Robert is a graduate of Exeter University and Cranfield School of Management with over 24 years’ experience of Human Capital Management within Financial Services. Robert’s career has been framed within recruitment where he was the Chief Executive of a publically listed global financial services recruitment business which he was instrumental in building to over 500 staff across 15 international locations. In 2010 he co-founded The FISER Group, of which the senior leadership team is almost entirely female and four are part-time return to work mothers. He has been recognised by the Recruiter Awards for Excellence, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and Best Companies for championing diversity and work in Financial Services.
Robert has been instrumental in a number of gender diversity initiatives in human capital, including the creation of the Women in Financial Institutions Index (WiFI Index), which tracks the recruitment and engagement of women in financial services, and a Financial Services Diversity Forum which provides an opportunity for senior decision makers in the industry to discuss strategies and approaches to diversity in the sector.
Robert was also the principal driver behind the establishment of the City Talent Initiative (CTI), a programme dedicated to supporting high-achieving young people from low-income backgrounds (of which over 60% are female) gain entry to leading City firms. Today the CTI has gained cross party support from the Hon David Lammy MP, Mark Field MP and Baroness Kramer and sponsoring firms include Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Strutt & Parker, Bank of America, Resource Solutions and RBS. In the last year over 30 students from low-income backgrounds who are unable to get practical improvements in social mobility them from their schools or families have gained experience through the CTI.