Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants presented 'Excellence,' 'Future of the Profession' and 'IDEA' awards at annual global conference in London
NEW YORK , Nov. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today at their annual AESC Global Conference in London, the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) honored five members for their contributions to the executive search and leadership consulting profession.
Cathy Powell, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, and Sabine Vinck, Global Head of Leadership Advisory Capabilities at Spencer Stuart, received the AESC Award of Excellence. It honors individuals at the height of their careers who have made significant, outstanding contributions to the executive search and leadership consulting profession.
Romain Eyherabide, Partner at Eric Salmon & Partners was honored with the AESC Future of the Profession Award. This award recognizes the next generation of leaders in executive search and leadership consulting.
Mina Paul, Associate at Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), and Helen Tudor, Managing Director and Global Head of DE&I at Sheffield Haworth, were presented with the AESC IDEA Award. It recognizes initiatives within the executive search and leadership consulting profession that demonstrate an exemplary commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and access.
CATHY POWELL – AESC AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, commented: "Cathy has led the way on a full range of people and organizational challenges - first at Co Company and then at Heidrick Consulting after they acquired Co. Her leadership is recognized internally and by her clients and has elevated our profession. We are proud to recognize her with the AESC Award of Excellence."
Cathy is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles' London office and a member of Heidrick Consulting. She has more than 20 years of experience helping senior leaders align their workforce to deliver company strategy. Working internationally with leading brands in multiple sectors, Cathy's experience spans the full range of people and organization challenges, including performance transformation, behavioral change, top-team development and coaching, organization design, talent management and capability building.
"Cathy has been a role model in the industry, helping improve search and leadership advisory in new and better ways," said Dustin Seale, Regional Managing Partner at Heidrick Consulting. "Cathy's total commitment to client and candidate success, beyond the placement, is second to none."
At Heidrick & Struggles, Cathy plays a pivotal role in driving the firm's 'One Heidrick' strategy, which supports a combined search, on-demand talent and consulting offering across the firm. She has built the foundational IP, which underpins the firm's go-to-market approach. She also invests time in mentoring and building the capabilities of the firm's teams worldwide.
"Cathy has always embodied our 'One Heidrick' mentality," said TA Mitchell, Leadership Practice Director at Heidrick Consulting. "This cuts across all team members at all levels. She has been a true supporter of growing our talent internally both for clients and for H&S."
In Europe, Cathy has helped build out Heidrick & Struggles' Corporate Officers practice by creating tailored consulting offerings to augment and de-risk search placements. Two of these services include the Accelerating Time to Value program, which is an onboarding approach for newly hired executives, and the First-Time CPO community, which brings together HR professionals who are new to the C-suite.
"Cathy is the epitome of a best-in-class leader in our sector," said Susie Clements, Regional Managing Partner, Corporate Officer Practice at Heidrick & Struggles. "She is selfless; 1000% client-focused; generous with her time and her knowledge and incredibly responsive. The value that she adds to our clients and candidates is not always visible in revenues but is immeasurable in the value and depth of service and relationships that it spawns. She is one in a million."
Cathy is a trained executive coach through the Academy of Executive Coaching Advanced Coaching Program, an NLP practitioner, and is registered to use a wide variety of psychometric instruments.
Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Cathy headed leadership development in the retail sector, led the people and organization elements of large-scale change programs for an airports group and was Head of Organization Development and HR director for Northern Rock and Barclays Bank in the UK. She also held a position as a Director at Co Company, an organizational development consulting firm acquired by Heidrick & Struggles in 2015. Cathy has a master's degree in Organizational Learning and Development.
SABINE VINCK – AESC AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, commented: "As our profession builds on excellence in executive search to advise clients on a range of leadership and talent topics, Sabine exemplifies true leadership and reinforces AESC's commitment to quality, having twice won Spencer Stuart's Lou Rieger Award for quality. She has raised leadership publicly, internally and through her work with clients. We are proud to recognize Sabine with AESC's Award of Excellence."
As the executive search and leadership consulting industry continues to evolve toward a more rounded, holistic approach to leadership advisory, Sabine is at the forefront of this change. She is setting the standard for others to follow.
