The Team
Rosemary Forsyth
Founding & General Partner
Rosemary has been the General Partner of the Forsyth Group since she founded the company in 1981. Recognizing the potential growth of Information Technology within business, the Forsyth Group was the first Executive Search Consultancy to focus on the emerging technology market.
Rosemary has developed extensive search experience across all technology sectors and conducts “C” and Board level assignments for technology companies in the UK, E& W Europe and the United States. Rosemary is is a key contributor to the investment community, is a Partner at Waterbridge Capital is an investor in Seedcamp.
Rosemary holds a Master’s degree with honors in Psychology and an M.Litt degree in Educational Psychology, both from Aberdeen University in Scotland. Rosemary sits on the Aberdeen University Sixth Century Campaign Board, The Board of Governors of the School of Communication & Arts 2.0, Innovate Europe, Snowball and is an advisor to TalentPuzzle and BraveNewTalent.
Brett Putter
Managing Partner: Emerging Technologies
Brett Putter joined The Forsyth Group in 2001 as Senior Partner Emerging Technologies. Brett focuses on the emerging technology space within internet/new media, software, communications and mobile/wireless technologies and has successfully completed Director, VP and C-level searches across the UK, E & W Europe and the United States.
Prior to joining The Forsyth Group he founded an Internet start-up, which he sold to @Business (Europe) in 2000 and was Managing Director of a direct marketing and sales company called RedLevel. At THC/Azan Brett served as Director of Sales and Marketing, where he was responsible for attracting and hiring 250 consultants from start up in 18 months.
Brett is an advisor to Profitero and an investor in Seedcamp.
Raf Ali
Partner
Raf has over 20 years of IT consulting and technical leadership experience. He has designed and led the development of innovative software applications across a wide range of sectors including financial services, mobile and retail.
Raf is an expert in the application of agile development techniques, user interface design, business intelligence and social media software. He has delivered next-generation applications for clients such as The Royal Mail, Nokia, Tesco and Vodafone. He has been an entrepreneur and founded a number of digital companies and was the founder of the worlds first 3G video chat service on an operator portal. Raf also advises and sits on a number of boards for start-ups and has always been close to the centre of digital gravity.
Luzmila Gamboa
Senior Associate
Luzmila joined the Forsyth Group in 2002 as an Junior Associate focussing in the internet and mobile/wireless technology sectors. Since joining the Forsyth Group Luzmila has progressed to Senior Associate and has assisted in the completion of numerous assignments across Europe.
Prior to joining the company Luzmila was with Muvifasa New Media for 11 years where she progressed to Director for Production and Quality Control, responsible for all art, graphics and printing.
Luzmila holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering and an MSc in Financial and Legal Management.
Albert Lackner
Albert Lackner founded Concilium in 1991 which focuses on building senior management teams in the IT Sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Concilium helps companies hire Director, Vice President and “C” level in the region.
Albert’s focus in in the software sector, particularly SaaS, PaaS, ERP, Middleware, EAI, SOA, CRM, ECM, DMS and Infrastructure.
Albert has been employed in the IT sector since 1971, working for leading software companies before starting Concilium.
Laurel Steyn
Laurel is the Founding member of Summit Staffing Solutions, founded in 2002, with the aim of providing staffing solutions to the South African marketplace.
Laurel has extensive experience in Human Resources, Recruitment and Executive Search. She has placed a number of Senior Executives over the years and has ensured long-term mutually beneficial relationships with her business partners.
Laurel has a thorough understanding of the mobile technology (operator and vendor) industry, IT software development industry as well as corporate banking/financial services and healthcare industries. Prior to founding Summit Staffing Solutions, Laurel was Recruitment Manager at The Siltek Group (a technology distribution company), where she spearheaded a new HR venture within the Group.
Laurel holds an Industrial Psychology Honours degree and a PDHRM (Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management) both obtained through the University of Cape Town.