Eighteen month old executive recruitment firm Rockpools and e-recruiter Jobsgopublic (JGP) have attracted some of the biggest names in the business to join them as Non Executive Directors (NEDs).
Former Minister for Local and Regional Government, Nick Raynsford MP; former Director General for Housing & Planning at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the person responsible for setting up the GLA and Transport for London, Genie Turton; and key adviser to the DfES on London and an Associate of the Prime Ministerís Delivery Unit as well as former Chief Inspector and London Borough of Greenwich Education Director, George Gyte have all announced that they are to join the companies in a coup unprecedented in the recruitment business.
Hamish Davidson, arguably one of the best known public sector recruiters and chairman of both Rockpools and JGP said: ìTo attract any one of these exceptional individuals to join us would have been a major achievement; to attract all three is without doubt testament to the belief and faith that they have in each of these two companies and as a core component of the family of businesses that we are engaged in assembling. I am hugely honoured and excited to be working with themî.
JGP is the largest public and not for profit recruitment site in the UK, working to modernise and streamline public sector recruitment through increased efficiency, the development of talent pools and the use of cutting edge technology to identify and plug organisational skills gaps.
Rockpools has taken the recruitment world by storm despite being in existence for just 18 months. Founded by Nev Wilkinson, it already employs more than 40 people, including some of the best recruitment consultants in the UK, and has won commissions to undertake a series of prestigious assignments, including the Chair, Chief Executive and the Board (both executive & non-executive) for the new Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), and numerous local authority Chief Executive posts, and a forthcoming project to recruit the Chair, Chief Executive and up to 14 Commissioners for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).
On becoming a NED, Nick Raynsford MP said: ìWhen I left the Government last May, I wanted to invest my time in areas where I had previously been involved, such as local government - and Rockpools and JGP were the obvious choices.
ìThey are dynamic young companies that are working together to drive improvement through the public sector. They challenge stereotypes, break down barriers and use cutting edge technology, and I can help them develop their services so they compliment the rapidly changing face of the public sectorî.
Genie Turton said: ìBecoming an NED of Rockpools and JGP is an enormous privilege, intellectually challenging and interesting. As an NED, rather than a consultant, you are close enough to the company to be loyal and to be able to develop its corporate governance, but far enough away to be able to see things differently from the outside and to ask the tough questions that need to be asked.
ìI believe that if you use standard processes you get standard people and that to really succeed you have to think laterally and do things differently. Thatís why I am delighted to be taking on this role for two organisations that do just thatî.
George Gyte said: ìI wanted to be part of a values driven organisation, one that could make a real and significant difference to peopleís lives. As an NED, you can help to make choices about priorities, strategic partnerships and can really help to shape an organisation.
ìThere is a real leadership deficit in the public sector. You can see it in all front line organisations - that need for better thinking and for better corporate strategic leadership. Organisations like Rockpools and JGP understand that and are working to attract in new blood and develop the in house capacity. Working with them, I will have a real opportunity to improve the quality of leadership in the public sectorî.
For more information on Rockpools and JGP, NED biographies, interviews or story angles on the roles of the NED, building a successful company and the changing face of recruitment in todayís rapidly changing public sector - call Kate Pierce on 07968 277157 or kate_pierce@vervecommunications .co.uk
Nick Raynsford MP, Genie Turton and George Gyte to join Rockpools and Jobsgopublic
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