Miramar has always taken a pan European focus to its work but with our orientation across the energy, industrial, sustainable technology and high tech markets we naturally have found a continued focus in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. Alongside this we work very closely with US owned businesses so continue to regularly support US businesses as they look to expand in EMEA.

We saw general improvement in market conditions throughout 2013 and in turn in our clients’ market confidence as the year went on. A number of key events also shaped our work. Most notably the announcement of the selected parties to deliver the UK smart meter programme. This is a process that we have been heavily involved in and in which we supported a number of key parties through the tender process with interim and permanent resources. Our knowledge of the entire market place and our close understanding of the subject matter was essential to them. Following the announcements we have since worked closely with some of the selected parties to provide them with the skills that they have needed as they move in to a new phase of the program.

The SMART agenda continues to be a major focus for our business and we will be active in supporting our clients through our services and also more broadly in supporting the industry in 2014 through a range of networking events.
At the heart of our business is the sustainability agenda and how major industrial, technology and energy businesses can support the development of sustainable product, process, material and technology. This will continue to be the case. We have been excited to support a major battery innovation business in 2013 whilst also contributing to a range of other technology businesses innovating in sectors such as oil & gas, automotive and a number of performance materials.

Internally we have taken the initiative to expand our own research team and have been very pleased to welcome Claire Harrison as Head of Research. Claire has an outstanding background in search and shares our passion for client and candidate experience. Her presence in the team will help us to further innovate our own solution and ensure that we further enhance the research product that is at the heart of what we do. Most importantly she will ensure that our clients continue to receive the very best service that is available in the market.

Alongside this we have also welcomed Jennifer Curtis to build and to lead our practice dedicated to the shipping and maritime sectors. We already boast strong experience in the maritime, container, terminal and broader infrastructure and transport sectors and Jennifer will be taking our message further to those clients. Jennifer brings extensive experience in the sector and incredible passion and enthusiasm for her sectors and how they interact with our broader market proposition.

2014 promises to be an exciting year for our business as the markets appear to be beginning to recover. We are proud of the key strategic hires that we have been able to make for our clients over some very difficult economic times in recent years and look forward to continuing to support them. Innovation is at the heart of what our clients do and we are continuing to look at how we can innovate ourselves to better serve the industries that we face through our own research, process and technology.

A sample of projects conducted in 2013 has included:
• Head of Six Sigma for the global business unit of a performance material major
• General Manager for a SMART technology provider
• Director of Aftermarket EMEA for a major industrial products group
• Director of EHS for a global specialty chemical leader
• EMEA Sales Director for a life science major
• Specialist material scientist for clean tech start up
• Technical Director for a chemical mid cap
• HR Director for a global performance material major
• Head of Manufacturing for a global chemical and performance material major
• Group Sales Director (board member) for a high growth PLC integrator

“The critical impact of individual performance on a business”

Would you please join us for a breakfast discussion focused on the impact that an individual can have on a business. Whatever the market conditions how can you ensure that your business performance always operates at its optimum level; and what role does the individual play in this?

The programme will start with a presentation from Jeremy Snape, [Founder of Sporting Edge], offering performance insights into resilience and performing under pressure within the worlds of sports and business. To follow, will be a discussion chaired by Andrew Stoneham-Knott, [Founder of Miramar], with two experienced interim managers sharing their experiences in turning around businesses. A Q&A with the guests will follow.

Date                      Thursday 15th November 2012

Time                      08.00-9.30am

Location               Cadogan Hotel

                             75 Sloane Street

                             Knightsbridge

                             London SW1X 9SG

Format

8.00 Coffee & Croissants

8.30 Presentation from Jeremy Snape, Founder of Sporting Edge

8.55 Discussion chaired by Andrew Stoneham-Knott, Founder of Miramar

9.20 Questions from the guests

9.30 Depart

Delicate internal politics and a lack of internal expertise meant that an external candidate was the desired option to manage the transformation.  With a timeline of only six months to implement a major performance improvement programme before incurring significant financial penalties,  our recommendation was to use an interim manager, who would be ready to start within days and would have a track record in major project infrastructure project management and , as is usual in interim management, likely be overqualified for the role and therefore, able to hit the ground running.

We started the search by looking for an interim manager with a background in quasi public/private infrastructure companies.  It was highly probable that the skills required to establish immediate credibility and impact would come from someone familiar with running a multi million pound P&L , delivering major asset construction projects  to cost based deadlines, but be sympathetic to the complexity of operating in a politicised and high scrutiny environment.

Of three shortlisted CV’s, the successful candidate had previously been the COO for one of the major Water Utilities , with Board accountability for all aspects of operational performance, and a revenue budget of £1.4bn, (to include more than £600m pa of capital expenditure).   Prior to that, his background was twenty years in the oil and gas industry, project managing the design and construction of oil refineries, gas processing plants and petrochemical plants.

 Once on board the interim manager, having undertaken a thorough review of ongoing projects, made a series of recommendations for which he gained Board acceptance and then set about implementing a major improvement programme around project and programme management skills.  This involved putting in place a proper structure, developing the processes and put in place a series of rigorous control and management processes.

