Celebrating New Leadership: Announcing Starfish Search’s 2025 Promotions
At Starfish Search, we believe in the transformative power of skilled and principled individuals to shape successful organisations. We are therefore delighted to announce the promotion of four exceptional colleagues, each of whom exemplifies our values of integrity, professionalism, and inclusive leadership. These promotions are more than personal milestones; they are reflective of our collective commitment to excellence and the development of high calibre professionals who contribute meaningfully across our business.
Luke Spaven – Assistant Accountant
Luke has demonstrated remarkable dedication within our finance function. Through his unwavering focus on cash collection and his disciplined approach to operational management, he has supported both our internal procedures and our wider business objectives. His continued commitment to studying for his ACCA qualification outside regular working hours is a testament to his professionalism and ambition. We congratulate Luke on this well deserved promotion.
Chris Milo – Consultant
Chris has been a consistently reliable presence for his colleagues and clients alike. With positivity and a proactive mindset, he supports collaborators in navigating complex tasks with precision and care. His attention to detail and willingness to guide others speak to his readiness to step into the role of Consultant. We are pleased to recognise his contributions and see him flourish in this new capacity.
El Savidge – Principal Consultant
El’s promotion is richly deserved. Possessing a nuanced understanding of executive search as a discipline, El brings versatility, talent, and a valued perspective to our operations. The positive feedback they have received from clients underscores the impact of their work. El’s elevation to Principal Consultant will serve to inspire others and set new standards of performance across our practice.
Lorraine Payne – Partner
Lorraine has distinguished herself both as a commercial leader and a steadfast supporter of her colleagues. Known internally as the “LG Interim Queen,” she approaches her role with energy, strategic insight, and genuine encouragement. Her elevation to Partner will strengthen our search capabilities, deepen our market presence, and send a clear message about our ambition. We commend Lorraine on this significant achievement.
These promotions reflect not only the individual accomplishments of Luke, Chris, El, and Lorraine but also our shared pursuit of excellence. They demonstrate how our culture of collaboration, skill development, and servant leadership continues to propel Starfish Search forward. Please join us in extending warm congratulations to our newly promoted colleagues. We take immense pride in their success and look forward to seeing how each will shape our future.
Webinar Recap: Navigating Recruitment in the AI Age with PPMA
Starfish Search recently partnered with the Public Services People Managers Association (PPMA) to deliver a timely and thought-provoking webinar: “Navigating Recruitment in the AI Age.” Our own Sunita Patel was joined by Jason Makepeace from GovCats to explore how artificial intelligence is already reshaping recruitment, leadership, and workforce planning across the public sector. If you missed the session, the full webinar is available to watch here.
Lorraine Payne Named Among Top 10 Interim Consultants in the 2025 IIM Awards
We are incredibly proud to share that Lorraine Payne, Partner at Starfish Search, has once again been recognised by the Institute of Interim Management (IIM) as one of the UK’s top interim consultants, securing a place in the Top 10 for 2025. This honour, based entirely on feedback from interim managers themselves, celebrates the individual consultants who go beyond the brief — those who listen carefully, understand deeply, and deliver consistently for the interims and organisations they support.
Top Talent: Regeneration and Growth
The growth and infrastructure agenda remains central to the government’s mission, and local authorities across the country are key drivers.
ACCREDITATIONS
ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector for over 40 years. Starfish Search has been awarded a place on ESPO’s Strategic HR Services framework (3S). Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 1, Executive and Managerial Interim Recruitment Lot 2, Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment.
Starfish are proud to be certified Disability Confident Committed. This scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers. Starfish Search has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Executive and Non-Executive recruitment. Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 3 - Non-Executive and Public Appointments.
Bloom, launched in 2012 is the UK’s leading marketplace for professional services. They provide an end-to-end solution for the procurement, contract management and payment of all professional services, via the compliant NEPRO³ framework. Their public sector clients have access to 20 professional services categories and over 4500 accredited suppliers. Bloom provides swift routes to market via either direct award or mini competition. Starfish is an accredited supplier to BLOOM; our services can be accessed via this framework - Executive and Non-Executive Search and Interim Management.
Join the starfish team
We hire people who bring insight, integrity and ambition to their work. If you’re ready to contribute to shaping the future of leadership and you want to explore our current opportunities please get in touch.
