Lincoln, part of The Talent Club and French leader in strategic talent management, is taking a majority stake in The Executive Network (TEN), TEN Executive Assessments (TENEA) and Whyz Executive Search (Whyz), three leading Dutch agencies in executive search and assessment. Together they form a collective specialised in leadership. The joining of forces paves the way for international expansion. TEN will open its first office abroad in France.

Strengthening the Executive talent practice in Europe

The majority stake in TEN, TENEA and Whyz means joining the global network of Lincoln and accessing The Talent Club's extensive portfolio of clients. The Talent Club is an international collective of more than 20 leading brands in talent related to sports, entertainment, engineering, technology, and leadership. Lincoln is part of it and leads the 'leadership' branch practice. Lincoln is an expert in the field of executive search with a turnover of 42 million euros in 2022 and has 9 offices worldwide with 200 employees. Together, this international collective specializes in creating and accelerating opportunities for talented leaders.

"With this joining of forces, we continue to contribute to better European executive leadership in the public domain. This is an important pillar for us because the major global issues in the areas of - amongst others - geopolitics, technology, digitalisation, sustainability and security call for strong European leadership."

Marty Tuk, co-founder and owner of TEN, TENEA and Whyz

"This new partnership reflects the acceleration of our business from an international perspective, and follows the needs indicated by our talents. With the addition of The Executive Network, our Executive & Leadership practice now generates more revenue outside France than in its home country with greater prospects of international growth”.

Gwenaël Perrot, CEO of Lincoln

“The addition of The Executive Network is a great further step in the execution of our strategy of combining high organic growth with the addition of best-in-class partners. On this occasion, it is not only adding a new country to our international network with leading companies in their industry, but we also bring on board an exceptional group of partners and managers to add and upscale our range of services to meet the needs of worldwide talent. We bet on TEN´s unique knowledge and experience regarding top executive talent to grow our international portfolio of services to companies and individuals".

Jérôme Caille, founder and CEO of The Talent Club

Geographical expansion

Through this operation, The Talent Club adds the Netherlands to the list of 18 countries in which it already operates.

In the new structure, TEN, TENEA, and Whyz will continue to operate autonomously under their current management teams. TEN will start its international expansion in 2023 with the opening of a new office in France.

About The Executive Network

The Executive Network (TEN) is the agency for executive search. The agency focuses on filling management and supervisory positions in business and financial services, the (semi)public domain, real estate, construction and development, healthcare, private equity and family businesses, agriculture & food, energy, telecom & utilities and FMCG & retail. TEN was founded on February 1, 2010, and is based at Landgoed 'Het Huis met het Blauwe Dak' in Wassenaar. www.executivenetwork.nl

About TEN Executive Assessments

TEN Executive Assessments (TENEA) is an independently operating assessment agency that works closely with executive search agency TEN. TENEA is the first assessment agency in the Netherlands to develop a leadership game for top executives. The data- and technology-driven assessment predicts how (non-)executives perform. The unique game maps the ten most important qualities for future-proof leadership and makes them measurable. Founded in 2020 and based in Amsterdam, TENEA's mission is to take leadership to the next level within five years and build a stronger top in business and the (semi-)public domain in the Netherlands. www.tenea.nl

About Whyz Executive Search

Whyz Executive Search (Whyz), established in Leiden in 2010, is the executive search and interim management agency for the new generation of leaders. The agency focuses on internal supervision, management, executive/senior management and heavy specialist roles. It does so in the financial & business services, (semi)public, retail & agri-food, private equity & venture capital, and energy & utilities sectors. Whyz has carried the international B Corp certificate since November 2022. www.whyz.nl

Written and directed by awarded film-maker Rami Mekdachi, the movie brings on stage twenty-three testimonials from founders and managers aimed at showing what the role of a Talent Agent is in a world where power has shifted to talents, making it increasingly difficult for companies to access, nurture and retain them.

Watch the teaser : https://youtu.be/rQF361KJOeU

Watch the full movie :  https://youtu.be/yGo7qQBv5BY

Forbes has published its list of the world’s most valuable sports talent management agencies in 2022 and You First has entered the Top 10 for the first time, occupying the 10th position of the prestigious ranking.