Prior to assuming her current global role, Sabine led Spencer Stuart's Leadership Advisory Services Practice in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She transformed the practice, increasing its revenue, breadth of solutions and employee engagement scores through a relentless focus on excellence.
"Sabine is passionate about professional standards and the quality of delivery to clients," said colleague Val Harper, Head of EMEA and Asia Pacific. "Sabine is highly sought-after as a client advisor, most often to help leaders navigate the most critical issues facing their businesses."
As a trusted advisor and executive coach, she partners with clients on a range of leadership and talent issues, including succession planning, executive onboarding and development, and top team effectiveness. She works with companies and their boards to make the most of their talent pools by actively planning for succession and by equipping leaders to drive organizational performance in the most effective way.
A long-term client describes how Sabine has been a strong partner for the organization. "Her contributions have been many, and I have found in Sabine someone who can be highly trusted not just for the task at hand but more so for her maturity, common sense and high levels of confidentiality. She always goes beyond the ask, providing useful perspectives, adding real value to the business."
Sabine's passion for constantly finding new ways to support leaders, their teams and organizations is clear in other areas of her work. She:
- Maintains close connections to the academic world and has recently co-authored "The Leadership Odyssey", an article that draws on her experience of working with CEOs at all stages of their leadership journey, for Harvard Business Review.
- Has been at the forefront of redesigning Spencer Stuart's approach to team effectiveness.
- Is playing an active role in shaping executive coaching as a board member of Meyler Campbell, a leading UK-based senior executive coaching training company.
- Has been a two-time recipient of Spencer Stuart's Lou Rieger Award, which was created nearly 25 years ago to recognize those at the firm who embody the best of Spencer Stuart and consistently deliver the highest levels of quality work and superior client service.
Prior to joining the executive search profession, Sabine worked as the Associate Dean at London Business School, overseeing the school's executive education arm. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions in a financial services firm. Sabine earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University and holds master's and bachelor's degrees in applied physics from Cornell University.
ROMAIN EYHERABIDE – AESC FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION AWARD
Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, commented: "Excellence, collaboration, and elevating others is fundamental to AESC and our member firms. Romain Eyherabide is a role model of these qualities and more, and we are proud to recognize him with the Future of the Profession Award."
"Romain clearly sticks out in our profession, leading the way for the next generation of executive search and leadership consultants," said Raoul Nacke, Partner and CEO at Eric Salmon & Partners. "Within the past 25 years, I have had the honor of being surrounded by a couple of impressive individuals in our business. What Romain has achieved so far is highly remarkable at his age."
Romain started his career in executive search and leadership consulting immediately after graduating from business school. He started out as a Research Associate and worked his way up to Engagement Manager, Consultant and finally, Partner at 37 years old.
Sophie Wigniolle, Partner at Eric Salmon & Partners said of Romain, "His successful career path is the result of a very balanced and systematic approach towards excellence in any dimension: business development, client and candidate management, firm building. Very proactive, with high commitment and eagerness, Romain aims at raising the bar and demonstrating added value to clients for being a trusted advisor."
Today, Romain manages senior-level searches, executive assessments and leadership advisory projects, with a focus on industry, technology and digital.
"He brings a deep functional expertise in Operations and Supply Chain as well as in Technology, with the ability to serve large corporate accounts as well as Private Equity backed companies or family-owned businesses," said Sophie Wigniolle.
Romain has also been the head of the Eric Salmon & Partners Industrial Practice since 2022. In this role, he brings new ideas to cultivate community among the firm's offices.
"He is a mentor and a role model to Engagement Managers and Research Associates, active in supporting and sharing his knowledge," said Sophie Wigniolle. "He is a team player with an excellent drive and a high level of energy. He agreed to be part of internal projects to improve the operating model with the same commitment as demonstrated when serving clients."
MINA PAUL – AESC IDEA AWARD
Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, commented: "Mina's dedication and commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and access globally and in the Middle East is evident in all that she does. She has shown strong leadership for the profession through the AESC Middle East Diversity Council leadership. I am proud to present her with this well-earned recognition for her ongoing commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and access."
Based in Dubai, Mina is a leadership advisor to top clients in the region, identifying, assessing and developing senior executives across a wide range of sectors. Leveraging her extensive experience, she serves as a trusted advisor to companies of various sizes and geographies, both regional and multinational institutions.
