Association Leadership Roles

Dober Partners is the specialist in European association leadership recruitment.  We typically recruit the most senior association positions, namely the Secretary General, Director of Communications or Public Affairs, or the Chief Operations Officer.

We are now the established leading executive search firm for European and global trade association roles.

Our team has authored serious research into key association issues, including the recent reports on “Key Success Factors for European Associations”, “European Association Remuneration” and “High Performance Secretariats.”

Dober Partners’ Brussels team really understand best practice in the profession, and critically how to recognize and recruit outstanding association leaders.

Our entire team has first-hand experience of leading associations and not-for-profits as well as recruiting association roles across functions and seniorities. Unusually our Brussels Leadership Team has served European Association Boards in different roles, including as Secretary General, Treasurer, COO and Director of Communications and Public Affairs. Hence, the major difference with our competitors is that in addition to our headhunting specialism, we are also practitioners who really understand the association sector.

We bring our specialists’ understanding to every assignment, every search, and every interview, finding exceptional candidates that fit demanding briefs. Our end goal is always loyalty and satisfaction. We do this by honestly representing our clients in the market and ensuring that we support and continually advise our candidates during assignments. We have a very strong record of recruiting leaders for diverse and important European associations. All of our association placements have been successful.

By way of example here are examples of association leadership placements we have made in recent times:

• Association of the European Self-Care Industry (AESGP) – Director General
• Affordable Medicines Europe – Secretary General
• Airlines for Europe (A4E) – Managing Director
• Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) – Secretary General
• Ammonia Europe – Secretary General
• The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) – Director General
• CAOBISCO – the Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of Europe – Secretary General
• Copa-Cogeca (European farming) – Secretary General
• Cosmetics Europe – Director General
• CropLife Europe – Director General
• CropLife International – CEO
• Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Executive VP – International Regions
• Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Europe – Director General
• European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA) – Secretary General
• European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing – CEO
• European Financial Services Round Table – Secretary General
• Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative (EMIRI) – Managing Director
• eu travel tech – Secretary General
• Eurocities – Secretary General
• Eurogypsum – Secretary General
• Eurometaux – Director General
• European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) – Director General
• European Bioplastics – Managing Director
• European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) – Secretary General
• European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) – Secretary General
• European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) – Secretary General
• European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) – Secretary General
• European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) – Director
• Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) – CEO
• FEVE (EU container glass association) – Secretary General
• Fire Safe Europe – Managing Director
• GIRP – European Healthcare Distribution Association – Director General
• Global Self-Care Federation – Director General
• International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) – Executive Director
• International Currency Association – Secretary General
  Medicines for Europe – Director General
• Metal Packaging Europe – CEO
• Medical Nutrition International Industry – Executive Director
• Orgalim – Europe’s Technology Industries – Director General
• Plastics Europe – Managing Director
• PPTA – VP Public Affairs, EU Operations
• spiritsEUROPE – Director General
• Starch Europe – Managing Director
• The Brewers of Europe – Secretary General
• The European Council of Shopping Places (ECSP) – Secretary General
• The Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) – Executive Director
• The European Rail Supply Industry Association (UNIFE) – Director General

We have also recruited hundreds of other senior roles spanning public affairs, regulatory, communications and operations functions, ranging from the Director of The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), to the Head of EU Affairs for the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE).

Our commitment to recruit the best available talent has helped build loyalty and repeat assignments over many years.   For instance, we have recruited much of the Leadership team at Plastics Europe including the Managing Director, as well as the Director of Public Affairs, the Director of Communications and the Director of Flouropolymers.