Client-Focused. People-Centric.

Our Values. Our Team.

Innovation, Integrity, Resilience & Inclusion are the values that underpin everything that we do at CHA.

We are committed to providing our clients with advice and solutions that mirror our own belief in the value of diversity. We maintain relationships with potential candidates that are inclusive, diverse and global. We work with our clients to help them be better corporate citizens by supporting them on hiring innovative and thoughtful candidates and at CHA we practice what we preach. Our team is dynamic and thoughtful, coming from a variety of backgrounds allowing us to think creatively when working with our clients.

It is important to our team where are able to give back and every member of our team is given 2 additional holidays a year to volunteer and engage with charities or causes that are of personal importance to them. CHA also supports other organisations, both here and abroad, that we feel are changing the world for the better.

Nichole McCulloch

Managing Director

Recently named as one of the 100 most influential people in African Mining, Nichole is the founder and Managing Director of Clifton Hill Associates, a global executive search and advisory firm. She works within the Energy and Natural resources sectors advising her clients on how to create a proactive strategy around talent and leadership both at an executive and board level partnering on issues such as diversity and inclusion and governance. Nichole is keenly attuned to the ever-changing needs of these sectors, and to the evolving skill set required for successful placements of executive and board talent. She is a trusted advisor to her clients, having completed searches and sourced candidates in over 35 countries.

Nichole is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion; she is the former Managing Director for Women in Mining (UK) and is a frequent speaker on issues such as governance and talent management. She is also the Chair of BAFA, the National Governing body of American Football in the UK.

Charitable Cause: Women for Women International

Nichole chose this charity because “having sadly watched my mother suffer through domestic violence, I am aware of the long-term impacts this can have on women. Understanding that violence and rape against women was still being used as weapon of war, in addition to the reality of women often experiencing violence in their day to day lives is something that needs to change.”

Women for Women was set up after the Bosnian conflict when an estimated 50,000 Bosnian women were subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Their approach remains inspired by this spirit of sisterhood, and the combination of social and economic investment. Women for Women have gone on to support over half a million women across 8 conflict-affected countries.

Women enrol on their year-long training programme, where they build support networks and develop skills to earn and save money, improve their family’s health and make their voices heard at home and in their community. They have seen that with the right support, women can rebuild their lives, break cycles of poverty and seize opportunities to create better futures for their children.

https://www.womenforwomen.org.uk

Frances Carter

Associate Director, Head of Research

Fran joined Clifton Hill Associates in 2017 from a large Asset Manager in the City, where she worked in an assistant operations management role within the Asset Management team. At CHA, Fran leads the research on all assignments, and carries out screening discussions with all identified candidates across the globe.

One of Fran’s biggest assets is maintaining strong professional relationships with candidates and clients through consistent communication; not only has this been invaluable for our clients, but it has also enabled her to build a solid network of high calibre professionals across the globe. Fran has a BSc in Business and Economics. Since graduating, she has also completed the CFA Investment Management Certificate (IMC), and Talent Q Training in Psychometric Testing.

Charitable Cause: Black Mamba

Fran chose this charity because “growing up in Swaziland on a small game farm, wildlife conservation has always been hugely important to me.” Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century – mainly due to the ivory trade. Elephant poaching, even though it’s illegal, has been getting dramatically worse in parts of Africa in the last 10 years – mostly because of growing demand for ivory in China and the Far East. Around 55 African elephants are killed every day.

Black Mamba is the first ever all-female anti-poaching unit, established to protect rhinos and elephants from extinction through poaching for ivory. The unit operates in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and an immensely important site for the preservation of biodiversity and natural habitat for a great number of African wildlife. They take a ‘boots-on-the-ground’ approach to tackling the poaching head-on, which takes enormous bravery and we’d like to do everything we can to support their fantastic work.

https://www.blackmambas.org

Chris Gardner

Senior Advisor

Chris is a Senior Advisor for CHA, supporting on business development and strategy. Chris is an MBA qualified Global Client Services Director with over 20 years international experience developing and implementing innovative sales and business development strategies in markets as diverse as the UK, USA, Europe, India and Africa.

Chris performs a Global Client Service Partner/Business Development role to Energy companies across EY’s four service lines. He has industry knowledge specifically in the mining & metals sector and is currently engaged with FTSE 100 global clients, as well as, Natural Resources funds. Chris works closely with client-facing teams to develop and deliver solutions that meet his client’s changing needs. These include acquisitions, divestments, working capital, productivity improvement, digital transformation, finance transformation, IT implementation projects, learning & development and assurance.

Charitable Cause: Chance for Childhood

Chris chose this charity because ““Growing up and working across Africa, I have seen the struggle that many children face and Chance for Childhood is a charity that ensures that these children are not forgotten.” Chance for Childhood works in Africa to support the most vulnerable children, such as street children, disabled children, children affected by conflict and kids behind bars. Their vision is of a world where no child is forgotten.

They work with and strengthen the capacity of African visionary community leaders and governments to implement locally-relevant yet far-reaching projects that create lasting change within the Justice, Education and Social Protection sectors. This enables them to focus on ‘hard to reach’ children, both in terms of their complex needs (e.g. street children with learning difficulties) and location (e.g. urban violent slums or remote rural areas).

https://chanceforchildhood.org

Tracey Bussola

Executive Assistant

Tracey is the Executive Assistant supporting Nichole McCulloch and the wider team at CHA. Tracey brings nearly 20 years’ experience of dedicated professional assistance with a track record of strong performance in high-pressure environments, supporting successful and well-respected executives within the Executive Search industry.

Prior to working within executive search, Tracey has worked in executive supporting roles within design consultancies and the film (post-production) industry.

Charitable Cause: The Stroke Association

Tracey supports this charity because “it is close to my heart due to my dad suffering a serious stroke which left him paralysed and requiring 24-hour nursing care.”

The Stroke Association is there to not only support those who suffer a stroke – helping survivors to rebuild their lives through the difficult rehabilitation process – but also for families and loved ones, helping them to understand the complexities of stroke and how it changes everybody’s life.

The Stroke Association is an invaluable source of support and information and they continue to fund research tirelessly so that stroke will hopefully one day be treatable or preventable.

https://www.stroke.org.uk