Who we are

Starfish is an owner led business, reliant on the quality of our work,
reputation and relationships.

THE STARFISH TEAM

Toni Anderson

Assistant Consultant
Toni gained her International Relations Degree from York University. She has ...

Liz Barclay

Associate Advisor
Liz is a Radio and TV Broadcaster and Producer; writer and author. She is a p...

Jo Boardman

Executive Search Associate
Jo has worked in public sector recruitment for over 20 years, focusing mainly...

Juliet Brown

Partner
Juliet specialises in executive and non-executive leadership appointments acr...

Hannah Chapman

Consultant
Hannah has recently joined Starfish Search as a consultant in the Social Sect...

Hilary Clifford

Partner
Hilary has worked e...

Tim Farr

Senior Partner
Tim has worked alongside public sector organisations for over 10 years, speci...

Chloe Foster

Assistant Consultant
Chloe joined Starfish as an Associate Consultant in November 2023. Having pre...

Erin Fuller

Assistant Consultant
 Erin has worked in the charity se...

Katy Giddens

Director
Katy specialises in executive and non-executive leadership appointments acros...

Graham Goodwin

Chair
Graham’s early career was in the British Army where he served for nine years ...

Jonathan Grice

Admin Assistant
Jonathan joined the team at Starfish in the summer of 2022. He graduated with...

Jamila Jadama

Administration Assistant
Jamila joined the Starfish Team in the spring of 2024. She has gained valuabl...

Luke Judd

Partner
Luke has an extensive track record of public sector executive search, recruit...

Ruby Judge

Assistant Consultant
Ruby Joined the Interim team at Starfish in March 2023. She graduated with a ...

Catherine Kift

Director
Catherine is Head of Interim Talent at Starfish and leads the recruitment act...

Ben Manojlovic

Principal Consultant
Ben has ten years of experience recruiting Senior Interim Managers into the L...

Judith Meadows

Assistant Consultant
Judith started her career in IT account management where she managed relation...

Lauren North

Executive Assistant
Lauren joined Starfish in September 2023 as our CEO’s Executive Assistant. Wi...

Chris Milo

Assistant Consultant

Chris joined Starfish in early 2023 as an Assist...

Harpreet O’Brien

Head of People

Harpreet has worked in a variety of management a...

Rebecca O’Connor

Principal
Rebecca has worked within executive search across the social sector for over ...

Angella Pacheco

Executive Assistant
Angella joined the Starfish team in the Leeds office in September 2022, as an...

Charley Panther

Executive Assistant
Charley joined the Leeds office in July 2023 as an Executive Assistant within...

Sunita Patel

Principal
Sunita has worked across local government for a decade, leading strategic com...

Lorraine Payne

Consultant
Lorraine has worked within the recruitment industry for 14 years. Her previou...

Szymon Podgorski

Assistant Consultant
Szymon joined Starfish in August 2022 while intermitting from studying Medici...

Penny Ransley

Director
Penny has worked closely with local government members and chief officers to ...

Marika Sedunova

Executive Assistant
Marika joined the Starfish team in the Leeds office in March 2023 as an Execu...

Luke Spaven

Finance Assistant
Luke joined the Starfish team in the Leeds office in May 2022 as a Finance As...

Rob Stirk

Finance Director
Rob has been a qualified Chartered Accountant for 18 years working in a varie...

Kathryn Sweeting

Administrative Assistant
Kathryn joined Starfish Search as an admin assistant in July 2023.  Graduatin...

Juliet Taylor

Chief Executive
Juliet specialises in executive and non-executive leadership appointments wit...

Parna Taylor

Partner
Parna has specialised in strategic counsel and communications across the poli...

Zoe Thompson

Executive Search Associate
Zoe has worked in the field of executive recruitment since 2005 securing both...

Abbey Watt

Assistant Consultant
Abbey joined Starfish in January 2023. Originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand)...

OUR ADVISORY GROUP

We are building an advisory group to provide ideas, support and challenge to our team.

LIZ BARCLAY

Liz is a Radio and TV Broadcaster and Producer; writer and author. She is a passionate people person and works with Boards and CEOs on improving governance, trust and culture, diversity, customer understanding and engagement, and employee engagement – raising the bar across the charity, public and private sectors. She coaches in communication and presentation skills and chairs national and international conferences. Liz is Chair of the Money Advice Liaison Group and the Fair by Design Campaign to tackle the poverty premium; non-executive Director of the Lending Standards Board; member of the Fundraising Regulator Standards Board, The Equity Release Council Standards Board and the Ofgem Consumer Progress Panel; a Financial Inclusion Commissioner, Ambassador for the Money Advice Trust and IPSE the organisation for freelancers and the self-employed.

Katherine Rake

From her days as an academic, through her spell in government, to being a charity Chief Executive, to setting up a national statutory body and being a Trustee, governor and advisor, Katherine has always been focused on social purpose. As Founder and Director of Lucent she works with public bodies, charities and foundations who want their good intent to translate into real change in the world around them. She supports boards and senior teams to see clearly, make connections and drive change. This work helps provide new insight and connections that build confidence and equip people with the tools and skills they need to tackle old issues in new ways.

Esther Foreman

Esther has spent 20 years working in the not for profit, social enterprise and business sectors, running award winning campaigns, supporting enterprise and building teams. She founded the Social Change Agency in 2013 with a desire to combine organising, technology, communications and social enterprise to create a leading non sector-specific agency to improve movement building across the world. In 1995, she was the youngest person in the UK to be diagnosed with MS and continues to champion for better services and research for the MS community. Esther is a 2011 Clore Social Fellow; 2012 Winston Churchill Fellow, and 2013 School for Social Entrepreneurs Fellow and was recently placed in the Top Women in Social Enterprise. She is a former trustee of Genesis Housing Association and The National MS Society, and currently serves on the Board of The House of St Barnabas.

Justine Powell

Justine brings extensive commercial experience and a passion to promote women to senior level and board positions. She is currently working with a talented team to build the digital newswire Huxley Hub, investigating and reporting on climate change news and crimes. Prior to founding Huxley Hub, Justine worked at the crossroads of media and technology for 25 years at a number of big media and telecoms organisations, including the BBC, CNBC, Hutchison Whampoa and Handelsblatt Media Group. She was a Trustee and Non-Executive Director of MedicAlert, a social enterprise, for six years and holds an MA from University College London (UCL), BA from the University of Bristol and was a scholarship student on the Advanced Management Programme at Oxford University’s Said Business School.

Wondering how we chose our name?

The starfish is a symbol of guidance, vigilance, inspiration, brilliance and intuition. For millennia it has represented safe travel over troubled waters, friendship to the impoverished and those in need, and been guardian to troubled seafarers. Through its powers of regeneration, the starfish is also an emblem of strength and longevity. In a social and leadership context, the starfish helps us think about the power of renewal through organisational change and shifting thought and attitudes.

Join our team

Starfish is a modern, forward-looking employer that invests in its team and is dedicated to becoming an employer of choice. Our clients rightly expect the highest standards of service from us and we are a professional, achievement-driven and engaged team. We offer an exceptional range of benefits as well as the chance to work with lovely people who are amongst the best in the industry.

To find out more please contact katy.giddens@starfishsearch.com