Recruitment veterans launch new Glasgow search company

A new executive search firm has been launched in Glasgow, with three recruitment sector veterans involved.

The firm will work across interim, C-suite and board-level appointments, highlighting its “focus on the fast-growing sectors where Scotland’s business ecosystem is producing world-leading companies - both scaling from home and expanding internationally”.

AVIIA has been founded by chief executive Debbie Shields, previously a director of Aspen People, with Tom Hopkinson as an investor and non-executive director. Craig Paterson chairs the new firm.

Tom Hopkinson founded recruitment firm Taylor Hopkinson in 2009 and it grew organically into a major player in the renewable energy sector. In 2021, Taylor Hopkinson was acquired by Brunel.

Craig Paterson was a founder of Melville Craig, one of Scotland's biggest recruitment companies. It was acquired by US-based TMP Worldwide, a Nasdaq-listed company, in 2001.

AVIIA said it has been “built around the use of artificial intelligence alongside traditional recruitment methods”.

It added that it is building its own AI-driven research and workflow tools, "designed to give consultants more time for direct work with candidates and clients”.

AVIIA declared the technology is intended to speed up research and improve the information available to consultants, while "final judgement on placements stays with the consultant rather than the software”.

It said Ms Shields is launching AVIIA “after a career at a leading Scottish search practice, where she was a director leading senior and board-level appointments across the charity, public sector and interim markets”.

AVIIA added: “Alongside her search career, she has built a strong track record in Scottish civic life, including board and trustee roles with organisations such as the Scottish Refugee Council and SAY Women. She plans to draw on that dual grounding in commercial and third-sector governance to help private-sector boards look beyond their usual pool of candidates.”

Ms Shields said: “AVIIA is a search business built around real judgement, backed by people who’ve built businesses of their own.

“Scotland has the talent and the ambition to compete internationally and although we are headquartered in Glasgow, we are built to serve ambitious businesses and boards wherever they operate, both across Scotland and beyond. Technology gives us better information than search has ever had, but it doesn’t replace the conversation, the instinct, or the relationship – AVIIA will combine both.”

Mr Hopkinson said: “I’ve backed Debbie because I know exactly what she’s capable of, and because AVIIA is built the way I believe search should be built today.

“Craig and I have each built businesses that commanded market-beating multiples at exit, and that experience tells us what separates a good business from a genuinely disruptive one. AVIIA isn’t retrofitting new technology on to old processes, instead it’s designed from day one around highly skilled consultants who are better informed, faster and more effective ... without ever losing the judgement that clients and candidates demand.”

Mr Paterson said: “Search is fundamentally a relationship business built not only on process expertise but on having a key understanding of current market trends and future best practice initiatives.

“Debbie fully understands that, she has a clear vision for the future and I believe will bring significant value through AVIIA. Having spent my earlier career immersed in the sector, I’m delighted to be joining her as chair alongside Tom Hopkinson.”

Read the full article on The Herald website.