The Representative Committee's purpose is to steer the trade association on behalf of all the members and prioritise the implementation of additional services. They play a critical role in ensuring that our strategy and business plans are focused on the needs of our members and the outsourcing sector. They discuss, debate and agree activity to enhance and improve the services of OutSource.
Following the introduction of OutSource to APSCo, members stand for an initial period before the committee is elected by our members and elections thereafter are held every two years. Any OutSource member can stand. A chair is then elected by the Committee and usually serves for two years. The Rep Comm meet quarterly.
The members of the RepComm also form the OutSource Knowledge Hub which provides thought leadership, insight and support to our members of the wider challenges faced by the sector.
Chair
Chris Hughes
Since joining Magnit (formally PRO Unlimited) in 2013 Chris has played a pivotal role in the success and on-going growth of Magnit’s international business. Chris, as the Vice President of Global Services leads teams focused on supplier relationships and engagement, compliance and client delivery. His teams also play a vital role in developing solutions which ensure Magnit’s Integrated Workforce Management platform remain compliant whilst at the same time supporting programme expansion and growth strategies globally.
Chris has a passion for compliance in the talent industry. Having started his career in 1998 working for a Contractor Management Company, Chris has held a variety of different positions, all of which provided the grounding for his extensive experience relating to regulations supporting labour supply chains and large global MSP programmes.
Simon Bradberry
Simon is a tenured professional with global experience who joined AGS in 2020 as the VP of EMEA. He has spent his career in the outsourcing industry, most recently at Resource Solutions (RS), where he launched the RS MSP and RPO business in APAC. This experience then helped to focus on expanding EMEA and the Americas for the company. He oversaw 14 countries and 380 employees, positioning him well to lead operational excellence, innovation and growth for AGS. In his role at AGS, Simon is responsible for the advancement of our business in EMEA and works closely with our OpCo partners to ensure alignment and mutual growth.
Kristen Buckheit
Head of Operations, Kristen Buckheit is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, operational governance and oversight and key relationship management recruitment teams across EMEA and the US.
Kristen has been with the organisation for 21 years, first joining the Robert Walters Group, Resource Solutions’ parent organisation in 1999 as a Banking Operations Consultant. She progressed into various roles at Robert Walters then Resource Solutions, delivering outsourced recruitment programmes and overseeing both contingent and permanent recruitment for the UK and MENA on-site at HSBC. An incredibly apt leader, Kristen is passionate about providing her teams upskilling and development opportunities and is a mentor to many – helping them build resilience and focusing on success.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/kristenbuckheit/
Olly Harris
With over a decade of experience, Olly has been named one of Glassdoor’s Top CEOs – recognising his ability to build customer-centric outsourcing solutions that work for clients and vitally, the people delivering them. He is one of our industry’s most prominent and inspirational thought-leaders, regularly contributing to the Outsource sector through a variety of platforms. From published articles and interviews in relevant trade publications, through to speaking at events such as LinkedIn’s Talent Connect.
Added to this is the exposure that Olly gets to all the new and exciting world of innovative, digital recruitment technology, which means Olly is ideally placed to have a fantastic insight both globally and across all aspects of recruitment outsourcing. He has a successful, global track-record with over 20 years at Robert Walters Group and as CEO of Resource Solutions he worked across 60+ countries, grew to diversify and hugely improved profitability.
Olly is a seasoned executive with a mission: to help organisations uncover the right talent by building cost-effective acquisition strategies, which accelerate their growth by ensuring they have the talent they need, when they need it.
Adam Hawkins
With over two decades of recruitment industry experience, Adam is a trusted advisor to leading recruitment firms across the globe. His team partners daily with the recruitment sector to arm them with unique solutions and insight trends from LinkedIn’s 800 million global members, to help them find the best talent for their client. With recruiters playing an integral role in powering businesses and the economy, his team is proud to partner and help connect people to opportunity.
Prior to LinkedIn, Adam spent 18 years at The Adecco Group in numerous executive leadership and board member roles. He has worked and lived abroad for 10 years where he gained unique exposure many global staffing markets and managed a multitude of differing business.
