EMA PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Global Chairman
- Member of the EMA Partners Executive Committee
Alberto is a member of the EMA Partners Executive Committee, and has served as Vice President, Professional Standards until 2013, Global Vice President of Finance up until 2017, and is currently serving as Global Chairman EMA Partners.
Following an early career in the insurance sector, Alberto joined EMA Partners Spain in 1997. He has more than ten years of experience in executive search, undertaking senior management assignments across a range of sectors including Consumer Goods, Retail, Financial Services, and Industrial. He has been a visiting professor, and has served as the Chairman of the Alumni Association of his university. Since 2009, Alberto has served as the Chairman for the EMEA Region.
Alberto has a Bachelor of Law Degree from Universidad de Navarra and an MBA from ESADE Business School.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- VP Finance & Legal
Chris has been a search practitioner for over 20 years and established the EMA Partners office in South Africa. He is a member of the EMA Partners Global Executive Committee and currently serves as the Vice President of Finance.
Chris leads the Board and CEO practice for EMA Partners in Africa. He is widely networked and is a visible face in the industry. He has extensive experience supporting clients with global engagements across Africa & Europe, and in multiple industry sectors including Financial Services, Payments & FinTech, FMCG, Manufacturing and Mining.
Chris has conducted numerous continent-wide executive search assignments, acquiring extensive experience in cross-border searches for multinational clients. He has placed some of the top leaders in Africa at the C-level.
Job Titles:
- Americas Chair
- Managing Partner, Practice Group Leader, Global Payments, Digital & Transaction Services
Chris has been an executive search practitioner for over 20 years and has worked with EMA Partners since 2002. He is a member of the EMA Partners Executive Committee and serves as, America's Regional Chair.
Chris is the Global Head for EMA's Global Payments, Digital & Transaction Services (GP, D&TS) practice group and co-leads the North American Financial Services and Payments practices. He is also a member of EMA's Technology, Digital and Board & CEO Services practices.
Chris brings unparalleled knowledge and experience to his role as a Partner supporting the New York and Toronto offices. Leading searches at the C-level, he has been successful in sourcing best-in-class candidates across a breadth of the industry sectors.
Recognised as an industry leader in the Payments and Digital sectors, Chris has extensive experience supporting financial institutions, retailers and technology companies, and has partnered with traditional financial institutions, issuers and acquirers, networks and major technology firms, as well as with cutting-edge innovators and new disruptors.
Chris is highly respected throughout the industry for his Payments expertise and for identifying strong leaders and specialised talent across functions and niche areas including Digital, Mobile Payments, Fintech, Loyalty, Big Data & Analytics, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Human Resources, Fraud, Technology, Operations and Product.
Prior to joining EMA Partners, Chris was a Partner in the Financial Services practice at Odgers and Berndtson.
Job Titles:
- Senior Partner, Global Practice Leader, Education
- VP Business Development & Professional Standards
As an executive search practitioner, he has supervised and conducted over 2,000 senior level assignments nationally and internationally for over 350 organisations across industry sectors, and for all functional areas at levels ranging from CEO through middle management. Richard Sbarbaro is a former Chairman of EMA Partners and has served as the Global Practice Leader for the Education and Not-for-Profit sectors.
Prior to his transition into the executive search profession, Richard served as a principal of Booz, Allen and Hamilton, and as Senior Vice President of the Midwest Stock Exchange. His responsibilities included coordination and management of the Stock Exchange's Chicago-based Clearing, Trust, Stock Transfer and Service Bureau subsidiaries, and was responsible for national securities transaction and processing systems on behalf of major banking, brokerage, securities exchange, insurance and other organisations. Richard has established successful long-term relationships with major U.S. banks, brokerage, insurance, venture capital and other financial institutions. He has served on, and has led national committees commissioned by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to improve and enhance transaction processing.
