As a B-Corp with 218 staff and a turnover of £11 million, Business West delivers multi-million-pound contracts and award-winning services in the South West on the themes of internationalisation, innovation, skills, and climate change - helping businesses thrive, locally, nationally and globally.
They are rooted in local business communities, representing member businesses of all sizes and sectors, lobbying government on key business issues - nationally via British Chambers of Commerce, and regionally via a network of Chambers in Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Phil Smith, Managing Director and Andrea Crombleholme, Head of Human Resources from Business West came to Moon to recruit a Membership Director. This was a newly created role with the aim of making a meaningful impact on membership within the region. The role was to direct growth in member numbers and diversity to better reflect the business community, but also oversee the ongoing refresh of the membership offer, ensuring it is relevant for today’s businesses and fit for purpose for the next chapter of their history. This new role would develop and deliver a membership strategy and related KPIs, manage the existing member-facing and support teams and ensure that Business West understands members’ issues and concerns when they look to shape services development and policy campaigns.
Our Approach
At Moon Executive Search, we have a long-standing track record of successfully delivering on search mandates across the breadth of Management roles from Board to Senior Divisional Manager. We have worked with Business West over many years and we have worked with many membership organisations and lobbying organisations. Vanessa Moon Founding Director, and Simon Quinn Director of Search, decided to adopt a multi-faceted approach for the search, which involved taking a detailed briefing from Phil and Andrea. Together, we drafted a thorough briefing pack outlining their plans and aspirations. We conducted detailed candidate interviews and gave careful consideration to all the briefing requirements, prior to selecting our shortlist. Due to pandemic restrictions, the interviews and conversations with the client were all carried out virtually. We agreed a structured process with Andrea - following our first stage interview, there was a series of meetings and presentations with the Exec and Non-Exec Board, with a chance to also meet on site to view the operation.
The Solution
We were delighted to support the appointment of Emma Carter as the new Membership Director.
Emma comments about Vanessa and Simon:
‘“I have worked with the Moon team over many years and really like the way they understood my background and criteria for a new role. When they presented this opportunity to me, I knew it was an exciting proposition and was keen to progress. I knew Business West very well, loved the breadth of the role as well as newness of the opportunity. It brings together my client knowledge across the region, as well as my wide-ranging networks.”
Vanessa Moon, Founding Director at Moon Executive Search said:
‘This was a really interesting campaign for us – not only because it was a new role but also the breadth of responsibility.”’
Andrea Crombleholme, Head of Human Resources said:
‘We chose Moon as their values echoed those of our own. We are not only passionate about making a difference in our region; we are passionate about our people. We were looking for a likeminded professional who shared our vision and values, and who wanted to join the Business West community to make a difference, add value and be part of something special. We felt that Moon actively searched for that difference and presented an excellent set of candidates for us to meet.’
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