Mina and the RRA team have been instrumental in ensuring their clients achieve both their business goals and diversity, equity and inclusion agendas in tandem. Mina also champions RRA's DEI initiatives internally.
"Mina has been an active member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practice for many years and serves as a role model both in her local community and in her local office to increase awareness of DEI principles and why they are important," said Tina Shah Paikeday, Global Head, DEI Capability, United States of America, Russell Reynolds Associates.
For instance, Mina is an instrumental member of the global team that continues to deliver inclusive leadership workshops in the Middle East region. This work led RRA to tailor their Inclusive Leadership competency model to the region. This successful work will be replicated in other markets including Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.
Additionally, Mina:
- Founded and now chairs the AESC Middle East DEI Council.
- Runs diversity debates and discussions as well as unconscious bias training across Dubai.
- Delivered inclusive leadership skill development courses to create cultures in which diverse talent thrives.
- Engaged in the use of Equitable Search Practices© to deliver diverse slates by embedding practices in the searches she runs.
- Is an Execute Committee member of the Women in Business Committee of the Capital Club, Dubai, DIFC.
- Helped raise awareness of equality at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
"Mina Paul demonstrates an exemplary commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and access," said Tina. "She has been instrumental in championing the DEI agenda in our markets, setting a standard for commitment and progress that benefits our entire industry."
Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Mina worked for another leading international search firm, held search and research director roles in Dubai, was part of the Human Resources team at Canal+ and worked with the French Ministry of Employment.
Mina holds a bachelor's degree in language interpretation and translation from Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg and two master's degrees from the Sorbonne University in Paris, in European affairs, and business and international commerce.
HELEN TUDOR – AESC IDEA AWARD
Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, commented: "Helen is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion within her firm and with clients and for the profession as an active member of AESC's Diversity Council. AESC is proud to recognize Helen for her ongoing contributions and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by presenting her with this coveted award."
Helen is a Managing Director in the Consulting and Professional Services Practice and is the Global Lead for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Sheffield Haworth. She focuses on Partner-level Executive Search in management consultancy and Professional services, specializing in Financial Services, Government and Defense, Telco, Consumer and Retail sectors.
Through Helen's role as Global Head of DE&I, she has been instrumental in developing deeper discussions with clients about their challenges in attracting and retaining more diverse hires. She has embedded best practices across Sheffield Haworth's global offices, educated consultants on equitable search and selection practices and worked with the subgroup leads of ERGs to drive innovation, thought leadership and solutions that will benefit clients and employees.
Specifically, Helen has been partnering with Deloitte for over 20 years, often helping with growth hires. In the last few years, Helen and Sheffield Haworth have worked with Deloitte toward their ambition of hiring more gender-diverse leaders. Helen's dedication and focus on building diverse teams has made that ambition a reality with 69% of the partner appointments at Deloitte being women in the last three years.
Helen has been instrumental in driving similar results for Sheffield Haworth and the wider consulting and professional services sector.
Anne-Marie Balfe, EY EMEIA Financial Services Talent Leader, said: "With Helen's support and best practice sharing, we have re-engineered our Partner recruitment process to achieve more diverse pipelines, to provide greater sponsorship for female and minority candidates, and to create more inclusive hiring practices."
Additionally, Helen is an active member of key Sheffield Haworth networks and programs that demonstrate her wider commitment to fostering an inclusive culture and supporting diversity in the workplace. These include the Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Group, Women's Network (WISH), Global Mentor Program and Intern/Work Experience Programs.
Helen is also a founding member of and active participant in the AESC EMEA Diversity Leadership Council. The Sheffield Haworth team said of Helen's commitment to within AESC and the broader executive search and leadership consulting community, "Helen's leadership at Sheffield Haworth has demonstrated a strong commitment to aligning with the AESC Pledge through a range of initiatives and actions."
Prior to joining Sheffield Haworth, Helen was Managing Partner of BLA Search, a specialist management consultancy head-hunter, having joined as a consultant and then moved into partnership and ownership. She started her career in a global recruitment company in managerial roles. Helen holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Manchester.
Media Contact
Martha Clement Rochford, AESC, + 1 (646) 695 6625, [email protected], aesc.org
SOURCE AESC
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