James works for EMA Partners UK in multiple sectors, across the C-suite and down into senior management. Following an early career in the technology space, he moved into banking and finance. James has been an active networker in the recruitment industry for a number of years, and has also appeared on national broadcasters like the BBC & Sky News, as an executive search industry expert. James has worked in the recruitment process outsourcing, traditional recruitment, consultancy research, and executive search. He has partnered with a huge range of companies, from start-ups and micro-businesses through to multi-nationals and blue chips. He has also delivered training to both clients and candidates on how best to approach the modern executive search market at forums such as the Institute of Directors, the HR/Tech Conference & Expo in Chicago, and Cass Business School. James earned his degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester in the UK, and then moved straight into the recruitment sector after graduation.
Janet Lee is the Managing Partner of EMA Partners Hong Kong and Founder of Burke Associates. She specializes in Management and C-Suite search, with a focus on Financial Services & Insurance. She also leads complex regional and country level Human Resources searches across a range of industries.
Janet made a career move from Malaysia to Hong Kong in 1990 and began her career in the Executive Search industry with two leading global Executive Search firms, recruiting professionals. Since 2000, Janet excels in the Investment & Wealth Management and Insurance sectors, and has successfully led both practices in Hong Kong and China. She has an exemplary track record of success in placing top level executives in diverse sectors.
Outside of work, Janet enjoys traveling and is an active volunteer involving children education and building awareness for education of underprivileged children.
Job Titles:
- VP Marketing & APAC Chair
Kathy began her career early as an internal recruiter in the IT industry. Following this, she has over 15 years of experience in Executive Search, with a focus on FMCG, Retail and Luxury industries. She has conducted assignments for Fortune 500 MNC's in both China and the United States, to support her clients across industry sectors, in all functional areas ranging from C-suites to middle management.
Kathy has an MBA degree from Aston Business School in the UK and is a Bachelor of Computer Science. She is also a nationally registered Psychological Consultant in China.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Managing Partner in Tokyo Responsible for the Board
- the Presidential
Kris is a Managing Partner in Tokyo responsible for the Board & CEO, Global Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Energy & Natural Resource Practices. Concurrently, he serves for a few global companies as a board member at Chava Energy and Solar Bankers. He is also one of the original members of Geniisis in San Francisco that represents people of "genius" such as the heads of major R&D centres, star professors and Nobel prize-winners from the global market.
Kris is a graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin, majoring in International Relations and Physics. He also earned an MBA from Duke University as its first Japanese MBA graduate. He is also an FAA licensed pilot.
Natalia Godoy Dueñas, Managing Partner has significant experience in managing executive search engagements for leading local and multinational companies in the Latin American region. She is a noted guest speaker in different HR and business forums, focusing on issues ranging from managing millennials, employer branding, gender and generational diversity, and more.
She earned her degree in Psychology from the Pontificia Javeriana University of Colombia.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Member of EMA Partners Executive Committee
- VP Partner Development
Philippe is a member of EMA Partners Executive Committee as VP, Partner Development. He has over 12 years experience in human resources consultancy, with experience in executive search for both local and international firms.
Philippe began his career in executive search in 1999. Before joining EMA Partners Switzerland AG, he worked for a multinational fertilizer company, as well as roles within tourism industry.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and an MBA in International Management Consulting.
Reet Bhambhani leads the Technology, Digital, Banking & Financial Services Practices for EMA Partners in India and is part of the firm's leadership council driving a high-performance culture within the firm. She has over fifteen years of experience in executive search and has been part of the India practice since its inception. Prior to her career move into executive search, she worked with a leading Broking & Securities firm in India.
She partners with some of the leading companies in the Technology and Financial Services sector and has built an enviable track record of appointing impactful leaders in these sectors. She has been instrumental in building deep sectoral expertise within the firm over the years. As one of most recognized consultants in the industry, she has played an influential role in creating innovative teams in the Digital and Technology-first space having worked with several founders and is widely networked in the talent circuit.
She also leads the Diversity Practice for the firm in India and has been at the forefront of several diversity hiring initiatives across sectors. As the diversity champion, she has been vocal in business and social media about some of the challenges impacting women at the workplace.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Management Studies from Mumbai University and a post-graduate degree in Business Management from the Institute for Technology & Management.
She is an avid Yoga and meditation enthusiast which helps her maintain balance between her work and life beyond work.