Read the full article here.

Lincoln was included for the 6th consecutive year in the Les Echos x Statista ranking of the 250 best recruitment firms with the top 5-star score.

Ranked in the Best Executive Search firms category, Lincoln gets the mention "excellent score, much higher than average".

To be among the best players in the sector, several factors such as quality of service and communication, speed of execution of the mission and the relevance and the choice of positions proposed are taken into account.

Belen Izquierdo Sans from United Heroes, Luis Sanchez de Leon from The Talent Club and Oscar Serret from Between Technology delivered to the Red Cross donation of 50,000 € raised through the Solidarity for Ukraine challenge.

Therese Jamaa, vice president of the Spanish Red Cross and vice president of Huawei Spain for facilitated this meeting and shared with us her passion and commitment to social causes.

As explained by Leopoldo Pérez Suárez, Secretary General of the Spanish Red Cross and Jaime Gregori Soler, Director of Alliances with Companies, the funds will go to the growing efforts of the Red Cross at the border points with the greatest movement of people.

Lincoln, our Paris-based talent representation and management consultancy partner, has acquired a majority stake in Cooper Fitch, the largest privately-owned search firm in the Middle East.

Cooper Fitch is based in Dubai and will continue to operate in the region under its current brand as part of the acquisition while also gaining additional flexibility and resources to accelerate the company’s growth regionally.

"Lincoln already operates in 8 countries in Europe and Asia. The acquisition of Cooper Fitch - a leader company in the United Arab Emirates - strengthens our international presence and ability to serve international companies.

The Middle East region is becoming increasingly strategic with the deployment of numerous regional headquarters, the acceleration of intra-regional trade and a movement of talent from the Asian hubs, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore to Dubai.

Cooper Fitch is ahead of the curve on talent mobility, and their expertise will allow us to offer more opportunities to talented members of the Lincoln community.”

Gwenael Perrot, CEO of Lincoln

"The increasing flow of investment in the region is acting as a magnet for worldwide talent. This partnership provides new opportunities and additional resources to accelerate our expansion plans in the Middle East and Europe while maintaining our DNA”.

Trefor Murphy, founder and CEO of Cooper Fitch

“We keep on executing our growth plan. With this new partnership, we enter new geography for The Talent Club while we increase the number of international opportunities for our talents to thrive. We proudly welcome Trefor and his team to our exciting journey“.

Jerome Caille, Chairman of The Talent Club

About Lincoln:

Founded in 1992 in Paris, Lincoln is a leading provider of Talent Management and Talent Representation services and has been identified as a key player in the Executive Search industry. Lincoln brings together Talent Acquisition - Executive Search and Executive Interim Management - and Talent Development - Leadership Advisory and Outplacement, within specialised industry practices. With a presence in Europe and Asia, Lincoln supports leaders and managers throughout their professional lives.

About Cooper Fitch:

The brand was created following Trefor Murphy's acquisition of Morgan McKinely's Middle East business. The €6m turnover firm by the end of 2021 offers a heritage of expertise and relationships in the region, operating since 1997. Cooper Fitch provides recruitment, executive search, HR consulting and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services to thousands of organisations in the Gulf. As a market leader, they provide world-class recruitment and HR consulting services.

Grass is Green, the Austrian based football agency, becomes part of the You First family. The acquisition enables You First to establish a solid presence in the German Market, thus further expanding the reach and options for its represented players.

"We keep on executing on our ambition to become one of the top three players in football representation worldwide. Grass is Green provides not only more geographical reach to You First but also shares and enhances our vision on how to deliver best-in-class service to our clients”.

Juan Aísa, CEO, You First

New partnership expands client services with enhanced data and insights capabilities in the sports and entertainment industries.

Madrid, Spain [9 February 2022] – Leading global sports & entertainment holding group of agencies You First is pleased to announce it has acquired a majority stake in UK based Goodform Ltd. The acquisition provides You First with a strong position in the UK market as well as leading data and insight capabilities that strengthen its range of services and brings significant opportunities globally with the combining of the two organisations. This move will enable Goodform to apply its market leading Fan Insight approach to wider global markets, as well as expanding its data and insights work into global football and basketball and other talent management. 

