James our Co-Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner at Rice Search Partners leads and runs our Global Executive Search and Intelligence business. Having partnered some of our key fund and investor backed clients for over a decade James has placed numerous business leads and teams globally across trading, origination and analytics. He has been instrumental in consistently advancing our market knowledge and competitive analysis, whilst ensuring delivery of mandates across function and geography from C-level to analyst. He joined Rice Search Partners in 2006. Prior to this he worked with a peer in the market, Watmough Mallett, where he focused on both the Emerging Markets area and subsequently Commodities.

Prior to the joining the Executive Search world, James graduated with an MA in Philosophy and German from New College Oxford in 2001. On completion of his degree, James joined Marsh (MMC) as an Emerging Markets Re-Insurance Broker focussing on Directors’ and Officers’ liability. With Marsh, James worked directly with Latin American energy and utility companies. Following this James moved to Deloitte and Touche before moving into search.

Based in London, Kathryn Mason our Co-Chief Executive Officer is responsible for leading and running our Global Executive Search and Intelligence business.

Previously, Kathryn worked for Global Risk Solutions (GRS Group) where she recruited senior professionals for Banking, Asset Management & Insurance clients in the UK and in America. Kathryn has over eleven years’ experience working with key accounts across global buy and sell side institutions such as JP Morgan and BlackRock. Kathryn holds a First Class Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Sussex and a Master of Philosophy.

Marc is a Partner within the Rice Search Partners business, joining the platform in 2014. He is responsible for originating and executing searches for clients globally across trading, sales, structuring, finance and analytics; both fundamental and quantitative. Marc has focused on partnering investor backed clients in the commodities space helping to develop their businesses globally across all commercial functions. Alongside his search delivery Marc also works with clients to deliver competitor analysis and intelligence projects to assist in new market entry, up-grade hiring and compensation bench marking.

Prior to his time at Rice Search Partners Marc ran the European commodity portfolio for Pemberton Stewart, a Global Markets search firm. Marc has been active in commodity search since 2009 and has executed projects globally for Investment Banks, Private Trading Houses, SOE’s and Hedge Funds across energy and commodity products. Prior to entering executive search Marc received his MA (Hons) in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. He started his search career with Webber Chase before joining energy specialist Hamilton Bradshaw International.

Based in New York, Victoria Scott-Villars joined Rice Search Partners in June 2017. As a Partner in the Infrastructure practice, she leads searches across Legal, Compliance, Financial Crime, Governance and Controls. Prior to joining Rice Search Partners, Victoria was Lead Partner for the Americas at a boutique search and selection firm for three years where she built and ran the business, recruiting financial crime, compliance and governance professionals at all levels across the US.

Previously, she spent seven years as the Lead Partner for EMEA with global responsibility for the Compliance, Financial Crime and Regulatory Executive Search practice. Victoria has 20 years’ experience recruiting globally across first, second and third lines of defense for buy and sell side clients, private equity firms, and consultancies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and Economics.

Rowan has over 15 years’ search experience with a track record of appointing Board level to Directors across all corporate functions within Financial, Business & Professional Services.

Prior to joining Rice Search Partners, Rowan was Head of the Infrastructure Practice for a well-established specialist search firm for nearly seven years and was a key search partner to a number of global institutions on both the sell and buy-side.

Prior to that he was Head of the Compliance and Financial Crime practice for a global search firm where he was responsible for building an established compliance and financial crime team which gained a strong reputation in the market for successfully delivering at MD and Director levels within investment banking, asset management, private banking, hedge funds and consulting. Rowan holds a BA in Business Studies and German from De Montfort University.

Based in New York, Tom joined Rice Search Partners in 2013. He currently co-heads the Infrastructure Division in the Americas and is responsible for all senior level Infrastructure hires across the Americas covering Risk, Quantitative Analytics, Finance, Technology and Audit disciplines. Alongside his search delivery, Tom also works with clients to deliver competitor analysis and intelligence projects to assist with target operating model analysis, upgrade hiring and compensation benchmarking. Prior to joining Rice Search Partners, Tom worked for The Mulsanne Partnership and Morgan McKinley where he recruited Finance and Risk professionals for Asset Management and Hedge Fund clients. Tom holds a BSc in Natural Sciences from Durham University.

Kelly is the Digital and Data lead at Rice Search Partners. She specializes in cross-industry competitor research and analytics; partnering with growth-oriented technology firms, corporates and financial services firms on  their talent, business strategy and organizational design agendas. Previously, she worked with Marlin Hawk, a global talent advisory and executive search boutique where she served in a multitude of capacities, ultimately as Chief of Staff to the Americas CEO. Laterly, she built and grew the firm’s Leadership Advisory Services practice, leading consulting engagements for Fortune 500 corporates, banks, insurers, hedge funds and technology organizations. Kelly began her career with Rice & Dore Associates. She received her BA, International Relations from Suffolk University. She is fluent in Spanish and German.

Based in London, Adam Clark joined Rice Search Partners in November 2013 to lead the EMEA Risk Management business within the Infrastructure Practice. Adam is responsible for senior level retained searches across the risk disciplines.

Prior to joining Rice Search Partners, Adam worked for Hays Financial Markets for four years recruiting Risk Management professionals into Financial Services institutions globally. Adam has over nine years’ experience working with Financial Services institutions. Adam holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of York.

Originally from South Africa, Wendi joined the Operations team of Rice Search Partners in 2017.

With a background in audit and accounting, she has worked in various industries/companies and has vast experience in all facets of business administration and finance.

She is responsible for the daily accounting function and compilation for final review.

Kristal joined Rice Search Partners in 2014 as part of the Operations team. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she has over 18 years of experience in business administration.

Over the past five years at RSP, Kristal has been involved in the accounting, HR and administrative functions of the firm and along with Team Ops, helps to ensure the office is running smoothly.

Ediz recently joined Rice Search Partners in January 2020 as a finance assistant, on the operations team. He has 5 years of experience working for an Accountancy Practice, where he had exposure to the inner workings of various different types of businesses, and their accounting procedures. He currently helps with the daily bookkeeping and accounting.