Dan Richards Joins Green Park's Private Sector and Board Practices

“I love the fact that Green Park is a disruptive force. I feel the business suits me in terms of its values and purpose.”

Dan Richards joins Green Park’s Private Sector and Board Practices

Towards the end of 2020, Green Park was delighted to welcome one of the industry’s most respected professionals to the team. Dan Richards joined the business as a Partner in the Private Sector Practice and Lead Partner in the Board Practice, bringing 25 years of executive search experience. With a background spanning Professional Services, Financial Services, Talent and HR, Legal, Risk and Compliance, Dan has an interesting and varied career. He will continue to be a Trustee and Board member of the EY Foundation and the RL 100 . However, Dan refuses to rest on his laurels: “I suppose I’m a poacher turned gamekeeper turned poacher again… I always enjoy a new challenge”” he says.

I want to focus on the delivery of really good work that delights customers. That’s what makes the difference.

A qualified solicitor, Dan began his career with one of the magic circle law firms, but found the legal world just wasn’t for him. Instead, he made the jump into executive recruitment, using the knowledge he’d gained to service clients. Over the next 15 years, Dan developed his expertise and experience, exploring increasingly senior roles in new industries and functions, often working on a global scale with Korn Ferry, Alexander Mann Solutions, Prudential and LV. Then, in 2010, he joined EY as Talent Acquisition Director for the UK and Ireland.

Over the next ten years, Dan cemented his reputation, directing strategy, delivering award-winning branding campaigns, building direct hiring solutions and improving access with innovative student and intern programmes. But it was in Diversity and Inclusion that he made some of the business’s biggest strides. A key member of EY’s HR Leadership team, Dan delivered a range of highly successful initiatives, including a Returners Programme and apprenticeship schemes that the Government described as ‘best in class’. With this extensive D&I background, a move to Green Park seemed a natural step:

“I love the fact that Green Park has a Diversity Consulting Practice and is so committed to effecting positive change with campaigns like Race Equality Matters but also that its executive search practice is innovative and genuinely delivers. I think I still have that client perspective and used Green Park successfully when I was at EY. The fact that Green Park is a disruptive force really appeals to me. I feel the business suits me in terms of its values and purpose.”

Since joining Green Park, Dan has brought his expertise to bear on some of the industry’s trickiest challenges such as digital transformation and improving diversity in the boardroom. With many clients accelerating their programmes due to the pandemic, Dan’s been working hard to provide support and collaboration.

“Because of the way we operate, both with a sector and functional strength, we’re able to access the unusual as well as the usual suspects and offer cognitive diversity that’s needed to help clients tackle complex, multi-layered issues.”

At the same time, Dan’s been drawing on the business’s specialist D&I expertise to give clients the diverse shortlists they want. With ethnic diversity flatlining at senior levels, he feels able to provide solutions that offer measurable results:

Green Park brings diligence, rigour, research and proven diagnostic tools. I think we’ve got a different offer to anyone else out there.

With a fresh, client perspective and sector-spanning experience, Dan is able to bring plenty to the table himself. And, as an accredited executive coach, colleagues will benefit from his knowledge, as well as Green Park clients. However, it’s perhaps his work ethic that will prove his most valuable gift.

“I want to focus on the delivery of really good work that delights customers. That’s what makes the difference.”

Dan leads Green Park’s Professional Services Practice and is a Partner in the Board Practice. He has also delivered successful mandates in consulting, banking and asset management, media and technology and the legal sector, including Non-Executive Directors, Chairs, CEOs and HR and talent executives.

Since 2019, Green Park have made 350 board placements overall, of which 58% were women and 34% from ethnic minorities. Click here to find out more about Green Park’s Executive Search capabilities and how they can support you.