Our World of Search
Simon Laver (Europe)
Simon is one of Perrett Laver’s co-founders. His diverse experience in senior level executive search includes CEO and board-level appointments in higher education, international development, the voluntary sector, life sciences and financial services. Simon has recently advised the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxfam GB and the Wellcome Trust. He previously worked for many years as a senior partner within one of the largest global search groups, where he was Secretariat with responsibility for supporting business development and international growth. He also founded and led the global life sciences practice group.
Simon holds a first class degree from the University of Oxford and an MBA from the London Business School (including a semester at the Tuck School, Dartmouth College). Simon is also an advisor to the University of Oxford’s McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, and throughout his career has been very active as Chair and Trustee of a number of INGOs.
Dan Perrett (Europe)
Dan is one of Perrett Laver's co-founders. His areas of expertise are senior level executive search, primarily CEO and Board-level appointments, in the education, healthcare, not for profit and private equity sectors. Prior to co-founding Perrett Laver, he worked for many years as a senior partner within one of the largest global search groups, and also spent a year as Chief Operating Officer leading the recruitment, human resources and resource management functions of a client organisation.
Dan has recently advised the London School of Economics, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and WWF on leadership searches.
Dan holds a first class honours degree and an MPhil in Economics and Politics of Development, both from the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of Jesus College. A Cambridge University rugby blue, Dan played first class rugby for a number of years and represented Cambridge, Oxbridge, Rosslyn Park and Surrey.
Dan is a member of the Governing Body of the Guildford High School for Girls; a member of the Local Governing Body of Lambeth Academy; and an Ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK.
Alison Richard (North America)
Professor Alison Richard is Chair of Perrett Laver’s Advisory Board. Professor Richard received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology at Cambridge University, and her doctorate from London University. In 1972, she moved to the US to join Yale University, where she became Professor of Anthropology in 1986. From 1991-1994, she was Director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, which houses one of the world’s most important university natural history collections. In 1998 she was named the Franklin Muzzy Crosby Professor of the Human Environment. From 1994-2002, she served as Provost of Yale, with operational responsibility for the University’s financial and academic programs and planning.
From 2003-2010, Professor Richard was Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, a position carrying the responsibilities of university president. During her tenure, she led several major changes in university policy, ranging from intellectual property to undergraduate financial aid, reorganized management of the University’s endowment, expanded Cambridge’s global partnerships, most notably in the US, China, India, Singapore and the Persian Gulf, and launched and completed a billion pound fund-raising campaign. Her achievements received recognition in 2010, when she was awarded a DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) for her services to Higher Education.
An eminent researcher, Professor Richard has studied the ecology and social behaviour of wild primates in Central America, West Africa, and the Himalayan foothills. She is best known for her work on lemurs in the forests of southern Madagascar. For over thirty years, she has worked to help conserve Madagascar’s unique natural heritage and enhance socio-economic opportunities for people living in and around the forest. She is a member of the Boards of WWF-International, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and she serves as an advisor to the Liz Claiborne/Art Ortenberg Foundation, and to Arcadia. She has received numerous honorary doctorates, and in 2005 she was appointed Officier de l’Ordre National in Madagascar.