News...
2. 15th May 2003. Sydney Morning Herald: Next: Back Up: Stan Beer
Big name recruits
The recently departed boss of Fujitsu Australia, Phil Kerrigan, has teamed up with three other heavy hitters from the Australian information and communications technology (ICT) industry to launch a new executive recruitment firm. Kerrigan, together with Beth Jackson, a former director of enterprise marketing at Telstra and regional head of SITA, Peter McLean, former principal of JSP / Alexander Mann, and Brian Fearnett, a former sales manager at Chase AMP bank and Jtec, have launched a company called McLean Kerrigan Jackson.
The new company, known as MKJ, aims to compete with the large international executive search firms and is touting itself as a tier-one local firm. The three co-founders claim MKJ will be able to beat the international recruitment agencies on price and personal service and have an edge on its large competitors in sourcing the best job candidates because of the principals' extensive contacts and experience at the highest levels of the ICT industry.
Kerrigan, a past chairman of the Australian Information Industry Association, says no other firm has the in-house senior executive experience of himself and Jackson. "We've got the strongest executive search team in this part of the world," he says. "Beth and I have both been senior executives. No one can match our experience, networks, and contacts."
Initially, MFJ will have two offices in Sydney, staffed by seven people, including the three principals, with plans to open a Melbourne office in six months.
From what Kerrigan says, the firm has already started to generate brisk business. "We have got six assignments in the past five weeks," Kerrigan says. However, he was able to confirm that finding a new chief executive for Fujitsu is not one of them. "I don't think Fujitsu is using the best (executive search) firm for that but I don't think it would be polite for them to use us."
