If you’re hiring into your finance team you’ll probably want pragmatic, evidence based advice in straight forward terms.
The modern job market is tough so if you want the best people or the best roles, this is how we can help to increase your chances.
Maybe your offers keep getting turned down, or you’re finding it difficult to attract the right talent? Or perhaps you’re trying to progress to the next level but can’t seem to get to interview stage?
Our business is run by qualified Finance Directors and experienced recruiters who can offer greater insight into how to overcome your challenges. For us, financial recruitment is not a numbers game.
Our story
1986
FD Yorkshire Limited is incorporated, providing part-time FD services to local businesses
1990s
Steady growth, with lots of businesses starting to appoint part-time FDs
2000s
New century, new branding – “FDYL”. Associate FD model grows
2010s
Finance team recruitment becomes additional service line to support growing clients
2016
FDYL merges with national recruitment consultancy Woodrow Mercer to create Woodrow Mercer Finance. Mixing recruitment expertise with FD advisory.
2020
Headstar is born. The management team of Woodrow Mercer Finance lead an MBO to launch a rebranded, finance-focused business.
Meet the team
James Roach
Managing Director
Executive Search
James initially joined FDYL in 2013 as a portfolio FD, joining the business on a full-time basis in 2014 to help launch the recruitment division. James led the MBO into Headstar in 2020 and combines his FD consultancy work with ongoing recruitment assignments. In his spare time, he enjoys things like cycling down the Death Road in Bolivia.
james.roach@headstar.co.uk
Natalie McGregor
Commercial Director
Executive Search and Senior Finance
Having spent seven years with a blue-chip recruiter, Natalie has a strong track record in recruitment with experience of working across many sectors. She now specialises in the recruitment of Finance Directors. A keen runner and boxer, she has temporarily put her sporting pursuits to one side as she focuses her energies on her young family.
natalie.mcgregor@headstar.co.uk
David Clark
Director
Interim & Transformation
David joined us in June 2017, having worked for Michael Page for 9 years. For the last 4 he was business manager within their interim finance division in West Yorkshire, where he recruited across all industry sectors. He will now continue to act as an interim specialist for senior finance appointments at qualified level across Yorkshire. David has built his reputation on a strong technical understanding of his clients and candidates needs, resulting in a high level of repeat business. Outside of work David is one of our sportier members of the team as a keen darts and poker player.
david.clark@headstar.co.uk
Jenny Martin
Director
Executive Search & Senior Finance
Jenny joined with 7 years of experience recruiting senior permanent appointments within both Accountancy & HR. Having spent time in both external agency and internal recruitment environments, she understands what everyone needs out of the recruitment process and makes sure everyone’s kept in the loop. Jenny specialises in placing Financial Controller and Finance Director roles. Jenny is one of those rare recruiters that actually does have a genuine interest in getting to know people. Developing long-lasting relationships comes naturally to her, meaning her candidates and clients come back to her time and time again. Outside of work, Jenny works hard to afford her adventurous and exotic holidays as she has an extremely long bucket list of places she’s still yet to explore!
jenny.martin@headstar.co.uk
Olivia Greer
Director
North West
Olivia joins Headstar with a decade of experience in the qualified finance recruitment market, having progressed to Associate Director within a national blue-chip recruiter. During her career, Olivia has built up her professional network across North West England, and has been engaged on permanent & interim assignments, ranging from Finance Directors to newly qualified appointments. Outside of work, Olivia spends her time looking after her young baby or enjoying a good true crime documentary.
olivia.greer@headstar.co.uk
Simon Webster
Regional Finance Director
Advisory & Portfolio
Simon has been a Portfolio FD since 2020 and has assisted the development of numerous clients in that time. He has spent many years at the board table in various other roles, looking after a variety of products along the way, from fish (born and raised in Grimsby – it had to be), to flowers to coffee. The focus for Simon is to drive our Humber region in the coming years. Outside of work, you’ll often see Simon chasing segments on Strava, whether cycling or running.
simon.webster@headstar.co.uk
Sue Moul
Regional Finance Director
Advisory & Portfolio
Sue is a highly experienced Portfolio Finance Director who specialises in supporting owner managed SMEs to develop and manage their business growth and stabilisation. A straight talking, hands-on pragmatist, Sue is equally at home guiding acquisitions and funding as she is developing and mentoring the finance team and being a Board advisor and confidante. In her spare time, Sue likes to keep active and can be found pounding the pavements with her local running club.
sue.moul@headstar.co.uk
Nichola Davies
Manager
Qualified & Senior Finance
Nichola joined Headstar in late 2023 with a wealth of experience, having worked in recruitment since 2009 in both agencies and internal recruitment roles across a variety of industries.
