News...
1. 5th May 2003. Press Release: MKJ, Sydney
McLean Kerrigan Jackson launches into Aust/NZ executive search market
Experienced senior executives help companies fill key management roles
Sydney, May 5, 2003 - Four of Australia's most experienced senior executives have teamed up to provide highly personalized executive search and related services for companies in Australia and New Zealand.
Peter McLean, Phil Kerrigan, Beth Jackson and Brian Fearnett have formed McLean Kerrigan Jackson to fill the gap in the market between the large international search firms and the second tier local firms.
"We believe there is a real need for a company like ours which offers an alternative to the high prices and impersonal approach of the large international firms but can still reach into the highest levels of the business community to source quality candidates," explained Peter McLean. "We see ourselves as a tier one local company that can compete head-to-head with the best of the best."
The company has particular strengths in the technology field because its principals have all been senior executives in that sector, either managing large technology companies (Fujitsu, Equant, SITA, AT& T EasyLink etc) or recruiting key management (JSP/Alexander Mann, Praxis, Russell Reynolds).
However the industry focus of McLean Kerrigan Jackson extends across the broad spectrum of business and government - wherever quality executives are needed to fulfil significant roles.
By maintaining hands-on involvement in the end-to-end process, the company principals ensure clients receive personalized service with superior certainty of outcomes.
"Because we have a truly unique combination of search, recruitment and operating experience at the highest levels, we can identify the key competencies and attributes required for individual roles, translate them into a more sharply defined job specification, validate candidates and present only the most viable to the client for final selection," said Phil Kerrigan.
Another differentiator for McLean Kerrigan Jackson is its pricing structure, which avoids the uncapped percentage-based fees that often discourage search firms from negotiating the best value remuneration outcomes for their clients.
"We believe that there is a huge conflict of interest in the industry because so much of the negotiation is driven by percentage commissions," said Beth Jackson.
"Where is the incentive to negotiate with a candidate to accept a specified remuneration package if the search firm gets a higher commission as the value of the package increases?
"At a time when there are reports in the press on a daily basis of huge payout's to senior executives , shareholders and boards are looking for better value outcomes. We are offering them a way of achieving that result through a combination of certainty of cost and an effective, high quality search process."
McLean Kerrigan Jackson's executive search activities extend to members of full boards or advisory boards. The company also offers a range of consulting options to provide support for board and management teams, including CEO level services.
Other services include specialist recruitment across functional specifications (financial, legal, sales and marketing, operational etc) and industry groups (government, law, banking and finance, retail and commerce, mining and resources, transport and hospitality, IT& T) as well as overseas recruitment.
Two specialist units - MFJ Targeted Selection and MFJ Interim Executives - focus on specific areas of the market not served by the company's core business.
"MFJ Targeted Selection is a service that is mostly suitable for recruiting people to fill important operational roles rather than more strategic or senior appointments," said Brian Fearnett.
"Finding these people requires a different approach and different tools. Traditionally the selection process has involved mainly advertising or sifting through existing files of resumes. However we wanted to bring more rigour to the task and that's why we have launched MFJ Targeted Selection."
MFJ Interim Executives is for those organizations which may not wish to establish full organizational structures during a particular business phase, or where there is a need for executive skills on a temporary basis. In such situations, they can take advantage of the executive contracting services provided by MFJ Interim Executives.
The founding principals of McLean Kerrigan Jackson are:
Peter McLean
Peter 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). However Peter also has the benefit of having worked within the ICT industry in a variety of roles - from support to sales, marketing, training and management. So his depth of experience is matched by considerable breadth across the industry. His career also includes some memorable milestones such as heading up a consulting team that determined the computing requirements for what was then the world's biggest campus and later being one of the partners who built the largest search and selection practice in Australia in the ICT sector.
Phil Kerrigan
Phil has spent his entire career in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry, both in Australia and overseas. He has carried out executive roles across the full spectrum of ICT activities, including general management, sales and marketing, outsourcing and professional services. Phil has 14 years experience as a chief executive of multinational organizations, most recently with Fujitsu, and with AT& T EasyLink, Data General and Wang. He was the founding CEO of a successful start-up public company, QuickTrak Networks. In 1999 he was also an Executive Director of Russell Reynolds, an international executive search firm, heading up the ICT practice. He is a former chairman of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), director of the Federal Government sponsored IT& T Skills Hub and has held IT advisory roles with the New South Wales and Victorian State Governments. Phil is a frequent presenter at major industry seminars.
Beth Jackson
Beth has extensive experience in senior management, sales and marketing, law, government and technology. As Regional Vice President, she ran the Australasia and South Pacific regional operations of SITA, a major global technology organization, and thereafter developed Equant, a multinational managed networking company, as its regional Managing Director. Her success in this area earned her the Excellence in Telecommunications Management award from the Australian Telecommunications User group (ATUG). More recently, Beth held the senior position of Director, Enterprise Marketing, at Telstra, where she was responsible for a $5 billion per annum sector of the business market for Australia's largest telecommunications company. In government, she held senior positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the New South Wales Premier's Department, and has been a private sector member on the New South Wales Government Information Management Board. Beth has also worked both as a corporate lawyer with a global organization, and with the national law firm Blake Dawson Waldron.
Brian Fearnett
Prior to joining MFJ 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 United Kingdom and later, IBM Australia, thereafter 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.
