies in matching candidate motivations, management style and personality to client organisations, on top of objective qualifications. Outside of work, you can find her gaming or watching the latest true crime series, adding to her already bursting wardrobe, and roaming the countrysides of Europe to find the latest property to restore.

Jiarong is part of the consumer team at Essenta and has handled numerous executive and non-executive appointments on behalf of B2B and B2C clients in the FTSE main market, AIM, and private equity-industries including UK, DACH and APAC regions.

Prior to joining Essenta, Jiarong worked for Redgrave where she worked closely with financial services, private equity, and real estate clients. She started her executive search career in Norman Broadband’s consumer financial service practice.

Jiarong holds a MSc in Mathematics with Engineering from University of Nottingham. She speaks Mandarin and German