Introducing the talent behind Talent Drive
Martin Smith
Managing Director | Founder
Martin has an extensive background in specialising in Procurement and Supply Chain recruitment across all industries for over 13 years now and is the Founder and Managing Director of Talent Drive in May 2019. Martin has worked in a mixture of recruitment agency and in-house recruitment roles across procurement and supply chain and decided to set up the business as he saw a real gap in the Procurement recruitment market to do something different, not just to ‘transact’ with clients but build a true strategic partnership and become an extension of their team. On a day to day level Martin oversees our sales and operations function as well as the host of our Procurement Podcast called ‘Talent Talks’ which has been a great success since launching globally in December 2019.
Matthew Langley
Group Director
Matt joins Talent Group in his 18th year of recruitment with a remit to help continue the sustainable growth across both Talent Drive and Talent Finance brands. The first 13 years of Matt's career was spent within Qualified Finance & Accountancy both in London and Sydney where he has been lucky enough to build high performing teams across multiple markets, interim and perm. In the last 5 years Matt has successfully extended his network into Procurement, Supply Chain and Sustainability again; building multiple teams across both Private and Public Sectors.
Brad Mills
Manager | Retail & FMCG
Brad has operated in the world of recruitment for 10 years, across multiple industries which includes IT Services & Business Process Outsourcing but with the last 8 years specialising in Procurement & Supply Chain. Brad has worked across a broad range of industries in UK and European markets, leveraging his extensive network to support clients and candidates to either identify talent or the next step in their career. Brad leads our permanent recruitment practice across our FMCG, Food and Retail sectors of the business.
Katherine Thorp
Operations Manager
Katherine has joined the Talent Drive team as Operations Manager, bringing over 10 years combined experience within finance, recruitment, and compliance. She will be responsible for overseeing company policies, the candidate onboarding process, and day-to-day finance and compliance operations.
Poppy Hudson
Brand & Marketing Manager
Poppy joins the Talent Drive team as our Brand and Marketing Manager. Poppy has previously worked in the luxury automotive sector specialising in marketing, social media and brand awareness. Always staying on top of social media and industry trends you can find Poppy working behind the scenes on all of our online platforms helping to develop our brand and promoting the Procurement and Finance community. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see what we get up too!
Brian Lombard
Manager | Consultancy, Technology & Interim
Brian has over 6 years working in Procurement and Supply chain and 3 years as a recruitment consultant which allows him a unique insight to client requirements. Brian brings with him experience in managing a busy interim desk where he was responsible for a large book of interim contractors covering major infrastructure projects in the UK. Brian has also gained experienced recruiting in the permanent market, he is focused on building long term strategic relationships with clients and takes great care In understanding their requirements matching them with the aspirations of his candidates. Brian leads the Interim Practice at Talent Drive and delivers our permanent requirements across our Consultancy, Defence and Technology markets.
Christian Rowles
Manager | Professional Services
Christian has spent nearly 10 years of his career specialising in Procurement recruitment, focussing mostly on Indirect and Service based roles, across a wide range of industries where he has built strong, long-term relationships using his honest, down to earth approach to ensure both the client and candidate meet their needs. His range of work has been across all levels, but mostly working on the mid-management to the senior end of the market, working across the UK market, with some hires across Europe and as far as the Middle East. Christian has joined Talent Drive, leading the Professional Services division, looking after Permanent recruitment.
Beth Adams
Senior Consultant | Utilities/Manufacturing & Engineering
Beth has worked in recruitment for over 6 years and leads the Utilities, Manufacturing & Engineering sector as a Senior Recruitment Consultant. Beth supports recruiting in this area from roles ranging from Buyer up to Senior Procurement Manager level.