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Meet the Rutherford Team

The Rutherford Team

​Rutherford's team groups specialists in compliance, financial crime, in-house legal and private practice legal recruitment. Drawing on years of experience in their own field, our Consultants are experts in skilfully assessing clients' needs, and using several efficient searching techniques to identify and attract the best executive talent on the market.

Discover below the members of our team. If you wish to contact us for a more general enquiry, please fill this form or send us an email to enquiries@rutherfordsearch.com


Pearse Group: Stronger Together

Rutherford is part of the Pearse Group, alongside Pearse Partners and Pearse Professionals. Together, we form a group of boutique specialist recruitment firms, each covering a specific area within the financial services market.

Founded in 2018 by Sean Bourke, Pearse Partners is a front office recruitment firm made up of five specialist teams across Corporate Finance, Credit, ESG & Sustainability, Investor Relations & Fundraising and Private Equity. As for Pearse Professionals, the business focuses on servicing the senior finance and executive markets.

Through our collaborative approach and by leveraging each other's strengths as businesses, we have been able to successfully secure coveted mandates, from the UK to the Middle East to the US. We have truly grown together and have been able to build over the years a culture filled with performance and, most importantly, fun and mutual respect.

The Rutherford Team

Genevieve Higgins-Desbiens

Genevieve Higgins-Desbiens

Chief Operating Officer

About Genevieve Higgins-DesbiensGenevieve Higgins-Desbiens is a Chief Operating Officer at Rutherford, a London-based recruitment firm that specialises in legal, compliance and financial crime searches within law firms and financial services businesses. After obtaining her Bachelor of Business in Canada, she w...

Matthew Makrinos

Matthew Makrinos

Head of Delivery

​Matthew is Head of Delivery for Rutherford, a London-based recruitment firm that specialises in in-house legal, private practice, compliance and financial services searches within law firms and financial services businesses.After working as a Financial Advisor for a globally renowned financial services company, Matt explored the world...

Luzaan De Wit

Luzaan De Wit

Researcher, Private Practice Legal

About Luzaan De Wit Luzaan De Wit is a Recruitment Researcher at Rutherford, a London-based recruitment firm that specialises in compliance, in-house legal and private practice legal recruitment searches for both financial services businesses and top-tier law firms. Luzaan joins Rutherford after completing her studies at the U...

Rebecca Collins

Rebecca Collins

Researcher, Private Practice Legal

​About Rebecca CollinsRebecca Collins is a Recruitment Researcher at Rutherford, a London-based recruitment firm that specialises in compliance, in-house legal and private practice legal recruitment searchers for both financial services businesses and top-tier law firms. ​Rebecca joins Rutherford after working as a Rese...

Nolwazi Sindie Ntombana

Nolwazi Sindie Ntombana

Data Entry Specialist

​About Nolwazi Sindie NtombanaNolwazi Ntombana is a Data Entry Specialist at Rutherford, where she plays a key role in ensuring the precision and efficiency of the firm's data management processes. Nolwazi is responsible for entering, updating, and validating data from multiple sources into CRM systems and databases. Her meticul...

Yola Moorvan

Yola Moorvan

Digital Marketing Executive

​About Yola MoorvanYola Moorvan is the Digital Marketing Executive at Rutherford, a London-based recruitment firm specialising in legal, compliance, and in-house legal recruitment for financial services firms and top-tier law firms. With a cum laude Bachelor of Commerce in Digital Marketing, Yola specialises in recruitment marketin...

Alexandra Feeney

Alexandra Feeney

Head of Talent

​Alexandra Feeney is the Head of Talent at the Pearse Group, which Rutherford is a part of. Alexandra comes in with a wealth of experience within the recruitment industry, having been herself a Senior Recruitment Consultant for our sister company Pearse Partners. After leading the Investment Banking team at Pearse Partners for a couple...

Pearse Partners

Sean Bourke

Sean Bourke

Managing Director - Pearse Group

Sean Bourke founded Pearse Partners after 7 years working for a FTSE 250 recruitment company. For the first three years he recruited Accountancy candidates into a broad spectrum of companies in Central London. The final 4 years were spent recruiting Corporate Finance and Investment Professionals into Boutique Advisors, Investment Banks and Al...

James Jones

James Jones

Managing Consultant, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

​Top three dinner guests? (can be anyone, dead or alive)Jack Grealish, Louis Theroux and Ricky Gervais​What did you want to be when you were older?An M&A recruiter​If you could swap lives with anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Elon Musk, would love to know what...

