Ford Hastings Search

Founded in 2003, Ford Hastings provides Board Search and Board Advisory services to fast growing "scale-ups" and sensitive succession planning for privately owned businesses.


About

We help clients and investors build boards and management teams. This is for present and future business needs, including succession planning, funding for growth and exit strategies.Ford Hastings has a fantastic network of executive and non-executive talent. We have considerable reach and access to business intelligence and corporate research through our professional affiliations, as well as online search tools.Our approach is very personal and trusted. We have been involved in over 100 transactions supporting both incoming and outgoing management teams and owners.We operate quickly, quietly and professionally and value the strength of our relationships which we have built up with repeat clients for over 20 years.We work with growth companies, M&A, MBO/MBI, turnarounds and we are used to navigating around the sensitivities of founder transition and succession planning.We are always interested in hearing from individuals who would like to get into our market, particularly if you have worked in a PE/VC environment and been through some kind of transaction or liquidity event as an Executive Director or NED in an MBI, MBO or flotation.

Ethos and Culture


Throughout our relationship with you, we act as Trusted Board Advisors and intellectual sounding board. Our work is a fusion of executive search, business advisory, and founder support. Successful delivery is the lifeblood of our business. We have a high level of referrals and repeat clients. We are naturally collegiate and see ourselves as business partners. Our clients tell us that they value our ability to think laterally and demonstrate innovative leadership solutions, not just one-off hiring decisions.

“Ford Hastings has been Pemberstone’s recruitment advisor for over 20 years. We continue to use them because they know our business needs and use all this knowledge to place the best most appropriate people in front of us. The result is that they've been really successful in recruiting the very best people to our senior teams”


Mark Anslow, CEO, Pemberstone Ventures.


Markets

Ford Hastings specialises in executive appointments in fast-growing, entrepreneurial businesses. Our broad experience, gained from working in most industry sectors and management disciplines, enables us to operate effectively with a wide range of clients.We have a particular knowledge of the investment community and many of our clients are in the process of moving through a step-change in corporate maturity, which may involve a significant financial transaction, liquidity event or flotation.We operate throughout the UK, working alongside, and complementing the skills of venture capital and private equity investors, family offices, accounting firms and other professional services organisations.

Partners

To positively transform your business performance by providing you with high impact senior talent.


Tim Hastings - Founder

Tim has 20+ years board search and NED experience. He spent his early career at KPMG and EY and he now works closely with investors and business owners, advising on commercial strategy, succession planning and recruiting at board level in support of this for fast growth entrepreneurial business, which are often PE or VC backed.Tim’s experience encompasses the complete investment cycle from pre-transaction, through funding and scale-up and on to successful exit. This has given him a very robust network of investors (institutional and private), HNWIs, family offices and NEDs.Tim is also an active NED within a number of growth and scale-up businesses.


Mark Wilson - Partner

Mark is an EY trained Chartered Accountant, who started and sold 2 small businesses soon after qualifying, one of them to Booker plc within 5 years. Since then, he has been MD/CFO for several larger businesses(£10m-£120m). In 2023 he successfully led the team responsible for the sale of a £25m turnover business through an MBO. Mark’s experiences with all aspects of SME regenerations and scale-ups have fortified his reputation as a trusted advisor and board appointments as MD at Mamas & Papas until 2008 and most recently at Widdop Bingham, have enhanced his knowledge and expertise in FMCG. He is a proven transformational leader, advising on and steering strategies for growth and the development of underperforming businesses.


Joe Thomsett - Partner

Joe is a creative, practical, strategic, cross domain thinker. He helps scale-up founders and boards plot a route to commercial success and investor readiness.He has a unique blend of skills that includes an understanding of business models, risk and capital management, the maths of business, business development, marketing principles and strategy, content creation and distribution tools, stakeholder management and story telling.He started life as a Chartered Accountant before moving into SME management consultancy and business strategy


Will Hastings - Partner

Will is the Creative Partner at Ford Hastings and originally trained as a graphic designer. His early career was as a Photographer and Videographer which he uses extensively in digital marketing across a broad range of services, principally aimed at the SME market.In addition to supporting our speaker and dinner events. Will also co-hosts and produces the Ford Hastings podcast, with the first series making the UK top 100 on iTunes. He also launched his own start-up media company called Lightsmiths.