Established in 2002, Goodform is one of the UK's longest established independent sports marketing agencies.  Specialising in data and insight, the award-winning agency’s expertise in both data and research services provides their clients with a holistic audience view that informs both strategy and omni-channel marketing, driving better engagement and audience growth on a global scale. ‘Sportswise’, Goodform’s Customer Data Platform, has become an essential product, allowing its clients to easily analyse and understand their audience across multiple channels and touch points. 

Goodform’s extensive experience spans rights holders, governing bodies and major international events, including Formula 1, NBA, UK Athletics, Six Nations, Formula E, Watford FC, British & Irish Lions and the EFL [English Football League] amongst many others. Their work includes F1 Fan Voice, Formula 1’s award-winning always-on global research community with over 100,000 members from over 100 different countries, providing insights that have informed key decisions at speed and utilised across Formula 1’s business.  Likewise, Goodform’s audience insight and engagement expertise for EFL, as their retained CRM & Data agency for the past 7 years, has played a key role in the growth of iFollow, the EFL’s OTT product, that generated over £42m in revenue for EFL Clubs during the 2020/21 season.

You First is a global talent management, brand services and content marketing ecosystem of agencies in the sports and entertainment industries. Operating in 14 countries the agency manages the careers of more than a thousand talents and offer end-to-end integrated brand services and innovative solutions in digital assets, consulting, sponsorship, creativity, events, content production and influencer marketing to 160 brands through 21 offices worldwide. The addition of Goodform to the existing You First footprint provides the agency with its first office presence in the UK – a market where it currently already provides services to brands along with player representation services. Goodform, which will continue to be led by its existing managing director Alison Dalrymple, is at the forefront of its sector, in part by the development of in-demand products; an example being its ‘Sports Fan Panel’- which allows organisations to gain insights from sports fans and comprises 10,000 sports fans, representing 50 different sports and providing insights on 60 topics that shape decisions within sport.

“Alison Dalrymple and the team at Goodform have carved out a unique place for themselves in the UK & global sports market, providing rights holders and others with metrics and data that makes a significant difference to their engagement with fans, sponsors and other stakeholders. Having this new skill set within You First will provide not only new business opportunities, but also additional services that can be offered to existing clients – which is very exciting. We look forward to partnering with Alison and the very talented team at Goodform”.

Juan Aísa, CEO, You First

“We are thrilled to become part of such a successful global agency; number 1 in Spain, number 10 in Europe and in the top 20 most valuable sports agencies in the world*. We share the same work ethic and philosophies and a huge passion for sport, with the focus on client goals and always delivering excellent service. The further growth opportunities this partnership presents are already evident with the two agencies already coming together to provide services to a major sports team and benefiting from this new relationship. We are extremely excited by what lies ahead”.

Alison Dalrymple, Managing Director, Goodform

“Goodform’s expertise in data and insights – when combined with You First’s extensive knowledge of brands – will enhance our added value proposal and the decision-making process for brands in selecting the right business, platforms and communication proposals in the sponsorship and entertainment ecosystem. Data & Insights are also key in the activation and follow up. We will benefit greatly from Goodform’s ability to use its sophisticated technology to not only support rights-holders and properties, but also to bring solutions to brands and to individual talents that You First works with globally”.

David Brabender, Managing Director, Global Brand Services, You First

ABOUT YOU FIRST

You First is a global talent management, brand services and content marketing holding group of agencies in the Sports and Entertainment industries. Founded in 2002, it operates in 14 countries through 21 offices, leveraging a powerful combination of global reach and solid knowledge of each local market.

More than a thousand talents in Sports and Entertainment trust You First. The agency manages the careers of more than 400 basketball players, 300 football players, 70 esports talents, and up to 100 talents in media. These include NBA and European League players such as Ja Morant, Serge Ibaka and Walter Tavares amongst others; football players such as Gerard Moreno, Alexia Putellas and Fabián Ruiz; athletes from other disciplines such as Ona Carbonell and Damián Quintero; esports talents, including ElMiilloR or Kapo013 and other lifestyle talents and content creators from the entertainment industry.

You First also supports brands on an end-to-end integrated brand services and innovative solutions in digital assets, consulting, sponsorship, creativity, events, content production, and influencer marketing to more than 160 brands worldwide.