Andy Miller

Andy Miller

Business Manager, Private Equity

Favourite Pearse Partners memory?Doing the Yorkshire 3 peaks.What do you think is the key to successfully executing a mandate?Communication, transparency/honestyFavourite travel destination?Sri Lanka – th...

Apeksha Kulkarni

Apeksha Kulkarni

Principal Consultant, Private Equity

​Favourite travel destination?Scotland – there’s something magical about its rugged landscapes, historic charm, and the feeling of complete calm when you’re hiking through the Highlands or exploring the Isle of Skye.What did you want to be when you were older?

Hamza Dhaoui

Hamza Dhaoui

Consultant, Private Equity

​What did you want to be when you were older?Mathematics teacher.​What’s an interesting fact about yourself?I learnt Maltese during covid by learning a music album by heart.​Phone app you can’t live without?Flightradar24

Jonathan Press

Jonathan Press

Managing Consultant, Investor Relations and Fundraising

Why are you in search?Matching clients to candidates, finding someone their dream role in a market I’m passionate about is a great job to have.​ ​What’s something that most people don’t know about you?Well, the people I drove mad for sponsorship know, but I completed the London Marathon, RideLondo...

Luke Byrne

Luke Byrne

Senior Consultant, Investor Relations and Fundraising

​Fun fact about meI’m half Australian, half ArgentinianFavourite FoodAbuela’s EmpanadasFavourite BookDune by Frank Herbert

Julian Chittock

Julian Chittock

Associate Director, Credit

​Why are you in search?I’m passionate about the Debt markets that I cover, and enjoy the thrill of helping to advance careers and improve the businesses that I work for by placing top tier talent.​Favourite Book?If I’m trying to impress I’d say Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, if I’m honest it’s probably the lord of ...

Robin Lovegrove

Robin Lovegrove

Business Director, Credit

​Why are you in search?The blend of competition, a people focus and teamwork is pretty much me in a nutshell.Favourite travel destination?Anywhere without the kids. I love them but parents will understand.Where have you lived?

Megan Coleman

Megan Coleman

Principal Consultant, Credit

​What is your favourite holiday destination? Egypt as I really enjoyed snorkelling in the Red Sea, however I love the sun, so anywhere hot!What did you want to be when you were older?I always wanted to be a Police Officer or a Barrister.

Jens Jessen

Jens Jessen

Senior Consultant, Credit (Germany)

​If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? I would drive an F1 car around a race circuit for a day.Favourite destination to travel too? During winter it would be New York, for summer Hawaii is hard to beat!How m...

Abigail Sheba

Abigail Sheba

Consultant, Credit

​Tea or Coffee?Tea​If you could be a friends character, who would it be?Rachel​What is your go to karaoke song?Adele, Someone like you

Chloe Dawber

Chloe Dawber

Consultant, Credit

​Favourite holiday destination:Hvar, Croatia​Weirdest thing I own:Steel drum​Phone app couldn’t live without:Spotify

Katherine Howells

Katherine Howells

Managing Consultant, ESG

​What is your favourite holiday destination?RainforestFriends character that most resonates with you?Chandler or Ross, depending on the dayWhat is your biggest goal to achieve within your new role?To build out the ESG ...

Joy Bayliss

Joy Bayliss

Marketing & Operations Director

​When you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up?Professional jockeyWhere have you lived?Wales, Australia, New Zealand, now London!What’s something people don’t know about you?I tripped King Charles whil...

Pearse Professionals

Jay Patel

Jay Patel

Head of Executive Search

​With 14 years of experience building and leading CFO search practices, Jay specialises in placing top financial leaders in private equity-backed portfolio companies across the Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, and TMT sectors. His career began with training at EY, where he qualified as an ACA, bringing a strong foundation in finance to his e...

Lachlan Wilkinson

Lachlan Wilkinson

Senior Consultant, Executive Search

With a proven four-year track record, Lachlan excels in placing candidates in high-profile CFO and Finance Director roles within the Commerce & Industry sector. His expertise lies in the complexities of senior finance recruitment, ensuring a perfect alignment between top-tier talent and the strategic demands of financial leadership positi...

Joe Rudkin

Joe Rudkin

Head of Interim Management

​A seasoned expert in interim management recruitment, Joe has spent the past 15 years delivering exceptional results for Private Equity and Advisory clients. With a strong track record of securing executive and interim management mandates, he has played a pivotal role in driving success across large-scale change programs.

Johnny Boal

Johnny Boal

Senior Consultant, Interim Management

​After a decade of hands-on experience in Finance and Operations within hedge funds, Johnny transitioned into recruitment six years ago. He now specialises in placing senior finance professionals on an interim basis for the financial services sector, leveraging his industry insights to ensure the right fit for both clients and candidates.