Management

Penrhyn International is managed by a Board of Directors comprising six members representing Americas, Europe and North America. Together they drive the effective operation and governance of the network.

Board of Directors

Yanouk Poirier (Montreal) 
Chairman

• Office: Leaders International, Montreal
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  Yanouk Poirier has over twenty years of professional experience in different sectors of economic activity, such as professional services, finance, media and information technology.
  
  He has successfully led numerous assignments of top level executives and board members, for major companies and renowned firms operating in various business lines.
  
  Recognized for his strong entrepreneurial spirit, Mr. Poirier puts his experience at the service of business leaders on a national and international level and supports them in the achievement of their business strategy.
  
  Mr. Poirier is actively involved; he his on the Board of Directors of the Ballet Jazz of Montreal and of the Club St. James. He is also a mentor for Enablis, an organization providing assistance to entrepreneurs in developing countries to support them in the growth of their business.
  
  He holds an MBA from the Université de Sherbrooke and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a major in International Relations from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Frank Beyer (Munich)
Vice Chair

• Office: LAB & Company - Munich
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• Fields: Associations, Energy, Utilities & Mining, Financial Services, Government & Public sector, Industrial & Automotive, Technology, Telecommunication & Media

Frank Beyer has been a Principal in Penrhyn International since 2002. He has 23 years of experience as an executive recruiter and is recognized for his achievements in industry, renewable energies, technology, insurance companies, public-private partnerships and government/public sector. His search experience covers primarily German speaking countries but as well international searches including the US and China. Frank Beyer is a co-founder of LAB & Company.

Before becoming a Principal in Penrhyn, Frank was Managing Director Europe of an UK based search firm, and spent before eight years with Kienbaum Executive Consultants as Partner and Head of the Munich office. Before joining the executive search world, Frank was a general staff officer in the German Air Force.

Frank speaks German, English, fair French and Spanish. He holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich.

Michael Herst (London)
Treasurer

• Office: Osprey Clarke - London
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Michael's career started in accountancy, where he gained commercial and corporate experience working in the profession, and as Head of Finance of a major international shipping group. He transferred his business knowledge into executive search, where over the past 25 years he has enjoyed a varied career.

Achievements include taking a staffing group and executive search practice to a full UK stock market flotation, and its subsequent sale to a major US listed group. He now conducts senior level search for major global corporations, with particular focus on infrastructure, transportation and logistics. Michael joined Osprey Clarke in 2008. He is proud to be a trustee of Haven House Children's Hospice; an important charity that supports families and cares for children and young people with life-limiting conditions across North and East London and West Essex.

Luce Nordon (Paris)

• Office: Agora Search, Paris
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Upon completing her business school studies, Luce Nordon started her career in advertising, with a three year tenure with the Euro-RSCG group as a Practice Group Leader where she was focused on luxury and CPG brands promotion. She then became part of the newly created Paris office of Norman Broadbent, a UK executive search firm, to expand the CPG and luxury cluster. She rapidly gained a strong expertise in other fields such as IT and digital.

In 1998, she joined Agora Search as a Business Partner. General Manager since 2008, Luce recently assumed the presidency in January 2014.

Luce leads searches for executives both in France and internationally. 

 Greg Gabel (New York)

• Office: Coleman Lew Canny Bowen - New York
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Greg manages the firm’s New York office and leads executive searches for clients in a broad range of industries and functional areas. Greg joined Canny, Bowen, a predecessor firm, in 1991. He initially served as vice president and director of research before becoming managing director in 2000 and president in 2015. Prior to his start with Canny, Bowen, he was in the New York office of Heidrick & Struggles for four years.

With more than 30 years of experience in executive search, Greg has completed multiple CEO, COO, CFO, and other key leadership searches for the portfolio companies of middle-market private equity firms. He has also completed numerous assignments for chief legal officers and their direct reports in a diverse range of industries, including general counsel searches for some of the largest companies in the United States. He has extensive experience recruiting for medium technology industrial companies, both manufacturing and distribution, as well as for infrastructure, engineering, and construction firms.

Greg graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA and subsequently earned an MA from Columbia University. He and his wife have two children.

  Mattijs Kropholler (Amsterdam) 

• Office: Maes & Lunau executive search, Amsterdam
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Mattijs Kropholler has extensive experience in executive search at the most senior levels in the Netherlands and more widely in Europe. He became a Principal in Penrhyn International in 2005 on joining Maes & Lunau in Amsterdam. His special fields of expertise and experience are information technology and telecommunications, and he combines experience as a senior manager in those industries with an outstanding record of success as a provider of executive search consultancy in large and in smaller entrepeneurial organisations. 

Mattijs is a graduate of the University of Leiden. In addition to Dutch he speaks English, German and French. 

Mattijs has been Head of Personnel and Organisation for the Philips/AT&T joint venture, has been General Manager of a software subsidiary of AT&T, and has held the top Human Resources roles at two leading IT services businesses, Atos Origin and Getronics. 

 Ann  Zeichner (San Francisco)

• Office: Focus Search Partners, San Francisco Bay Area, United States
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  Ann is a Managing Director at Focus Search Partners, with over twenty-five years of combined C-level search and operating experience, Ann has built shareholder value and winning teams across the technology spectrum.

  Having run sales and marketing for a large enterprise, led a company as CEO, taken a company through an IPO, and sold several, Ann’s understanding of leadership and organizational structure propels her to be an invaluable asset to her clients as she applies that knowledge to their recruiting and strategic talent management needs. Ann has conducted assignments across a broad spectrum of industries, including technology infrastructure and applications, consumer internet, gaming, technology-enabled services, and manufacturing, spanning functional areas throughout lifecycles of publicly-traded and privately-held companies.

  A graduate of Rutgers University, Ann is based in Silicon Valley. She currently serves and has served on advisory boards of privately-held companies and on non-profit boards.

Yiota Arhontou (Montreal)
International Coordinator

• Office: Penrhyn International - Montreal
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Panagiota (Yiota) Arhontou joined Penrhyn International in 2019 as International Coordinator. Her mandate includes facilitating communications between members around the world and assisting in global practice groups across all industries. 

Yiota has a very diverse background. While working as an administrative support for an accounting firm, she also coordinated handicapped and medical transports in her area. She then went on to manage transport related call centres and drivers, which included a pilot project for a fleet of electric vehicles. 

Yiota interned for the communications departments of both the Quebec Ministry of Transportation and for the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. A graduate from Concordia University of Montreal, Yiota completed a double major in Western Society and Culture, Second major Journalism with a specialization in broadcast. She is also a member of the Liberal Arts College. 

Perfectly trilingual, Yiota speaks French, English and Greek. She also has basic knowledge of Spanish and German. Her interests include travel, hockey, American and European football, live concerts, and reading.