Passionate and active across the industry, advising numerous HR technology start-ups, mentoring talent from under-represented groups and non-for profits. He has a tremendous amount of pride and responsibility to contribute and help shape the evolution of the industry. His experience working both agency and trusted partner side for LinkedIn is why he is excited to put forward his nomination to represent the unified voice of trusted partners.
Karina Townley
As Managing Director of Client Services, EMEA at Guidant Global, Karina Townley leads a 200+ strong team and is responsible for the delivery and growth of Guidant’s MSP/RPO business across Europe. Karina is firmly committed to changing the dynamic of outsourced recruitment by championing a better, more forward-thinking approach. Over the last year, Karina has played an integral role in Guidant’s senior leadership team, helping the business to navigate through an ever-changing landscape with decisiveness, transparency and humanity. Karina champions Guidant’s people-centric approach of delivering #ABetterWay for the recruitment outsourcing industry, and leads the delivery of over 40 UK and European MSP/RPO programs. Under her leadership of UK client services, Guidant was recently awarded two TIARA awards for Diversity and Inclusion and Best RPO/MSP to Work For.
She is a passionate supporter and leader of equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives across the recruitment industry and a member of the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) executive committee.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/karinatownley/
Niki Turner-Harding
Niki started her career as a Branch Manager for a global management consulting company, later moving into regional and country management of general staffing. In 2009, after a highly successful 17 years of service, Niki joined the Adecco Group, as Director of Strategic Accounts, a role in which she grew a large client portfolio year on year.
She was instrumental in securing large scale client accounts, creating best in class operating models and securing contracts for providing staffing, HR and training services for key projects. She continually looks for opportunities to transform solutions via centralisation and automation to strengthen the businesses.
After 11 years as Director of Strategic Accounts, Niki took on the role of Senior Vice President of Adecco UK and Ireland in January 2021. She is responsible for the following business lines: Adecco, Adecco Solutions including the newly integrated Pontoon Mid-Market, Office Angels, Adecco Public Sector, and Adecco Specialist Markets.
Adecco UK and Ireland pairs talent with the right roles and provides HR and recruitment services across private and public sector clients, with tailored solutions designed to meet the needs of continuously changing market conditions and business challenges.
Frederieke Schmidt Crans
The recruitment field is in my blood since 2002. I have held various roles in this field. For the past 13 years, I have been the owner of Flexhuis (an MSP in the healthcare and government
sector) and part of Nash Squared since 1 July 2022. Besides my work for Flexhuis, I have been involved with Bovib, a trade association for intermediaries and brokers, since 2014. In the start up I was responsible for developing a quality certification for members and since 2017 I have been on the board. From this role, I work closely with other industry organisations, political organisations and ministries.
Mel Barnett
Melanie joined AMS in 2013 following 18 years of working in partnership with Global 1000 clients to design, implement and operate a number of Contingent Workforce Solutions (CWS). Since joining AMS, Melanie has been responsible for the operational delivery and management of AMS's Global CWS portfolio of over 22 global blue-chip clients. Melanie is now responsible for the UK Central Government’s Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) Framework, which is the largest contingent workforce solution across EMEA with over 20,000 workers. Melanie qualified as a Prince II Project Manager which has allowed her to lead a series of large and small transformational recruitment process outsourcing projects, initiatives.
Gareth Vale
Gareth is a senior leader responsible for the overall growth and direction of ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions UK.
Spearheading the company’s strategic vision, Gareth is skilled at devising innovative solutions to drive business growth and enhance profitability. Transforming data into actionable insights, he encourages fresh thinking and challenges the traditional ways of working.
Prior to joining ManpowerGroup, Gareth held senior positions across several professional services organisations.
He began his journey with ManpowerGroup over a decade ago initially heading up European marketing. Instrumental in shaping and launching the firm’s new brand strategy, he then transitioned to lead operational activity across the UK.
In January 2024, Gareth took on his current role with the goal of transforming the organisation through digitalisation, developing clearer specialisation and implementing best practice. Collaborating closely with clients to solve for their challenges, Gareth creates clear accountability and a shared sense of purpose.
