Announcing our Newest Advisor: Niall Dunkley
We are excited to welcome Niall Dunkley to Nummo as our newest Advisor.
Niall is a Founding Partner of Jackson Lombard, an executive search and advisory firm that works with the world's leading search, professional services, and advisory firms across the US, UK, and Europe.
Over the past decade, Niall has helped build the global Jackson Lombard Group, launching five additional executive search and recruiting brands spanning multiple specialist markets. He leads the Group's strategy and works closely with its key accounts across the executive search industry.
Alongside this, Niall advises leading private equity and venture capital funds on building their internal people and talent functions, helping investors identify and appoint the leadership talent required to support their investment strategies and portfolio companies.
He has built a market-leading track record in leadership and fee-earner hiring for tier-one search firms globally, advising on organizational design, market expansion, and M&A.
Why we asked him
Most search firms spend their time hiring for their clients. Niall's clients include the search firms themselves, putting him in conversations with the people deciding who leads these firms, how they grow, and where they are heading next.
But Niall brings another perspective. Having launched and scaled multiple recruiting businesses himself, he understands firsthand the challenges of building high-performing teams, entering new markets, developing leadership, and creating commercially successful search businesses.
His work with private equity and venture capital funds also gives him a broader view of how sophisticated investors approach talent, organizational design, and value creation.
Very few people have visibility across so many search firms while simultaneously building and operating businesses within the industry.
That combination gives him a perspective we could not easily find elsewhere. He understands which firms are scaling, what partners are looking for, and how business leaders are responding to the opportunities and challenges presented by AI.
For Nummo, having someone who understands the search industry from the perspective of an advisor, entrepreneur, and operator is invaluable.
There is also a natural fit between what we each do. Jackson Lombard helps search firms find exceptional people and shape how they grow, while Nummo helps those same firms become more productive. We see a real partnership in that, with each of us strengthening search firms from a different side.
Why he said yes
A lot of the noise in this market right now is about replacing search firms, with AI-native recruiting platforms pitching themselves as the thing that makes a traditional firm unnecessary.
Niall has spent his career building and advising businesses within this industry and does not buy that story. His view is that the firms that embrace the right technology will become stronger, more productive, and ultimately more valuable, while the relationships and judgment at the centre of executive search remain fundamental.
That is why Nummo stood out to him. Rather than trying to replace recruiters, Nummo is building technology that strengthens them, removing the work that slows searches down so partners and their teams can spend more time with clients and candidates.
“Having built recruiting businesses myself, as well as advising search firm leaders around the world, I see firsthand the enormous opportunity AI presents to our industry. The firms that get this right will become significantly more productive without sacrificing the relationships, expertise, and judgment that make them valuable. Nummo is building technology that enables exactly that, and it's a vision I'm excited to support.”
What's next?
Niall will help us stay close to where search firm leadership is heading, from the growth challenges firms are facing to how they are thinking about AI at the partner and board level.
Drawing on his experience building and scaling recruiting businesses, as well as his relationships across executive search, professional services, and the investment community, he will provide strategic advice on Nummo's growth, market positioning, and industry partnerships.
He will also make introductions across his network where he sees the right fit, and we look forward to exploring how Jackson Lombard and Nummo can work together to support the firms we both serve.
We are looking forward to the future we can build. More to come.