MFJ Partners Principals:
Peter McLean, Brian Fearnett, and Barry Lyons.
Peter McLean
Peter McLean is one of Australia's most senior and experienced practitioners in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) executive search business.
He has presided over some of the nation's most successful and highly regarded ICT management recruitment businesses during more than three decades in the industry. These include JSP/Alexander Mann (Principal), JSP Associates (Managing Partner) and Praxis (Managing Partner). Peter also has the benefit of having worked within the ICT industry directly in a variety of roles - from support to sales, marketing, training and management, and his depth of experience is matched by considerable breadth across the industry.
His career includes some memorable milestones - for example, he headed up a consulting team that determined the computing requirements for what was then the world's biggest campus. Peter is also a 30-year Member of the Australian Computer Society and a long-time member of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA).
Brian Fearnett
Brian Fearnett is a founding Principal of MFJ Partners, a company formed in April 2003 to provide highly personalized executive search and related services for companies seeking senior executives, particularly in the technology field.
Prior to joining Peter McLean and Beth Jackson to form McLean Fearnett Jackson, Brian was a Director at Alexander Mann/JSP Associates, where his experience within technology sales and marketing enabled him to play a leading role in recruiting some of Australia's top Information Communications Technology (ICT) company management.
Earlier in his career Brian occupied a number of senior management positions, starting with IBM UK, then IBM Australia, and later moving to Chase AMP Bank, where he was national Sales Manager (Cash Management Services).
His next career move took him into two of the earliest Australian venture capital-backed technology companies, Eftel and Jtec. At Jtec, a company that became a significant supplier to the telecommunications industry, Brian became National Sales Manager for Australia and progressed to become Country Manager for Jtec in the United Kingdom.
On returning to Australia he decided to make full use of his knowledge of senior management employment by entering the executive search and recruitment business, where he has become one of the industry's most highly regarded practitioners.
A graduate of Harvard University (USA) and with almost three decades of working in executive recruitment and the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sectors, Brian has a formidable level of expertise in understanding all of the issues involved in senior level appointments.
Brian enjoys his fitness regime, including yoga, mountain biking, swimming and sailing. Other interests include opera, cookery, European travel and spending time with his daughter.
Barry Lyons
Barry Lyons is our Partner in Melbourne specialising in executive search for the telecommunications industry.
He has a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Information Science, and a Master of Administration from Monash University. Barry has had a long involvement in the telecommunications industry as Victorian branch convenor of the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) and as a National Board Member for the last 6 years, with four years as Treasurer.
In 1971 he commenced his career with the PMG moving in 1975 to Telecom (now Telstra) and worked in a variety of Research, Business Analysis and Systems Development roles.
Barry joined the Sydney Swans in 1983 as General Manager to manage the Swan's relocation to Sydney. He was responsible for all the personnel issues associated with the re-establishment of this high profile sporting organisation. The management of the financial and organisational restructuring of the club plus the new marketing trust into Sydney were the other significant challenges.
Returning to Melbourne in 1985, Barry joined a research, development and manufacturing company involved in the production of telephone information management systems for Telecom and other telecommunications suppliers. He was appointed as Commercial Manager and in his final year with the organisation he held the position of National Sales Manager.
In 1990, Barry moved into executive search and selection working for a generalist consulting group specifically to build their telecommunications practice. He joined JSP Associates a specialist IT&T executive recruitment company in 1993 as one of their Melbourne partners and, following their purchase by Alexander Mann in 2000, remained with them until early 2006 when they closed their executive search practice. Thereafter, he joined MFJ Partners to open their Melbourne office.
Through his career he has remained fully abreast of telecommunications industry activities and developed a vast array of industry contracts while building strong working relationships with major telecommunication companies throughout Australia.
