Board of directors

Fundamental to good governance and the strategic direction of the group is ensuring the board has a diverse balance of skills, experience and knowledge. Directors are regularly briefed on new regulations which affect the business through presentations arranged by our advisors and our leadership team. During the year we specifically covered, new accounting updates (Audit committee), GDPR, Governance Codes (Full and QCA) Anti-Bribery and Corruption and AIM rules They are also encouraged to independently remain up to date through independent seminars and CPD courses.

You can find out more about each of Gattaca’s board members below.

Patrick Shanley – Independent Chair

Appointment Group and Board: December 2015

 

Skills and experience

Patrick has extensive boardroom experience and is currently Chair of chemicals business, Accsys Technologies. Patrick has previously been CFO of Courtaulds plc and Acordis bv, CEO of Corsadi bv, Chair of Cordenka Investments bv and of Finacor bv. Patrick began his career working for British Coal where he qualified as a chartered management accountant. He has a strong operational, restructuring, merger and acquisition background within a manufacturing environment.

Kevin Freeguard – Chief Executive Officer

Appointment Group and Board: October 2018

 

Skills and experience

Kevin was appointed as Chief Executive Officer on the 1st October 2018. He was previously Managing Director for Verifone from 2015 to 2018. He brings extensive international and business transformation experience across multiple sectors including Financial Services, Technology and Industrial having held senior leadership positions with organisations such as De La Rue, Siemens and Motorola.

Salar Farzad – Chief Financial Officer

Appointment Group and Board: June 2017

 

Skills and experience

Salar joined the company from Zodiak Media, a television production company where he was Group Chief Financial Officer from 2014 to 2016.  Prior to this, Salar held senior financial roles at Macmillan Science and Education, 2Entertain, MTV Networks International and EMI. He qualified as an ACA with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

George Materna – Non-Executive Deputy Chair

Appointment Group and Board: July 1984

 

Skills and experience

George has 40 years’ experience in the recruitment industry and is the founder of the Group, having founded Matchmaker Personnel in 1984 and Matchtech Engineering in 1990, before combining the two businesses in 2002 to form Matchtech Group plc. George is a fellow of both the Institute of Recruitment Professionals and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Due to his long-standing relationship with the Group, and his material shareholding, the Board does not consider George Materna to be independent.
 

Tracey James – Independent Non-Executive Director

Appointment Group and Board: December 2020

Skills and experience

Tracey is a Chartered Accountant and leadership coach. She trained and spent most of her career at Grant Thornton where she was a Senior Audit Partner as well as a member of the Partner Oversight Board and Audit Risk Committee; specialising in advising fast growing quoted companies around financial reporting and governance. Tracey has also lived in France and Canada where in the latter she was the Director of Finance for a medical supplies business. Tracey is a NED at Places for People Group Limited and is the Chair of Audit at Activate Learning.

David Lawther – Independent Non-Executive Director

Appointment Group and Board: June 2018

 

Skills and Experience

David is a senior leader in the global construction industry.  He was formerly CEO at ISG Plc., where he grew the company to a 1.6 billion turnover, operating internationally in 26 countries – gaining its reputation as a world-leading fit-out specialist focused on commercial, retail & data centres.  Prior to that, David was Chief Financial Officer at ISG.  David has served as the Group Finance Director for Wilson Connelly holdings, a quoted house builder operating across the UK.  In earlier years, he worked at John Mowlam and co plc, an international contractor.  David is currently non-executive chair of Syntegra group; an award-winning engineering design company. He is also a non-executive director of Ensemble infrastructure India ltd; a private fit-out company based in Mumbai.  David is a chartered accountant. He graduated from Durham University with a degree in Engineering, Science & Management.