The Board

Ian Temple - Executive Chairman

Having graduated from Exeter University with a Chemistry degree Ian qualified as a Chartered Accountant before going to work for one of his clients, Computer Team Group in 1994. At Computer Team Group Ian became General Manager for Southern England. Ian worked at PSD as a Recruitment Consultant before setting up Finance Professionals with Chris Cole in January 1997. Ian is responsible for the overall business vision, strategy and plan, and the management of the business against these objectives.

Tim Smeaton - Chief Executive Officer

Tim graduated from Salford University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He is the co-founder of Project Partners and has worked in the recruitment sector for 14 years. He joined Computer Team Group in 1994 as a recruitment consultant, ultimately becoming Sales Director for the South of England and managing 3 offices. Tim is responsible for the implementation of the business strategy.

Martyn Philips - Non-Executive Director

Martyn is Operations Director and formerly HR Director of B&Q, and has been a Non-Executive Director of the Professionals Group since 2003. Martyn brings a client's view to the company, as well as a wealth of experience in the HR and management arenas.

Ishbel Macpherson - Senior Independent Non-Executive Director

Ishbel has over 20 years of investment banking experience specialising in UK mid market corporate finance. Her most recent role was Head of UK Mid-Market Corporate Finance for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, prior to which she was Head of UK Small Cap Corporate Finance for ABM AMRO. Ishbel is currently Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Speedy Hire plc and a Non-Executive Director of MITIE Group plc, GAME Group plc and Dignity plc.

Chris Cole - Executive Director

Chris graduated in Business Studies from Sheffield Hallam University and joined Johnson and Johnson’s sales and marketing graduate programme in 1993. Attracted by the meritocratic entrepreneurial nature of the sector Chris moved into recruitment 14 years ago working with PSD and Michael Page, launching the Professionals group with Ian Temple in 1997. Chris is responsible for the incubator programme that will enable the Group to maintain its business balance and future growth.

Senior Management Board

Dan Church - Client Services Director

Dan graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 1996. He worked for 2 years as an Insurance Broker before moving into IT Recruitment for Computer Team Group, where he managed their Financial Markets Permanent desk. Dan is a co-founder and Director of the Partners Group which was launched in 2000. He has direct responsibility for international business development for Hydrogen Group and manages the Group’s external relationships with key clients.

Steve Garner - Recruitment Director, Europe

Steve joined the Group in April 2005 as Manager of Commerce Partners’ Permanent division before being promoted to Director 18 months later. Since June 2008 he has been responsible for building and developing Hydrogen's brands and business areas across Europe. Prior to joining the Group, Steve had 8 years experience of both permanent and contract recruitment within the commerce and public sector arenas, 3 years of which was in a management role. Steve was educated at Leeds University where he completed a combined studies degree.

Simon Walker - Recruitment Director; IT, Sales and Marketing

University educated at St Martins College, Simon started with Project Partners in July 2000 to proactively develop the Project Partners Contracts Team within the business. After building a strong portfolio of blue chip clients Simon progressed to a Sales Manager role in 2004 and in 2005. Having developed through the companies training programme and in recognition of his continued contribution and ability, Simon was made Director. Simon is responsible for a team of 50 recruitment professionals across the Project Partners and Target Partners brands and manages a number of major client accounts.

Justin McAvoy - Client Services Director

Justin has eight years’ experience working in Human Resources, including consulting for Andersons and Deloitte & Touche. His expertise lies is in assisting organisations to improve the quality of their hires whilst reducing costs. Most recently, Justin assisted a FTSE 100 organisation to save over £5 million through implementing a series of strategic improvements, part of which was focused on contractor performance management. Justin is CIPD-qualified with a degree in Psychology and an MA in Human Resource Management.

Andrea Sevenoaks - Marketing & HR Director

Andrea has 14 years’ marketing experience within the business services sector, including key roles within Datamonitor, Reuters Business Insight and Emap. She joined the Group to head up the marketing function in 2002 and was promoted to Director in 2004. Andrea is responsible for strategic marketing, external and internal communications and HR across the Group.

John Glover - Finance Director

John joined Hydrogen in February 2007, following over 20 years in a number of different finance roles at BP plc. During that time, John gained extensive experience in business management and control, change management, process reengineering and global systems implementation. John is a Chartered Accountant, and has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham.

Ivan Jackson - Recruitment Director; Finance, Legal and HR

Ivan graduated from Salford University with a degree in Business Management. After 2 years spent working at ABN Amro he joined Finance Professionals in 1999. Ivan was instrumental in building Finance Professionals' banking team into a market-leading business, and was promoted to Director. After an internal move in 2004 he became responsible for building the strategy that allowed Law Professionals to become one of the largest legal recruiters in London and a key international player. He is additionally responsible for HR Professionals, whose focus on performance-driven HR experts has helped create a highly specialised recruiter.