The outcome was a complete re vamp of the project organisation, effective cost control processes and a long term competency improvement plan in project management skills embedded into the organisation from the top down.

Despite being offered a permanent appointment into the role, the interim manager chose instead to move on, remaining to help with the recruitment of his successor before successfully continuing his interim career.

Natasha brings with her 25 years of experience in the interim management market where she has operated across a broad range of sectors and disciplines. She is incredibly passionate about our sector and the services that we offer. The blend of a true interim management capability working directly in tandem with the functional and sector expertise of our executive search group is powerful and our clients are already enjoying the benefits of Natasha’s input, knowledge and network.

Natasha adds further depth and knowledge to our management team at a time of continued expansion in EMEA, Asia Pac and Latin America. We are proud of our continued growth and we look to continue to build on our success by expanding our services and our geographic reach.

Natasha Cleeve

Natasha has operated exclusively in the interim management market for twenty five years now recruiting at Board, Executive and Senior Management level. Her breadth of industry knowledge is wide but most recently has been centred on the Energy and Utilities sector where she has built an impressive network of clients and interim managers with specialist industry expertise.

Born in Lusaka, Zambia, she began her recruitment career in the UK with an established international recruitment business sourcing talent across the UK, USA and Australia.  She was approached to assist in the establishment of Oracle UK’s onsite recruitment capability where she worked successfully with them before returning to the external recruitment market, spending the next eleven years establishing the interim management practices for two successive City executive recruitment businesses.

Natasha was then approached join Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Executive Interim Management business (Veredus) where she created and ran the Central Government interim practice before being approached to join Odgers Ray and Berndston, (at the time, ranked as the top UK Executive Search firm and sixth in the world) to do the same. After considerable success she took the decision to move back into the private sector and joined Penna PLC as the Head of their Energy and Utilities.

She now joins Miramar to further her passionate advocacy of serving the client’s interests best in providing a seamless talent solution, alongside their expert permanent recruitment skills.

Andrew Stoneham Knott
Managing Director

Miramar Executive Search Limited
111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0SR
United Kingdom   T +44 (0)207 340 8697   M +44 (0)7747 696076

Here is a really good article, published on FT.com, about the issue of rising energy costs in the chemical sector, and how it is a top worry for chemical groups – Chemicals http://on.ft.com/IlxmD3

Interesting views from @esherrugby player @DaveSlem on how rugby has helped him in business http://bit.ly/xll2Zz

From a talent perspective we have seen demand continue to increase in commercial and operational areas across the energy, industrial and technology sectors. The energy sector in the UK has seen some progress as the supply chain of the offshore wind market is now beginning to take shape, albeit slowly in some areas. Discussion about the financing required for the UK to meet its goals goes on but the coalition government has stayed true to their word in pushing forward the UK’s low carbon ambitions and commitment to their targets. London and the Olympics is a highlight event where it seems that the UK’s ability to take on low carbon technology will be demonstrated to the world.

The first two quarters of the year for Miramar have been strong and we have seen our brand expand it’s presence with existing and new clients across Europe. Our involvement with the Creating Climate Wealth publication and the Carbon War Room has begun and we are excited about where we can take this over the coming months. It is great to be part of such a relevant publication. Decarbonisation and it’s associated social, business and wealth creating benefits is an exciting prospect.

Our work remains spread firmly across the UK and Europe, in particular Benelux, Germany and France and also currently in Russia. We have a range of new projects due to start in the next quarter in the Middle East and Asia as well as in our core geopraphies.

Our clients in the industrial and manufacturing sectors have enjoyed a buoyant 6 months and whilst the press are talking up the slowing growth in these sectors, particularly in the UK, our clients appear confident of continued growth and are acting accordingly. UK manufacturing and the associated war for talent in the engineering sector goes on and it is an area in which we are heavily involved. At the more senior levels and in strategic functions we believe that the talent is out there however businesses are now recognising that a proactive headhunting approach is the key to acquiring that talent. The reactive and advertising led approach in most cases is not able to meet the demand for talent in this area and it lacks the necessary interface with the whole target market. This is good news for us and it has given us the opportunity to over deliver for our clients in this sector and really prove our worth against our competitors.

In the chemical sector we have seen a huge amount of merger and acquisition. This has in general been a hugely positive breakthrough in this market. The commodity prices continue to benefit a number of major players (albeit that is now starting to change) whilst in some areas of the sector the cycle’s that are the norm are now beginning to show themselves with prices rising. Again in this sector we are seeing demand for expert talent at a senior level in commercial and operational roles. Such a specialist sector requires specialist skills and our experience and network across the European chemical sector has been central to our success in a number of projects this year.

We expect to see a slightly slower third quarter with the impact of summer holidays having their seasonal effect but our existing projects mean that we will be maintaining our pace over this period. Following that we are expecting to see a solid final quarter of the year and we have some exciting growth plans which we look forward to sharing in due course. If you would like to discuss how we can help you or your business then please make contact.