ChapmanCG News12 May 2008

Announcing the Launch of a New Executive Search Firm Dedicated to the HR Profession Across Asia Pacific Japan

Matthew Chapman has left Derwent Executive to establish The Chapman Consulting Group. The company will have its regional headquarters in Singapore and will focus on specialised executive search for the HR profession throughout Asia Pacific Japan. He will be joined initially by Oscar Fuchs, who has worked with Chapman previously at both Derwent Executive (Singapore) and Hudson (Japan). Chapman plans to shortly bring on board a small, high-performance team to further support the growth of the business.

With its focus on the HR profession across Asia Pacific Japan, The Chapman Consulting Group will work with a select, cross-industry client base of Regional CEOs and Heads of HR to build their HR leadership teams across the region. “The region-wide demand from almost all of our clients is for HR talent that doesn’t think like traditional HR”, says Chapman.

The Chapman Consulting Group’s regional approach to HR sourcing will become increasingly valuable to companies looking to access a broader HR talent pool across Asia Pacific Japan and who want more cohesive regional and country HR teams. “Regional HR teams are becoming more decentralised. The whole HR team no longer sits together in either Singapore or Hong Kong. Now there can be a Regional Head of C&B in Shanghai, a Regional Head of Talent Development in Bangkok and the Regional Head of HR in Tokyo. In a tight regional HR talent market, roles are moving to where the talent is rather than the talent necessarily moving to the role”, says Chapman.

Cross-border movements of HR professionals around the Asia Pacific Japan region are also creating greater complexity in securing the best HR talent. “It’s not always enough to perform HR searches on a country-by-country basis. A thorough HR search must now take into account not only the talent that’s right in each country but also the HR talent within the region that is mobile to be in that country. HR talent is on the move within the region like never before and this trend is here to stay”, Chapman commented. He added: “Our capability will be to not only assist with the identification of Regional Heads of HR, but also the Country HR Heads across the region, be they in China, Japan, India,Australia, Thailand, or Vietnam. We actively track HR talent both within and outside of their home markets.”

Chapman is well known in the region not only for his HR search work but also for his ultra-marathon pursuits in far corners of the world. Two years ago he successfully completed the Racing the Planet “Four Desert Series” involving 250km ultra-marathons in the Atacama Desert (Chile), Gobi Desert (China), Sahara Desert (Egypt) and the Last Desert (Antarctica). In 2009 he will tackle a 250km ultra-marathon in Namibia.