You First is formed by professionals with a deep team spirit, committed to conquering daily challenges, and loyal to their clients' interests. Always by their side. Always on their side.

ABOUT GOODFORM

Established in the UK in 2002, Goodform is one of the UK's longest established independent sports data and insight agencies. The award-winning agency’s expertise in both data and research enable their clients to gain a deeper understanding of current and potential fans, inform strategy and drive global audience growth - with extensive experience in supporting rights holders, governing bodies and major international events. Goodform clients and experience includes Formula 1, UK Athletics, Six Nations, Formula E, Watford FC, British & Irish Lions, EFL [English Football League], WRC (World Rally Championship), Rugby League World Cup 2021 and Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022, amongst many others.   

*Forbes - List of the World’s Most Valuable Sports Agencies

On the 11th of November, BETWEEN received the first STEM AWARD at the STEM WOMEN CONGRESS which was held in Barcelona.

Between was honoured to present two projects: Between Woman Network and Looking for Siri.

STEM AWARDS recognise all those companies and organisations that strive to break the gender gap within the STEM sectors.

Dear Partners of the Talent Club,

We are sad to announce that Philippe Foriel Destezet passed away (too fast and too soon) on June 27th in a hospital in Paris. Philippe was 85.

Philippe was not only our key Partner in The Talent Club Family for 2 years ( with You First Sports, Between Technologies, Lincoln Executive Search, The Bozz, Sport Carriere, Hopla Software, GammaUX, Digital Jobs, The Influencer, Seven, Tandem, Eventologies, Knot, United Heroes) as our major Investor.

He was our point of reference for the last 30 years as the exceptionally successful and inclusive entrepreneur able to create in 30 years the worldwide Leader in employment services (25 Billion Sales, 5000 offices in 65 countries, Listed in New York, Paris and Zurich), ranging from

• temporary work services to permanent placement,
• engineering to IT consulting
• outplacement to career management services,

Philippe always behaved with a perfect education and a smile for everyone, exporting enthusiasm and importing stress.

Philippe started in 1964 in Lyon under the ECCO brand with a small agency composed of a Branch Manager (himself as a sales developer) and a small team to guarantee agility and quality of service (recruitment manager & administration manager).

Thanks to his drive, ECCO became the leader in France and then Philippe started to conquer the world: Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Canada, South East Asia. USA, Japan, Australia, South Africa…

But the most successful countries outside France (great success thanks to his partner Philippe Beauviala), were Italy and Spain in terms of growth and profitability: this was indeed a very special period as professionals for many of us, with the drive of Philippe Marcel as Head of Europe and us running behind!

• Spain = >50,000 people at work daily & Adecco #1. From 0 to 1 B Sales (1990/2000)
• Italy= >50,000 people at work daily & Adecco #1. From 0 to 1 B sales (1997/2001)

In 1996, ECCO merged with ADIA and Philippe created the #1 globally (where Miguel acted as Head of Southern Europe and Latin America Board Member, Luis as Head of Marketing & Sales, Franco as Head of Technology and Innovation, Juan as Intern, Sandra as first CFO Spain and myself as Branch/Regional Manager - Country Manager Italy& CEO from 1990 to 2005). Fx Bellon was also a great part of the growth race and is today present in TTC.

Miguel, Franco, Luis, Sandra and I had the honor to work at Adecco for and with him and we were always inspired by Philippe s values:

• Taste for growth thanks to commercial exemplarity from each Leader and cellular division growth model that allowed extra sales before investing into extra costs.
• Focus on quality of service for companies and high satisfaction for Talents thanks to full responsibility given to small local teams, hence no burocracy.
• Work by objectives and reward by results : thanks high investments in best-in-class education, long term incentives on value creation and internal promotion at accelerated pace, hence total alignment of interests.
• Right to make mistakes but obligation to act : With Philippe, we always felt we were entrepreneurs

Philippe´s vision, values and trust in people will be always in our heart and a model (and a soul) for The Talent Club and for us as human beings.

Let's have all together a collective thought for Philippe – a great entrepreneur and a great person - and his 4 four children.

Jerome Caille, CEO of The Talent Club