Key Clients


FH Strategic Partners - Buzzacott
FH Strategic Partners - BHP Accountants
FH Strategic Partners - Gunnercooke
FH Strategic Partners - The Supper Club

Board Search

We work in

  • B2B Services - professional, technology, education, healthcare, financial, management consultancy, marketing, HR

  • Privately owned companies, in a growing niche and/or in an established market

  • B2B Technology-Enabled Services

  • Ecommerce

We work with

  • Founders and the Board

  • Private Equity Co's, VC/PE Syndicates, Angel investors and HNWIs

  • Corporate Finance Deal Advisors

  • Board Advisors and NEDs/Chairs

When

  • The company is growing

  • The company is considering a sale or fundraise in the future and is getting ready

  • The company has just sold or raised funds and is in transition

  • The company is at the beginning of its succession planning process

  • Better leadership is required

  • Owners or established leaders would like a succession plan

  • Leadership talent gaps have emerged and so need filling

Recruitng for

  • C-Suite: CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CSO

  • Board: Board Advisory, Chair, Non-Exec

  • Director: Managing, Sales, Marketing, Operating, Finance, HR

*Role scenarios - Is this you?

  • New C-suite team in preparation for sale

  • Board Advisor hires to act as founder intellectual sounding board, advise on strategy and GTM approaches

  • New CEO to allow founder to move into a Non-Exec role

  • Operating Board director hires to facilitate company growth

  • HR Director hire to put talent and hiring frameworks in place

  • Senior hires to help integrate companies post acquisition, or facilitate acquisitions

  • Board Advisor hires to open up new markets or help with a fundraise

Board Advisory

''Most people who think they want a NED probably need a Board Advisor''

  • People with one foot in both camps

  • Willing to roll their sleeves up and make things happen

  • Work as your trusted advisor, your counsel

  • Able to use their contact book to create opportunities

  • People who have the knowledge and experience to say ''this is the way''

  • The more formal elements can come later

fh. Board advisors

  • fh. has a world class network of Board Advisors to help solve your top scale-up priorities

  • fh. also operate as Board Advisors themselves

  • Advisors can roll-on and roll-off your team to solve a specific problem (3-12 months) or stay for a longer period of time

  • Board Advisors can also formalise their engagement into a Non-Executive Director or Chair appointment as your scale-up matures and requires it

Types of Board Advisors

  • Contact Book - Get me introduced to these people, now

  • Digital Leverage - Help my brand and offering with the leverage of your large online audience

  • Sector Expertise - Help me with a go-to-market strategy in these markets

  • Scale Expertise - Help me with this part of the growth journey, because you have done it before, and know the way through

  • Challenge Expertise - Roll in to help me with this specific challenge, then roll out

  • Investment Expertise - Help me raise money, for organic growth and acquisition

  • Acquisition or Exit Expertise - Help me navigate this business sale, exit, or acquisition

  • Crisis Expertise - Handle this major crisis or critical incident

  • Founder Counsel - Be my private counsel, because this stuff is hard and who do I turn to?

  • Board Mentoring - Coach and guide these people, to help them get from A to B

  • Polymath Advisor - Impart your broad range of skills and experiences to add value to a number of situations

A snapshot of recent hires

  • Board (CMO, COO) and Operating Board Hires (HRD, Engineering Director), deal and owner advisory, for £55m employee benefits company, prior to PE backed 9-figure MBO

  • Board building exercise over 7 years, for Private Office backed high-tech manufacturing business, hiring a Commercial Director, Managing Director, Finance Director as part of an exit plan for 2024

  • 1 Chair, 3 Board Advisors, 1 Head of Sales for US/UK Augment L&D (AR, AI, Animated Video) Agency and LMS provider

  • CEO for £250m market cap AIM listed professional services group

  • COO for £10m Professional Services Company

  • Chair for £9m E-Bikes start-up, post funding, with exit plan in mind

Contact Ford Hastings

London Office

1 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3NDPhone: 0203 751 9480Email: info@fordhastings.com

Manchester Office

53 King Street, Manchester, M2 4LQ