Reactions Rendez-vous Report, September 9th -12th 2012. Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Well heeled headhunter on a mission
Veteran London based insurance headhunter Simon Hearn started his own company in May 2008, as the financial crisis started to unfold. “People said that I was mad but as we now all know the insurance industry was relatively unharmed compared to other parts of the financial services sector,” he says. “My company, Per Ardua Associates, has stayed busy throughout.”
But the new focus on governance has meant a big increase in the work he does finding Chairmen and Non-Executive Directors. “We are never not doing a search for a Chairman,” he says. “The forthcoming introduction of Solvency II has also created big demand for Chief Risk Officers and Chief Financial Officers in the sector as well.”
Hearn achieved celebrity status at the Rendezvous a few years back when he was seen diving into the harbour at night from a quayside restaurant wearing a suit. His mission? To rescue an expensive high heeled shoe carelessly dropped in the water by his wife, Henrietta.