Throughout her career she has recruited across specialisms, from HR, to finance, technology and sales (and everything in-between). She is a firm believer in recruiting for behaviours and values, ensuring that it is a mutual fit for the candidate and company alike. Outside of work, she is married to Stuart and has two young children, which keeps her busy with kids activities such as gymnastic classes, junior parkrun and park trips. Nichola also chairs the PTA and enjoys keeping fit with boxercise and the Couch to 5K challenge.
nichola.davies@headstar.co.uk
Alex Law
Senior Consultant
Qualified & Senior Finance
Alex joined us in January 2021 with four years’ finance recruitment experience across all sectors. With an easy to like personality and a reputation for being a professional, diligent and honest recruiter, he has grown a great network of clients and candidates. Building on his experience across the transactional market, Alex now specialises in senior finance roles. Outside of work, Alex can usually be found hard at work in his vegetable garden or at Valley Parade cheering on Bradford City.
alex.law@headstar.co.uk
Olivia Egan
Senior Consultant
Senior Finance
Olivia joined us in 2018 initially to support purely on the candidate side. She quickly demonstrated her versatility though and became a firm favourite with clients, prompting a promotion to Consultant in 2020. Olivia specialises in placing the best talent into businesses and in her spare time is busy being a new Mum!
olivia.egan@headstar.co.uk
Rachel Porteous
Senior Consultant
Transactional & Part Qualified
Rachel began her recruitment career as a resourcer within the Security sector. She progressed into a 360, end-to-end recruitment role, sourcing and placing contact centre, sales and service industry candidates. Known for her positivity and great people skills, Rachel now specialises in part and qualified finance roles across the Yorkshire region. Outside of work, Rachel enjoys spending time with friends, eating out and is a devoted cat mum.
rachel.porteous@headstar.co.uk
Ross Wallace
Senior Consultant
Accountancy Practice
With over 10 years’ experience in recruitment, Ross has earned himself a reputation for being mature, honest and pragmatic in his approach. Having spent the lion’s share of his career in the legal arena, he knows the value of being thorough. This – combined with his personable character – has made him a favourite with candidates and clients. Ross specialises in placing finance professionals at all levels into accountancy and advisory practices. Outside of work, Ross can often be found at the gym, cycling or getting out into the wild.
ross.wallace@headstar.co.uk
Darren Bellwood
Consultant Finance Director
Darren is a commercially astute Finance Director who moved into the world of Portfolio FD in 2022 bringing with him over 35 years of experience across a diverse number of industry sectors, working closely with business owners to achieve their goals. He has a proven track record in M&A, setting and delivering strategy, turnaround / restructure, re-financing, commercial contract negotiations, mentoring and HR.
Leeds-born he has gained experience working with a number of entrepreneurs and in the corporate world, including private healthcare, waste management, property, leisure, drinks industry, managed services, print, manufacturing and recruitment to name a few. Darren is an individual who is very approachable and easy to talk to and is able to quickly understand what his clients’ and their business requires. Away from the desk you will find Darren either in the garden, carrying out something in DIY or at a music gig which is his passion.
darren.bellwood@headstar.co.uk
Lee Bowers
Consultant Finance Director
After 20 year’s board experience in the SME environment, Lee became a Portfolio Finance Director in early 2019. Over those times he has worked across most sectors with a leisure, retail, and business service bias, whilst helping various companies through high growth, fundraising, flotations , sale exits and, when necessary, restructuring and crisis management
Lee has recently joined the Headstar team to help the drive into the East Midlands region. When not working with his clients, Lee strives to be an active sort, and will spend as much time as possible walking his (slightly demented) spaniels around Sherwood Forest, cycling or in the gym.
lee.bowers@headstar.co.uk
Kevin Cooke
Consultant Finance Director
Kevin is a highly experienced, commercially focused, Portfolio Finance Director and CFO with over 30 years experience in a number of industries including retail, large scale investment property, Information Technology and professional football. More recently, Kevin has worked with a variety of SMEs in a diverse range of sectors including social housing, international consultancy, charities, rail industry, commercial kitchens and a number of others.
