Core capabilities
Key appointments we deliver include:
- Non-Executive Chair / Board Advisor
- Chief Executive Officer / SaaS Managing Director
- Chief Revenue Officer / Commercial Director
- Chief Operating Officer / Scale-up Operator
- Division President / Portfolio Executive
- Independent Director / Operating Partner
David Purcell
Senior Partner, B2B
B2B
London
Phillippa Dunlop
Consultant, Technology and Digital
Technology and Digital
London
Fred Watkinson
Consultant, B2B
B2B
London
Geoffrey Arner
Associate Partner
B2B
New York
Jessie Jaques
Operations Assistant and Project Coordinator, B2B
B2B
Central Operations
London
Connect with David 
Email David Professional overview
David Purcell is a Senior Partner at Essenta, where he leads the firm’s B2B practice. He advises private equity investors and their portfolio companies on senior leadership appointments across business and professional services, particularly when a business is growing, transforming, expanding internationally or changing hands.
Working across Essenta’s London and New York teams, David works closely with investors, boards and management teams to pin down the leadership needed to deliver their ambitions, from CEO and C-suite appointments to wider senior teams. His work spans multiple geographies and ownership structures, with a particular focus on private equity-backed businesses.
David has built his career in Executive Search, specializing in B2B services and senior leadership within private equity-backed and listed businesses. He has advised investors, boards and management teams on appointments across a range of business services sectors and geographies. Along the way, he has built a deep network of senior executives and a clear understanding of what leadership looks like at different stages of growth and transformation.
Personal perspective
A great CV is only the starting point. The real question is whether someone has the experience, mindset and leadership style to deliver what the business needs next. I enjoy working closely with clients to get under the skin of their situation, then bringing a clear, well-informed view of the market and the people who can make a difference.
Professional overview
Phillippa advises organizations on appointing senior technology, digital, product, data and AI leaders, at moments of growth, transformation or change. Her clients range from established corporates to high-growth and entrepreneurial businesses, and she helps each one define the leadership it needs, make sense of an increasingly converged, platform-dominated market and secure the right individual for the context.
She works closely with boards, CEOs and senior leadership teams on appointments that fall within the remit of the CIO or CTO. Her approach is evidence-led and market-informed. It weighs the individual against the organizational context they’ll need to succeed in, and the balance of technical and commercial capability that will help them do it.
Before joining Essenta, Phillippa spent more than 15 years in Executive Search, in senior search and research roles at several boutique firms. Her experience spans technology, digital and TMT leadership, working with large corporates and entrepreneurial, growth businesses alike. She has delivered senior assignments across a range of technology and digital disciplines, and is expert at identifying and assessing leaders who can connect technology strategy with commercial and organizational priorities.
Personal perspective
The job description is rarely the whole story, so I spend time understanding what is really driving an appointment and what needs to change. A good search does more than present strong candidates. It gives clients a clearer view of the market and of what will genuinely work for them, whether or not that’s the person we first expected to find.
Professional overview
Fred works with a diverse range of clients across Essenta’s business services practice and beyond, leading complex Executive Searches with a particular focus on general management, commercial, and operational leadership roles.
He typically partners with organizations that want to unlock growth or deliver a challenging turnaround through strategic senior appointments, often amid transformation and change.
Fred’s built a strong reputation of finishing what others struggle to. Where a previous mandate with another search firm failed to produce an appointment, he has successfully delivered the search, bringing a fresh perspective and a focused, outcome-driven approach.
Fred began his career at JCA Group (later acquired by Heidrick & Struggles), where he helped grow the scale and reputation of the Non-Executive Director practice and worked with a broad range of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients across sectors. He went on to work in Egon Zehnder’s Consumer Practice in London, then led Vodafone Group’s international in-house executive recruitment team, which gave him a view of search from the client’s side of the table.
Personal perspective
Executive Search is often treated like a magic trick, too complex and mysterious to show clients. We’d rather show our workings. It’s a process that succeeds through mutual trust and understanding between client and consultant. The rest is creative thinking and communication, shaped by broader insight, experience and muscle memory, and a disciplined, tenacious approach.
Essenta keeps growing with one eye on how we can add the most value for clients. That mirrors our clients’ own value creation journeys, and it shapes partnerships built on shared ambition, intentionality and trust.
Professional overview
As an Associate Partner at Essenta who places senior executives into C-Suite and board roles across B2B services and industrials, Geoff is as interested in the why, as the who. He works with a wide range of financial sponsors, from founders and family offices to global PE firms and corporations, developing talent-centric deal Advisory and due diligence solutions.
A New Yorker by birth, Geoff has lived in Japan and the UK. He studied Philosophy and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, and spent the first two years of his career on political campaigns before moving into Executive Search, where he has built over 15 years’ experience delivering talent solutions for businesses centred on private capital, and business services.
Personal perspective
I think of myself as more of a matchmaker than a recruiter. Qualifications matter, but it ultimately comes down to fit. In any search, you’re asking a successful executive to take a risk and make a change, and it’s easy to forget that people (not CVs) show up to work each day.
Every hiring process is a two-way street, and the best placements are completely aligned with their new companies. To run search well, you can’t just know the candidates, the market, and the business. You have to understand the full context behind “why this role?” and “why now?”
Jessie Jaques
Operations Assistant and Project Coordinator, B2B
Professional overview
Jessie is the person who keeps Essenta running smoothly behind the scenes, as Operations Assistant and Project Coordinator for the B2B practice, where she works closely with the team to coordinate assignments from start to finish.
Alongside her practice work, Jessie oversees a wide range of operational activity, including office management, internal processes, supplier coordination and employee onboarding.
She is proactive and detail-oriented, and it shows in how seamlessly the business runs day to day.
Before moving to London and joining Essenta, Jessie spent six years working as a nanny. She started at Essenta in an administrative role supporting all of the practice areas, which gave her a broad understanding of the business, before moving into the role she has today.
Personal perspective
A seamless experience is built on thoughtful coordination, proactive support and attention to detail, so that every client, candidate and colleague feels valued. Working across the business as I’ve grown in my role has shown me how much each part depends on the others, and I try to make sure none of them are ever left waiting.
The Essenta difference
Why Essenta?
Combining deep technology-sector insight with Executive Search and strategic Board Advisory expertise, Essenta connects clients with leaders who understand both the pace of the market and the commercial realities of scaling technology businesses.
Deep sector expertise
Specialist coverage across software, SaaS, tech-enabled services, digital platforms, private equity portfolio growth and board governance.
Global talent networks
We know where established and emerging technology leaders sit, including operators from adjacent markets whose experience can bring a different perspective to your growth agenda.
Proprietary Discovery® Process
Benchmarking commercial judgement, growth capability, operational execution and leadership impact against the specific economics and demands of your business.
Context-led Assessment
Evaluating candidate readiness against your ownership model, growth stage and value-creation plan — whether the priority is private equity expansion, buy-and-build, internationalization, transformation or venture scaling.
Let’s build your next leadership team
Tell us what the business needs to achieve. We will give you an honest read on the leadership challenge in front of you, and how you should approach it.