Allura Expands Into Victoria; Launching Melbourne Office
Continuing its strategic plan for growth, Allura Partners has opened an office in Melbourne’s central business district, focused on servicing its growing Victorian client base.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Adrian Belle said that while Allura has been active for many years in Melbourne, delivering CEO and C-suite searches, the new office will enable the company to offer Victorian clients more comprehensive recruitment services in finance, technology, digital and transformation.
“Historically, most of our executive search clients have been private equity firms, who have and will invest heavily in Victoria. We have delivered many searches in Melbourne for these clients, so it makes sense for us to have a presence in that city.
Allura co-founder Andrew Smith added, “As a business we are led by client need – the executives we place in Melbourne are working in fast-paced markets, and they need talented teams to support their activity. So with our Melbourne office established we will have boots on the ground to help them build out their teams to achieve their strategic growth goals.”
As well as providing comprehensive services for PE, Belle said the Melbourne HQ would also be focussed on growing Allura’s enterprise ASX listed client base.
“This is something that has been in our long-term strategic plan and so it’s exciting to be able to implement it,” he said.
Niall Ross to Head Melbourne
Allura has appointed Niall Ross as the new Melbourne Director.
Ross has a strong background in building recruitment teams, as well as executive search and, specifically, placing technology leaders within diverse organisational structures.
And according to Smith, this strong experience in the technology space will be instrumental in supporting clients nationwide.
“Niall’s experience working with major technology companies and his strong network across the country elevates our capability and brings robust growth opportunities for Allura,” Smith said.
Belle added, “Niall will drive growth in technology, product and data practice, complementing our very strong search practice”.
Back to the Future
Being offered the opportunity to build an Allura’s presence in Melbourne was “a bit of a back to the future moment”, Ross explained.
“Adrian recruited me from the United Kingdom in 2008 to join his team. At that time, he was establishing a Melbourne office for the company he was working with,” he explained.
“Then, Adrian moved back to Sydney on a new venture. I moved on, scaling and managing technology and transformation teams in Melbourne, and eventually ending up in executive search. Even though our careers for the past decade or so have been in different states, we kept in touch, and I am excited that we are joining forces again.
“It’s been a great journey. Over the years, I’ve built out a number of technology and transformation teams for recruitment companies in Melbourne, and I’ve placed a lot of senior technology executives nationally for enterprise accounts, private equity and venture capital-backed businesses. That experience has brought me back to joining Adrian again. I’ve consolidated my entire recruitment career to launch Allura Partners’ Melbourne office.”
Along with the opportunity to strengthen an executive search and recruitment business in the technology space he said working with Adrian and Andrew was “one of the biggest attractions”.
An Opportunity to Build Out Teams
Ross is particularly looking forward to supporting clients by building out their teams.
“Allura’s business model is unique. In my experience, executive search firms have been about placing the CEO and their senior executives and then moving on. I’m looking forward to being involved with these clients over the long-term – to help them build out their teams offering permanent and interim recruitment covering finance, technology, digital and transformation. I think this is a service that adds great value to a business.”
Until now, Belle admits this aspect of the business has been difficult to offer clients in Melbourne.
“When you’re building out teams, it is helpful to have our consultants on the ground in the city those teams will be working in. So, our new office in Melbourne gives us the opportunity to significantly strengthen our build out capabilities in this state”.
He said Niall Ross will build Allura’s Melbourne office over time “to replicate that of Sydney while strengthening our executive search capability nationally from a technology perspective”.
“It’s going to be an exciting journey – one that is going to bring clear benefits to our clients. It will enable us to follow our strategic plan for growth in a steady and very considered way – and that’s something we are all very much looking forward to,” Belle concluded.