Kevin’s diverse range of experience in fundraising, treasury management, financial management, plus his all-round business background, have gained him the valuable insight needed to advise and help SME business owners to understand and grow their businesses sustainably. Outside of work Kevin is kept busy by his hyper-active dalmatian dog and watching football and F1.
kevin.cooke@headstar.co.uk
Sam Goodwin
Marketing Manager
With over 15 years’ experience in marketing for industry-leading companies, Sam is responsible for implementing our marketing strategy. A jack-of-all-trades, she is equally comfortable organising our events, coordinating PR and developing our website, as she is designing our marketing collateral and ensuring everything stays ‘on brand.’ Outside of work, Sam enjoys spending time with her friends, watching movies and singing along to musical theatre shows. She is also a keen writer and recently published her debut novel.
sam.goodwin@headstar.co.uk
Sharon McCutcheon
Events Manager
Having first joined in 2022 as Sam’s maternity cover, Chartered Marketer Sharon returned to Headstar in January 2024 to help with the planning and coordination of our busy schedule of upcoming events. When not arranging networking forums, VIP dinners and conferences, Sharon enjoys hiking, watercolour painting and being a tour guide for the National Trust.
sharon.mccutcheon@headstar.co.uk
Georgia Dutton
Operations Manager
Georgia makes things happen across the Headstar office! Since joining the business as an apprentice in early 2019, Georgia has developed into her role as Operations Manager, while gaining varied knowledge and experience within different areas of the business. Charged with maintaining the integrity of our systems, she also looks after our onboarding and supports our consultants with their various day to day activity. During her spare time Georgia likes hiking, painting and when not at work she can also be found on a dancefloor!
georgia.dutton@headstar.co.uk
Samantha Dobney
Finance Manager
Sam joined us in 2015, and after a short break to raise her family, returned in 2020 to head up our finance department. An outstanding finance professional and a stickler for detail, Sam keeps us all on track. Sam’s understanding of the business and great rapport with candidates and clients means that our financial systems run like clockwork. It’s no wonder that we keep Sam under wraps!
sam.dobney@headstar.co.uk
Katrina Wells
Finance Assistant
Working alongside Sam, Kat handles the contractual side of the business and supports clients and contractor candidates. Practicing what we preach, we only hire the best finance people and Kat is living proof of this! A keen walker, Kat can be seen most mornings out with her 3 dogs.
kat.wells@headstar.co.uk
Ruby Feather
Operations Assistant
Having just left school, Ruby joined Headstar in 2023 and is excited to start working and build up her skills in business admin and everything else she will be exposed to in her varied role. Outside of work, Ruby is a loving dog mum to her puppy Bonnie and loves spending quality time with her friends and family.
ruby.feather@headstar.co.uk
Neil Muffitt
Board Advisor
With more than 25 years experience around board room tables, Neil believes that objectivity and an ability to challenge the status quo are essential for effective FDs. Since retiring as Chairman in Spring 2023, Neil continues to provide sound advice and guidance as a Headstar Board Advisor.
neil.muffitt@headstar.co.uk
Rob Walker
Board Advisor
With a career spanning over 25 years in the recruitment sector, Rob brings a wealth of experience in building, leading and scaling recruitment businesses. Rob’s advisory role is to assist the Board in optimising the business structure and explore opportunities to drive further growth.
rob.walker@headstar.co.uk
Clare McDowell
HR Advisor
With 12 years HR experience and a legal career before that, Clare joined us with a wealth of experience to support all our people needs. Clare supports Headstar with any operational HR issues but has also helped with key projects, such as our commitment to Equality & Diversity. She delivers training to our staff on a broad variety of topics and her real passion project is wellbeing, which suits the Headstar way nicely! She believes that HR isn’t ‘just’ policies and procedures – it’s about bringing out the best in people so they can flourish.
Outside of work, Clare juggles her 3 crazy kids and during any down time, likes to get out and hike up a mountain!
clare.mcdowell@headstar.co.uk
