Management bios

Nick Povey, Co-founder and Joint Managing Director

Nick has worked within the Executive Search industry since 1994. He was initially the top performing Consultant within the UK's leading sales recruitment company before progressing to the role of Regional Business Manager. He then spent three years at the specialist Technology and Communications-focused Executive Search division of Parity Plc, a FTSE250 IT services company, specialising in enterprise solutions sales and commercial hiring to Board level.

For the three years prior to establishing Symbiosis Search in 2002, Nick was a Director at Norman Broadbent's Global Technology Practice, where he worked closely with Software and Telecommunications clients in hiring management and Director-level enterprise sales and commercial personnel across the EMEA and APAC regions.

Nick has a BA (Hons) degree in Geography from the University of Portsmouth.

Tel: +44 1420 568078 / Email: npovey@symbiosissearch.com

Email Nick

Lawrence Whittle, Non-Executive Advisor

Lawrence brings a wealth of international enterprise software and SaaS experience to Symbiosis Search with both start-up fast-growth vendors and major global players.

For the past twenty five years, Lawrence has successfully built and managed global software companies, ranging from pre-IPO start-ups to established international vendors. As a sales and marketing-focused Executive, he has grown and managed the European or Global operations of publicly-traded Marcam Solutions (ERP for Process Industries - now Infor), publicly-traded Centra Software (eLearning / Web conferencing - now Saba), ProfitLogic (Price Optimization for Retail - now Oracle), M-Factor (Marketing Spend Optimization - now IBM Demandtec), publicly-traded Model N (Revenue Management software) and Persado (AI-driven Marketing Language Optimization).

With ProfitLogic, Lawrence successfully launched operations in Europe and subsequently managed the integration of the European business into Oracle after the acquisition in 2005. With Model N, he grew global revenues as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and helped manage the company through its successful IPO in 2013. More recently, with Persado, he launched and led Sales and Marketing operations globally as Chief Revenue Officer.

Based in California since 2008, Lawrence is the CEO of Parsable, a hyper-growth VC-backed pre-IPO leader in Collaboration and Workflow solutions for the Industrial workforce.

Howard Sears, Non-Executive Advisor

Howard is a serial technology entrepreneur and experienced Director with roles at a number of companies from tech startups to FTSE100 organisations. He brings deep insight into delivering enterprise grade software and managing growth, particularly in the SaaS environment. Howard is a Director or investor in a number of fast-growth cloud-based and technology businesses. He is founder of Astuta, an organisation focused on launching and growing technology businesses and facilitating exits for investors and owners through the provision of funding and other services.

Previously, Howard founded Cobent in 2003 in the Human Capital Management SaaS space. He served as Chief Executive Officer, growing the business through to a successful exit when the company was acquired by a publicly traded SaaS vendor.